On Aug. 10 at 8 p.m., the Cinnaminson Municipal Alliance will host the first event in its Light the Night series. The group promotes healthy minds, bodies and spirits through wellness, drug and alcohol awareness and community events.
For the upcoming year, the alliance will be holding a series of four events. The first will be an XGLOsive Tennis event at Wood Park targeted to provide teens with an alternative to drug and alcohol consumption.
“We wanted to create this event to give kids an alternative to going into their parents’ basements,” said alliance volunteer Kimberly Mauroff. “XGLOsive Tennis is a company based out of Miami. The Cinnaminson Municipal Alliance worked with Joe Conlin from Prevention Plus of Burlington County and he is friends with the owner. Conlin recommended them to us.
“It’s like tennis meets the club,” Mauroff continued. “When I do other events, we ask the kids questions and it’s always the same answers. A lot of them say they drink because there’s nothing else to do. The Light the Night events give them a free and fun alternative.”
According to Mauroff, the XGLOsive tennis event will feature three sessions with 40 people per session. The first session, at 8 p.m., will be for children ranging from 8 to 12 years old. The two sessions after will be geared toward the older crowd.
“This event was a little bit of a risk because if you don’t like tennis, you may not want to come,” said Mauroff. “Cinnaminson has pretty great tennis programs and with the U.S. Open going on, I think it will garner a lot of attention, but you don’t have to be a tennis pro to come. It’s more than just tennis. It’s a fun space to come and socialize.
“I work a lot with the Students Teaching Options and Prevention club at the high school and we run ideas by them because they know what high school kids like,” Mauroff continued. “There will be a DJ to play music at the event and also everything will be glow in the dark.”
While the XGLOsive event will allow participants to play tennis, it will also feature some informational tables about voter registration and the Cinnaminson Alliance in general.
“The Alliance has been around for 15 years and a lot of people don’t know who we are,” said Mauroff. “Over the last few years, we have gained a lot more exposure, but we want to continue that. While the event is for the teenagers, it’s also a good chance to inform parents.
“The focus for the event however is on fun,” Mauroff continued. “The alliance is a statewide organization, and if this event is popular and we get good feedback, it could lead to all the alliances doing this for their kids. It’s an alternative and a clean way to start their Friday night.”
This event is free. Registration is not required and participants do not have to bring their own rackets.
