Basketball, cheerleading

Orrington Recreation Commission will offer basketball programs for pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. A cheerleading program for elementary school children also will be offered. Registration will be held 6-7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 6; Thursday, Nov. 8; and 9 a.m.-10:30 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 10, at Center Drive School. The cost is $15 per child or $30 per family.

Registrations for either program are due by Tuesday, Nov. 14. Games will begin Saturday, Dec. 1, and run through January. The commission needs volunteers to help as coaches and referees, and is seeking team sponsors for the third-grade through eighth-grade teams.

To keep the community informed, the commission uses the town of Orrington Web site. Registration forms and updated information will be available at http://orrington.govoffice.com under the Municipal Departments, Recreation, ORC Forms.

For information about the basketball or cheerleading programs, call Debbie Abbott, 825-4823, or Mike Wood, 825-5560.

Outdoor Adventure Club

BANGOR – The Eastern Maine chapter of the Maine Outdoor Adventure Club is seeking new members of all ages and abilities. Each month a member or guest speaker gives a presentation on a recent outdoor adventure.

The club will meet at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 30, at Epic Sports, Central Street. George Elliot and Gail Downs will give a program on adventures by bicycle and barge in Belgium.

Future meetings include “hands on” presentations on ski waxing, preparing for your first winter camping trip and bicycle maintenance.

Club activities take place statewide and are announced by e-mail lists. Activities include hiking, water sports, biking, skiing, snow-shoeing, extreme sports such as ice climbing and gentle sports such as walking or birding. Each month a beginners hike is held in eastern Maine. Each week members meet in the City Forest for a brisk walk.

A local series of progressive hikes for 2008 is being discussed. For information about the club, visit www.moac.org.

Soccer training

Blackbear United is offering youth soccer development, training and competitive teams for boys and girls in age groups U10-U19, and a youth academy for players age 4 to 13.

Blackbear United is a nonprofit organization affiliated with the SoccerMaine Youth Soccer Association through the Pine Tree State League, the Northeast Regional League and the State Cup tournament.

Blackbear United will host tryouts in November, then select which teams to offer and assign the coaching staff. The tryout schedule is:

Sunday, Nov. 4, 11 and 18, Hermon Elementary School.

. Noon-1:15 p.m., U10, U11, U12 boys and girls.

. 1:30-2:45 p.m., U13, U14, U15 boys and girls.

. 3-4:15 p.m., U16 and U18 boys and girls.

The tryout fee is $25, and new this year, online credit card payments will be accepted. Registration begins 30 minutes before tryout time. The fee covers all tryouts for that season.

For information, e-mail info@blackbearunited.com or leave a message at 862-4154, Ext. 2. To preregister, visit www.blackbearunited.com/tryouts.

Handicapped skiing

Maine Handicapped Skiing needs volunteers to teach adaptive alpine and Nordic skiing, snowboarding and snowshoeing to more than 250 adults and children with physical disabilities this coming winter.

Maine Handicapped Skiing is a year-round adaptive recreation program in its 26th year. It provides standard and adaptive ski equipment, warm winter clothing when needed and specially trained volunteer instructors to work with children and adults with physical disabilities so they can become independent skiers and snowboarders.

Skiing and riding volunteers must be at least 18, be an intermediate skier or rider and have their own ski equipment. Volunteers are required to take three days of training in November and December, and volunteer 10 days as an instructor during the MHS season from Jan. 2 through March. Volunteers ski free when volunteering and for each day contributed to instructing, they receive a complimentary lift-trail pass at one of three MHS locations – Sunday River Ski Resort, Sunday River Inn and Cross Country Ski Center or Sugarloaf.

Volunteer snowmobile drivers are needed to transport participants to different parts of the mountain throughout the day. Volunteer photographers, videographers and indoor volunteers are needed, as well.

Maine Handicapped Skiing also has a Junior Volunteer program for ages 16 and 17.

For information on becoming a volunteer, call 800-639-7770, e-mail Judy Sullivan at jsullivan@skimhs.org or visit www.skimhs.org .