Articles
Public Restroom Advertorial
Public restrooms are a standard feature at most parks, but post-COVID, several park managers and municipalities face an uphill battle reopening restrooms and keeping them cleaner with reduced staff. Here are some simple design considerations for future restroom builds to help.
Slugging Through Maintenance
As parks administrators—and parents—know all too well, children are plugged into electronic devices and tuned out of “live” action for too many hours in the day. The quintessential childhood experience of running out the back door and spending the day outside has largely disappeared, as have other critical developmental processes: group socialization, physical fitness, competition, and just plain play.
How to Prepare the Next Generation of Parks and Rec Leaders in the Digital Era
Parks and recreation departments have been facing a staffing paradigm shift for the past several years. With tenured baby boomers retiring and continued pressures to
A Refresher Course
In the last 20 years, I have been called countless times to lend advice to an athletic field manager, school custodian, or school board member who wanted a “better” field for the athletes. After a few conversations with similar answers, I realized many people were forgetting the basic steps needed to properly maintain athletic fields.
Take Control Of Aquatic Staffing
Aquatic facilities across the country are facing unprecedented staffing challenges. How they are addressed today can lead to an even stronger foundation in the future.
Field Of Study
The old axiom, “The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence,” might be appropriate for almost any sports field this time of year. With play returning and athletes absolutely determined to make up for lost time, it’s not surprising fields aren’t looking their best.
Painting With Robots
In January 2019, Manatee County (Fla.) moved into the 21st century of field painting with its first GPS, robotic field-painting robot. It was purchased for the Premier Sports Campus (PSC), a 75-acre, natural-turf facility that brings in high-level clients and tournaments, such as U.S. Soccer, the USL Showcase, and the Developmental Academy Showcase, to name a few.
Synthetic Turf
More than 8,000 multi-use, synthetic-turf fields are in play today at North American K-12 schools, colleges, parks, and professional sports stadiums, according to the Synthetic Turf Council. This trend reflects a growing desire to invest in surfaces that are safe for athletes, are durable over time, and require minimal maintenance.
More To Explore
Planning for improvements at Oregon Park District’s Park West in Illinois were many years in the making. Because of COVID-19, the timing of the completion was actually an asset, not only to residents, but to surrounding communities as well.
Club All-Access
The Grapevine Parks and Recreation’s Club All-Access in Texas is an adaptive recreation program for adults ages 18 and older with special needs. The purpose of the program is to create opportunities for participants to engage in a variety of activities geared towards vocational readiness, health and wellness, independent living, and life skills, along with creating authentic social connections with peers.
You Won’t Win Them All
“You lost today, kid, but that doesn't mean you have to like it.”
— Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Everyone wants to win. Everyone wants to be a winner.
The Basics In Social Media
Particularly after 2020, parks and recreation professionals are busier than ever. Increased traffic during quarantine and a long-standing funding deficit have caused professionals to focus on a park’s physical presence and ignore any attempts at a digital presence.
Scary Scenarios
When you think about youth sports, the first vision might be of kids with big smiles running up and down a field chasing a soccer ball. Or, maybe you see parents in the stands at a basketball game cheering loudly when a boy or girl makes a free throw for the first time.
Move On
My wife and I are often amused at some evening television that involves troubled adults who just can’t settle with their childhoods and the way their parents screwed up their lives. From the “unable to commit” daughter with father issues to the overbearing son with confidence issues, parents always seem to be held accountable for everything that went wrong.