Army offers children indoor sports classes

Cold rain fell outside the Rhine Ordnance Barracks special events center one recent evening, as Sgt. 1st Class Steve Alombro and his wife, Sheryll, brought their son to tennis class.

Inside, they saw a familiar face – Coach Adel Ismail, smiling on a brand new blue and white tennis court.
“He’s really good with kids,” said Alombro of Ismail, who’s instructed American children for decades in Heidelberg and is now part of U.S. Army Garrison Rheinland Pfalz’s youth tennis program. “Everyone who came here from Heidelberg knows Coach Adel.”

A tennis champion in Egypt, his native country, Adel began teaching tennis to Army families in 1988 at Heidelberg’s Patrick Henry Village, which closed recently when U.S. Army Garrison Baden-Württemberg deactivated. The Alombros left Heidelberg last year and they miss it.

While their son, Francis, 11, has taken swimming and soccer in the KMC, youth classes never felt quite the same, Sheryll Alombro said.

“It’s great that Coach Adel is here. He’s familiar to us,” she said. “It brings us a little comfort, a little piece of Heidelberg here with us.”

Out on the court, Vivian Ricciardi, 7, a student at Vogelweh Elementary School whacked a ball over the net, earning her Coach Adel’s praise. Her mom, Domenica, watching from nearby bleachers, smiled knowing that sports helps Vivian from missing her father, a 21st Theater Sustainment Command Soldier currently deployed to Afghanistan, she said.

“It helps her stay busy and not miss her daddy so much,” Domenica Ricciardi said. “Plus, it’s convenient for me. It’s an activity we can do by Vogelweh and not drive to Sembach or Landstuhl.”

Nearby, children scrambled for a soccer ball on an indoor field. Coaching them is Sebastian Korst, a professional soccer player whose career includes time with soccer teams in Kaiserslautern, Saarbrücken and Scotland.  Previously, indoor soccer was offered on makeshift turf. This November, construction crews put together both the new tennis courts and soccer arena.

“This is so we can offer programs over the winter as months get colder,” said Jose Gonzalez, from SKIESUnlimited, a Child, Youth & School Services program that’s part of the garrison’s Family and
Morale, Welfare and Recreation directorate. “We also have other classes, like dance, gymnastics and engineering.”

For more information contact SKIES Unlimited at 486-8658 or 06371-86-8658.