Adult volunteers enrich the lives of kids at Inner-City Games

Lisa Ferguson

Friday, Sept. 12, 1997 | 10:14 a.m.

As an assistant principal at Greenspun Middle School, Linda Archambault usually finds herself seated across the desk from students grappling with choices that could affect the rest of their lives.

"Every kid can make bad choices," she says. "They have those roads and they chose the ones they go down."

So when the opportunity surfaced to work with teens outside the classroom -- as a volunteer for the 1996 Greater Las Vegas Inner-City Games Program last year -- Archambault was eager to take part.

Inner-City Games, an athletics and education program for at-risk kids, was founded by actor Arnold Schwarzenegger in Los Angeles in 1991. It was introduced in Las Vegas last year.

"I could see a real value" in the program, Archambault recalls, especially its ability to strengthen the character of its young participants. "I know it's making a difference, and that's why I went into education in the first place."

It's also why she chose to help out again at this year's Games. She was among 1,200 adult volunteers who lent their hands to a multitude of tasks -- from coaching activities to filing paperwork -- during the nonprofit program's 26-week schedule of sporting events, which concluded last week.

"If we didn't have volunteers, there's no way we could put on the variety of activities and have them staffed," says volunteer director Joyce Walker. "We don't have the money to go out and hire people to put on the sports programs, so it really falls back on the volunteers."

Archambault spent every Saturday since April ("... except for one when I had foot surgery," she says) coaching volleyball and basketball tournaments, as well as cleaning up kid-sized messes, monitoring bus rides to and from events and bandaging skinned knees. "It's just like running a school."

"These kids are our future, and if we don't invest extra time and energy into them, what kind of future do we have?" Because of the Inner-City Games, she says, "I have seen kids really start making better choices for themselves, feeling better about themselves."

Like Archambault, many of this year's volunteers were educators, especially physical education teachers, Walker says. Others had signed up representing the companies they work for, including Nevada Power, Citibank and Mirage Resorts Inc.

Parents and family members of the 6,000 youth participants also made a strong volunteer showing. One of them was Sharon Stewart, whose 11-year-old granddaughter, Brittany, took part in soccer and swimming events.

"She was out to win," says Stewart, also a second-year volunteer veteran, who helped out at 36 events -- in almost every job "other than coaching" -- this year.

Not that she was counting. "I haven't kept track," says The Mirage casino credit clerk. "I'm not doing this for any type of recognition, I'm doing it because I want to do it.

"It's an awesome feeling to see the enthusiasm and enjoyment these kids are having when they come to these events. It's amazing how many of these kids have never been thrown a baseball or shot a basketball. My heart just went out to these kids."

Especially the preteens, Stewart says. When they were awarded medals for participating "they'd just beam from ear to ear. You can see in their face the pride that they are holding in themselves at the point. It's like they've accomplished something they didn't think they could."

Though she's not looking for a pat on the back, Stewart and the other volunteers will get one on Sunday, when the Inner City Games organization hosts a "Volunteer Appreciation Day" at Wet'n Wild.

It's the least they can do, Walker says.

"One thing with the volunteers, it's not like it's a paying job. But they get a lot of rewards seeing the faces light up and helping kids that don't (otherwise) have someone there for them. Here are some people that care."