By Emily Richmond

Tue, Oct 15, 2002 (11:04 a.m.)

When Las Vegas Councilman Lawrence Weekly was a student at Hyde Park Middle School in 1976, his afternoons were spent shooting hoops and running drills as a member of the basketball team.

"My coach was one of the first adults who told me I could be in a leadership position one day," said Weekly, who is pushing to keep the Clark County School District's middle school athletics program from being eliminated. "Playing sports made a big difference in how I thought of myself and how I set my goals."

The Clark County School Board eliminated middle school athletics for the 2003-04 academic year as part of a $12.6 million budget cut last May. Also cut were some transportation services for high schoolers.

Weekly and Councilman Larry Brown will ask their colleagues Wednesday to support a plan that would give the school district up to $250,000 in city funds to keep the middle school basketball and cheerleading teams going for the 2003-04 academic year. The money would come from funds originally slated for improvements to ball fields.

"Kids at that age, 11, 12, 13, are very vulnerable," Weekly said. "We want them involved in positive activities, not out roaming around, falling in with bad crowds."

A determined band of parents set out to raise the money on their own, drumming up more than $55,000 through a series of community events. The city funds would be welcomed, said the group's chairman, Ted Boyack.

"We're obviously elated," said Boyack, whose daughter plays basketball for Lawrence Middle School in the district's northwest region. "Hopefully, we've raised awareness about the importance of these kinds of programs, and they won't go on the chopping block again."

But there's no guarantee the middle school sports programs will not be at risk again. The district is facing another budget shortfall -- this time for $2.7 million because of under-enrollment. There's a hiring freeze in place for certain administrative positions, and officials are searching for ways to trim costs without touching student activities, said Superintendent Carlos Garcia.

"Unless we get additional resources from the Legislature, we're going to be in the same dilemma next time around," Garcia said. "We're grateful for the generous offer, but we need to remind people this is just a stopgap measure and that we still need some serious help."

Knowing the positive role middle school sports can play for students made the cuts more painful, Garcia said.

"It makes a huge difference for me," said Garcia, who as a middle school student competed in basketball, flag football and track and field. "If a teacher had not encouraged me to play sports, I might have gotten involved less positive things and headed down the wrong path."

Educators say participating in extracurricular activities such as sports at the middle school level makes it more likely that a student will perform in the classroom. Middle school activities can also serve as a springboard to success in high school, said Weekly's former middle school basketball coach, Ronald Montoya.

"The students learned about teamwork and cooperation," Montoya said. "They also knew they had to do their homework and be good citizens if they wanted to play."

In the early 1980s, budget cuts forced the district to eliminate all middle school athletics for both boys and girls, recalls Larry McKay, now director of sports for the Clark County schools. That included softball, flag football, track and field and tennis. Eventually, funds were found to restore basketball and the cheerleading and dance squads.

"I'd love to see all the sports brought back so that we could reach a wider group of students," McKay said. "But at this point, we'll be grateful just to keep what we have left up and running, and keep those kids playing."