Frenzy Friday

GRANDVIEW -- Step into the Grandview Middle School gymnasium on a Friday afternoon and be ready to duck.

Just in case.

At Frenzy Friday, a weekly after-school youth hangout, a dodgeball could come flying your way any moment.

You also might be roped into a game of Connect 4, Foosball or hopscotch. Then again, you may share an iPod earphone with a tween girl so you can hear Hillary Duff's latest.

"Well, it doesn't take too long when you walk into the gym to realize why it's called 'frenzy,'" says Mike Carpenter, Grandview Parks and Recreation director.

For a more relaxed atmosphere, some kids take turns in the computer lab across the hall.

The program, basically an open gymnasium atmosphere for middle schoolers, has entered its third year and has been averaging more than 100 kids per week.

The Grandview School District and city started Frenzy Friday in 2006 to give kids an option of a supervised, yet unstructured, environment on Friday afternoons, when schools release early for faculty training.

Before it started, those kids wandered around the streets of Grandview looking for things to do. They weren't always "wholesome" choices, Carpenter says.

Frenzy Friday begins at 11:45 a.m., as soon as school gets out.

All kids who want to attend sign in. They may leave when they want, but once they do, they're done for the day.

Teachers, aides and administrators help Carpenter and other city staff members keep watch at the very least. Sometimes those adults organize a game or two.

Carpenter usually puts together a game of dodgeball at one end of the gymnasium. He referees for a while but then joins in.

If not for Frenzy Friday, "I'd be home eating chips, watching MTV and listening to my iPod," said Brianna Moreno, a Grandview Middle School student and avid Frenzy Friday fan.

She then runs off to join a game of basketball.