-- Winter 2005 Edition --

All-Sports Thanks to hundreds of volunteers associated with All-Sports, thousands of Fair Lawn kids participate in various recreational programs every year.  The programs include:     Sports Season Registration  Baseball and Softball Spring and Summer January  Soccer Fall March  Wrestling Winter October  Basketball Winter October  Lacrosse Spring February  Track and Field Spring February   Fair Lawn News talked with Dave Reiter, the President of All-Sports.  The owner of a promotional products company in Fair Lawn, Reiter joined the Board of Directors in 1989, and has been coaching basketball and baseball ever since.   What is All Sports? Fair Lawn All-Sports is a non-profit organization that works in coordination with the Borough of Fair Lawn’s Recreation Department to offer sports programs for the kids of Fair Lawn .      All school children that live in Fair Lawn are eligible to join our programs.  This includes those kids attending private schools.   Who runs All-Sports? All of our coaches and Board of Directors members are volunteers.  The only people who are paid are those who teach first aid at the coaching certification classes (as required by the borough) and several trainers that we hire for special assignments.   In the past year, over 400 volunteer coaches went through the coaching certification in March, in addition to various smaller certifications throughout the year.   What is coaching certification? All of our coaches are required to take an annual certification class before they step on the field.   They learn about the sports they will coach, first aid, how to deal with the children and the parents, etc.   (Photo below: Fair Lawn Police Officer Derek Bastinck, a former FLHS baseball star and minor leaguer for the Detroit Tigers, teaching the coaches how to hit.)     Where do you get your funding? We fund all programs through registration fees, fund raising programs, sponsorships, and support from the borough of Fair Lawn 's Recreation Department.    How did All-Sports get started? Ken Marks, our oldest board member has been involved for over 40 years and for the next edition we will get Ken to give a history of the beginnings of All Sports.   What is the most popular sport? Baseball has the most kids with 1,400.  Soccer is a close second.    The kids play in school gyms and ball fields as well as at the Dobrow Sports Complex.  If we had more fields and more gym space, we would get even more participants.   Has All-Sports changed their programs in recent years? I have seen many changes, but basically we run more and more programs, and try each year to make them better. We have found that our present mayor, deputy mayor, borough manager, and borough council are working closely with us to help us solve any problems we face, and as Board members we appreciate this tremendously.    Our fields have improved, our training for coaches have improved, and the involvement with the high school athletic department has improved.  We are now getting help from the high school’s basketball coaches (Jimmy Graff, Alan Clements), baseball coaches (Bill Scarnaty, Tom Cancalosi), wrestling coach (Frank Guadagnino), and the athletic director (Michael Alberque).   We offer programs from first grade through high school, and encourage our program graduates to come back after college and help in our program.  With diverse changes in the ethnicity of Fair Lawn, we are getting a wider variety of foreign expertise to help our programs grow.    What’s Going On Now? In the winter, our biggest sport is basketball.  We use every gym possible in the town.  Some day, our hope is to build our own gym at the Sports complex.  With the help of Patty Marcoux, my counterpart at the Fair Lawn Football Association, we plan on working together to improve cooperation and improve the conditions for our kids to play on, and the overall betterment of Fair Lawn kids.   Our wrestling program begins in January, and we have had success year in and year out.   Our wrestlers have also made the high school a big time wresting powerhouse.   Of course, it is never too early to think about baseball.  Registration for the 2005 Baseball program will be in the Memorial Middle School Cafeteria on January 22 at 9:30-12pm, January 26 at 7:00 - 9:00 pm, and February 2 at 7:00 -9:00 pm.   The fee is $50 for the younger kids and $60 for the older ones.     Who Can People Contact for More Information? Phone:  Borough of Fair Lawn ’s Recreation Department at 201-796-6746 Email:  Flallsportsprez@aol.com Website:  www.flallsports.org     Also see:  Sports and Recreation Programs:  One of the Wonders of Fair Lawn.