HIGH LIFE : A WEEKLY FORUM FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS : YMCA Program Gives Young People aChance to SAY No to Trouble

Young people from troubled communities in Anaheim will have more to do this summer than hang out and be bored, thanks to an array of free activities available through the city and the YMCA.

Teen-agers can swim in the organization’s pool and use the gymnasium for basketball and dodge-ball games. They can use weight training equipment and racquetball courts and join a boxing program. These are a few of the activities offered at the YMCA through Anaheim’s Save-A-Youth (SAY) Program.

In addition, about 75 group members will spend a week this month at the YMCA’s summer camp in the mountains, where they can hike, swim, learn about nature and create arts and crafts.

Young people from four troubled neighborhoods are targeted as recruits for SAY in an effort to offer them an alternative to joining gangs or using drugs .

YMCA workers said that the youths get the same treatment as the facility’s regulars.

” We’re trying not to label the kids ‘youth at risk,’ ” said Chris Ofelt, physical activities director at the YMCA. When SAY teen-agers come to the YMCA, he changes the youth group’s title to the City of Anaheim Youth Program.

Another program is designed for youngsters who want to be out later in the evenings but don’t want to be on the streets. The “Back Door at the Y” program allows youths to drop in between 6 and 9:30 p.m. to socialize, play games or just relax, he said.

Debbie Moore, who coordinates SAY for the city, estimates that about 40 teen-agers participate. Another 200 elementary school pupils are involved in SAY programs at school sites.

“The waist is a terrible thing to mind.”--Ziggy (Tom Wilson)