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The Oyster River Youth Association is a non-profit, volunteer-based organization that provides year-round athletic and creative arts programming, to the families of the Oyster River Cooperative School District.

Description:
The Oyster River Youth Association provides sports programs for children from ages 3 to 14. We organize volunteers to coach, administrate, officiate, and assist with each program. Our objective is to provide a positive sports' experience for all children, in order to promote their personal growth and development of their self-esteem. Our programs focus on equal playing time in a non-competitive environment. Our programming year is divided into four seasons: Our fall season runs from the first week in September to the last week in October. A few examples of fall programs include: all levels of soccer, flag football, T-ball, volleyball and hip hop dance. Our winter programs run from the beginning of November to the first week in March. Programs we generaly offer for the winter season include: ice skating lessons, all levels of ice hockey, all levels of basketball, all levels of indoor soccer, and all levels of hip hop dance. The spring season begins in March and runs to the end of June. The spring programs include: all levels of baseball, all levels of softball, all levels of soccer, lacrosse, hip hop dance and flag football. Our close relationship with the towns of Durham, Lee and Madbury allow us to grow and update our program offerings based on the community needs. ORYA also operates a local outdoor public skating rink: Jackson's Landing. We also provide training and guidance for all of our officials and coaches.

History:
The Oyster River Youth Association was created to support the communities in the Oyster River Cooperative School District. We began by offering basic sports programs like soccer and basketball. We have increased our programming to include a wider variety of interests. A few years ago the town of Durham turned over the operation of the Jackson's Landing ice rink to us. We have been providing programming to supplement and complement the Oyster River Cooperative School District programs for over 30 years.

Contact people:

Mike Gomanche, Director, (phone), (email) Kathy Trainor, Assistant Director, (phone), (email)

Address:

11 Schoolhouse Ln Durham, NH 03824 (See a map)

Directions:

If you are comming from route 4, take the eixt for route 108 South, towards Newmarket. Follow route 108 left at the first traffic light. Take the first left onto Schoolhouse Lane, just past the Durham Town Hall.. . . (more)   Nearest Bus Stop: coast and Wildcat transit/ Main Street (UNH) stop, 7 minute walk

Miscellaneous Information

Name of Executive Director (or equivalent) if not listed above:
	Rachelle Hennessy
Type of organization
	Nonprofit 501(c)3
Is your organization a Health and Human Service agency?
	No

Overall Experience   
fun working with people

posted on May 2, 2005