Gaming Club offers children a summer room

By Brandon LaChance, Reporter

MENDOTA – A statement that Mendota residents have made a thousand times over the years is: “There is nothing for the kids to do during summer vacation.”

Although there are options like the Mendota Pool, events at the Graves-Hume Public Library, sports like Mendota Area Youth Soccer, Mendota Matadors baseball and basketball camps, and others, sometimes kids want a change of pace.

Liam’s Marketplace, the Mendota YMCA and the City of Mendota have partnered to create the Gaming Club and provide youth with another option.

“Annie (Short, Mendota project manager), Steve (Donnell, YMCA manager) and I met and talked about it,” said Nick Arteaga, owner of Liam’s Marketplace. “They were trying to come up with other ideas for summer activities for kids. This one seemed to be the most popular with the kids: video games. It’s a way to get out of trouble during summer vacation. There are a lot of humid days when they would probably like to be outside or their parents would like them to be outside, but it’s hot. So video games are fun and safe for them.

“I have a lot of games pre-installed on the consoles. We have three Play Station 5 consoles and a Nintendo Wii. There are also laptops for PC gaming. The games are mainly sports games, Fortnite and other popular games that the kids play. They can play together or individually.”

The first Gaming Club event took place on June 11th and the second on June 25th.

Three more free club events are planned from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. on July 9, July 23 and August 6 (each on a Tuesday).

YMCA Assistant Director Omar Espinoza was there to watch the children play.

“It’s nice to have people like Nick who can give the kids a place to play and help us with ideas for summer planning. We’re used to having sporting events,” Espinoza said. “We’re trying to change that up a bit. We’ve worked with the city and organized events like this one, the gaming club, board games, arts and crafts. We try to do different things and get the kids involved.”

“In June we had a mechanics class where ARS Auto Repair taught the kids how to repair and maintain vehicles. The City of Mendota is remodeling the disc golf course and we are planning a class to play disc golf. We also have a pickleball tournament coming up during the Mendota Sweet Corn Festival. We also have a cooking class planned.”

Liam also has events coming up soon.

Arteaga recently held a Pokémon card training session to teach children the game behind the cards, and he plans to host an event in late summer or early fall where the kids will play against each other.

Liam’s, a consignment shop with various types of items from different vendors for sale, is open Wednesday through Sunday from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

With new events constantly being added to the calendar, Arteaga hopes they all run as smoothly as the Gaming Club.

“We haven’t had a single problem. The kids can get rough sometimes, but we say, ‘Hey, relax,’ and they listen,” Arteaga said. “There haven’t been any bad experiences that would make us not want to continue hosting the gaming club.”

“It’s cool to be able to say I’m part of something like this, where people want to come to events like this. We’ve been open for less than a year and we’re involved in the town, the YMCA and the community. That was the main goal and I’m glad it’s happening so quickly.”