San Fernando Valley : Program Scores With Recreation Expansion

The youngsters who come to play after school at tiny Layne Park in San Fernando don’t mind that somebody lost their baseball. They found an old tennis ball to pitch instead.

They don’t care that the bat they play with is just a stick of wood.

“As long as they’ve got something to do, and they see me getting into it, then they’re into it too,” said Albert Cuevas, a 22-year-old education major at Cal State Northridge who runs a free, informal sports and activities program for students on weekdays at the park.

The city this year extended its summer playground program to year-round status, officials said. The summer activities program, launched at Las Palmas and Recreation parks, was so successful--drawing youngsters of all ages for organized basketball, tag football, baseball, other games and swimming--that officials recently added one-acre Layne Park and underused Pioneer Park to the program.

Since the programs--which run weekdays from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m.--started about a month ago, attendance has averaged about 20 each afternoon at the two smaller parks.

Gwen Indermill, city recreation director, supervises the programs. “It’s a great method to reach our youth,” she said.

Besides games and sports, Indermill organizes field trips for youngsters.