Story originally printed in the Holmen Courier or online at www.holmencourier.com
Published - Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Onalaska YMCA opens youth gaming lounge
There’s a new way to play and the Onalaska YMCA has it. On Monday, the facility opened its new Pepsi Prime Time Youth Lounge with cool, state-of-the-art interactive games.
What used to be a room for computer games, board games and a more quiet place for kids to maybe do homework is now like an arcade, complete with the latest ways kids can be active with Nintendo Wii systems offering Wii Fit, Wii Sports and Dance Dance Revolution, bike racing simulators, a social corner, board games and a foosball table.
Connor Hefti, 7, of Holmen was having fun in the virtual boxing ring.
Kealan Dienger, 6, of the town of Onalaska was practicing his batting swing. Kealan, who comes to the YMCA day care, and his mom, Jen, said they think the new Prime Time Center is a neat place.
“He’s just getting to an age where he can be active with older kids,” Jen said. “It’s a nice extension from the day care to these activities. It looks like there’s good supervision, too.”
Sabrina Stage, 10, of Onalaska, was trying out the ski game on the Wii.
 Connor Hefti, 7, from Holmen practices his jab using the new virtual boxing game at the YMCA Pepsi Prime Time Youth Center. The youth center opened Monday and was pretty crowded most of the day. Photo by Jo Anne Killeen |
Alyssa Addleman, 11, from Holmen scored a knock-out on the boxing game. “It’s a lot of fun,” she said. “I think it’s awesome. I love all the games. It’s very active.”
Summer hours for the new youth center are 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 3:30 to 8 p.m. weekdays, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sundays.
All stories copyright 2006 Holmen Courier and other attributed sources.