UCAN Sports

It was a perfectly sunny day out on the pitch last Saturday at the premier of South East Consortium’s UCAN sports league. Athletes, parents, staff and volunteers made their way out onto the grassy field to kick around the soccer ball, get some exercise and just have fun.

UCAN sports league is the first of many new programs in a monumental initiative to redefine the way we approach and manage special needs athletics. UCAN, along with several other new and revamped South East Consortium athletic programs, combines co-operative play between participants and inclusionary participation with volunteers to create the optimal social and athletic experience.

Athletes arrive to practice and are paired up with their volunteer buddies for some down time before practice. Once the majority of players have arrived practice commences. Practice consists of two main components; straight physical exercise that helps develop and improve balance, strength and coordination (all integral foundations for sports) and a systematic expansion of sport specific skills that is built upon each week.

The volunteers provide support to our athletes while modeling and reinforcing taught skills. The volunteers also serve as a vehicle for social interaction between athletes with the intent of building confidence and interpersonal skills in a fun and enjoyable atmosphere.

The staff on hand possess a wealth of knowledge and experience when it comes to children and athletics. Teachers, firefighters, lifeguards and Eagle Scouts make up the exemplary staff South East Consortium has running the UCAN sports program.

Other sports program South East Consortium is currently running include TriSports, Partners in Sports, Cottle Crew Elementary After School, SEC Sluggers Fall Ball baseball clinic and Eastchester Eagles basketball camp. All of which work on incorporating aspects of the UCAN program.

“What we are trying to do here has never been done. We are looking to develop individual sports leagues throughout the area with the goal of one day having Rye play Eastchester or Harrison play Larchmont in a fun and competitive setting,” said Executive Director of South East Consortium Jerry Peters.

UCAN sports meets every Saturday at the Quaker Ridge School in Scarsdale. The fall season will focus on soccer, basketball in the winter and baseball in the fall. For more information about UCAN sports please contact the South East Consortium offices at 914-698-5232.

9th Annual Lauren Rizzetta Memorial Bowling Tournament

Come out for the 9th Annual Lauren Rizzetta Memorial Special Olympics Bowling Tournament. We will have fun competing and remembering our friend Lauren during this Special Olympic event. To participate you must have a current Special Olympic medical on file. 

Please wear your South East Consortium Bowling Team Shirt and sweat pants or pants (no blue jeans allowed). Bring a sack lunch and money for the snack bar.

Transportation is available on a limited basis to the event. If you are interested in transportation please let us know when your return your registration.

We must submit a list by the end of the week so please send those registrations bask asap, or just call the office and let us know.

The Wizard Of Oz

On Sunday September 21st South East took a group to see the last showing of "The Wizard Of Oz" at the Westchester Broadway Theater. As you an imagine everyone enjoyed this live version of the beloved movie. Our participants were singing along and dancing as the actors sang all the well know songs from The Wizard Of Oz. It was a great time, hanging out with great friends enjoying great entertainment! 

SEC at the Food Fest 2014

South East took a group to enjoy the Food Fest this past weekend at Harbor Island Park in Mamaroneck. We all had a really awesome time, enjoyed some amazing food, took part is some fun activities and got to meet Graham Elliot from the Fox TV show "MasterChef"! 

When we first arrived we sampled some delicious food from local eateries, then we sat down to watch Graham Elliot do a demo on a beautiful scallop dish. While Graham was cooking some of our participants got to see him cook up close!

Next we continued to walk about the tent areas to try some more food and participated in a couple of fun games about nutrition, local farms and won prizes to take home. Some participants were able to take home t-shirts, bracelets, pens, chocolate and more!

After sampling all that food we decided to walk over to the other area where they were playing live music. It wasn't long before our group found a comfortable place to relax and digest! There was comfortable Yogibo seating area for our participants and staff hang out and enjoy the festival. It was a truly wonderful day and this is something we will be looking to do again next year!

Fall Ball At South East!

After much demand SEC Sluggers is coming back for a limited time this Fall. Fall Ball will feature a 4 week Sunday morning baseball clinic at Labriola Field in Eastchester. Participants will work on hitting, running, catching and fielding all while fostering social interaction between peers. There’s no better time to be slipping on the mitt than on a cool, crisp autumn morning. Space is limited so please sign up today! Contact the South East Consortium offices for details concerning registration. Registration closes October 1^st. 

Click here for the registration form

Teen Chef Program

South East had it's first ever "Teen Chef" program yesterday and it was a success! We made Garden Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette. In this program we want to keep it healthy and for the first class we decided to keep it easy. We worked on a couple of different skills.

First we chopped up all our vegetables including lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and bell peppers. Each participant go their own cutting board, lettuce knife and salad bowl because we are working on independence in the kitchen.

After all the vegetables were cut up we worked on our vinaigrette. We squeezed our oranges, lemons and grapefruits by hand.

Then we carefully poured the juice into our vinaigrette bowls. After that we added the other ingredients including rice wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, salt and zest from our citrus.

Next we whisked all of our vinaigrette ingredients together and poured it all over our salad. The smell of citrus was all around us, yum!

Finally we grated our fresh asiago cheese to top off our salad along with seasoned croutons for a crunch. 

And last but certainly not least we got to taste a little of our hard work and the feedback was very good! The rest of the salad our teen chefs got to take home to enjoy with their families. 

SEC at Yankee Stadium

On Sunday, September 7^th, South East Consortium took a special trip to see the NY Yankees take on the Kansas City Royals at the stadium.  18 Participants boarded the Yankee Clipper in Scarsdale to get to the stadium.  

Once at the stadium we enjoyed a BBQ Lunch on the Malibu Rooftop Deck followed by a special ceremony honoring Yankee’s Captain, Derek Jeter.  South East Consortium was also welcomed on the Board by the NY Yankees twice!!!  

Participants got to enjoyed ice cream in souvenir helmet cups and commemorative coins were given out by the Yankees celebrating the legacy of Derek Jeter.