By Carlos Gieseken For the Stevens Point Journal


"Seven-year-old Noah Hellweg, a member of the Plover Boys & Girls Club since January, visited the new clubhouse at 2401 Cedar Drive for the first time Friday afternoon. He was not disappointed.

‘I’ve just been looking around,’ the third-grader said. ‘I didn’t think there would be this much open space here.’

The new 29,000-square-foot Plover clubhouse, which opened Monday after months of renovations, has impressed the young members who use it.

‘They come in here and they’re speechless,’ said Carie Winn, program director of the Plover club. ‘We finally feel like we’ve got something to offer everybody, including the older kids.’

The building formerly occupied by the Royal Sports Center is a kid’s dream playhouse. There’s a basketball court, two racquetball courts, a game room, batting cages and plenty of space for kids to draw, grab a free lunch, read or just hang out with their friends.

Seventh-graders Halie Erickson and Jessica Martens are happy with the choices of games to play, whether it’s pool, air hockey, video games, or carpetball.

‘It’s kind of a challenge,’ Martens said. ‘You try to hit the other person’s balls off the table. Sometimes you can’t, and it’s frustrating, but it’s fun.’

Hellweg said he loves that it’s a game people of any age can play.

‘I was playing people older than me, but I still won,’ he said.

Attendance at the new facility topped last year’s high of 60 when 81 showed up Wednesday, just the third day it was open.

‘From looking at the attendance, I think it’s obvious that there’s a need for a club like this,’ Winn said. ‘But our staff is really what makes the club what it is. I don’t think the kids would come if it weren’t for them.’

University of Wisconsin-La Crosse senior Caitlin Young works at the Plover club four days a week and one day a week at the Amherst club. The Amherst native, who is spending her second summer as a program coordinator, said the job is challenging but rewarding.

‘It’s great seeing the impact we have on these kids,’ she said. ‘Some kids can be problems in other settings, but here they’re just really great kids and they really turn themselves around.’

There are clubs within the club. Members who enjoy disc gold will be able to take trips out to Standing Rocks Park, while bike club members go on weekly outings for ice cream or on the Ice Age and Green Circle trails.

The numerous recreation options, like joining a club or taking a field trip to Noah’s Ark in Wisconsin Dells or to Milwaukee for a Brewers game, are all part of the goal of broadening the world for the kids.

‘A lot of these kids have never gone on a trip like that,’ Winn said. ‘The goal of the club is to give them a taste of experiences they’ve never done before.’"