“Different strokes for different folks,
And so on and so on, and scooby-dooby-dooby.”
— Sly Stone (Sylvester Stewart), “Everyday People”
Everybody has a different way of using parks and sports facilities, aquatic venues and fitness clubs. Just in our small office here, we have folks involved in everything from golf and water polo to camping, hiking, dance programs, summer theater and more. Even a single person over the course of a lifetime will have a desire to pursue a wide range of activities and pastimes that make use of local aquatic facilities, parks, sports fields and more in numerous ways.
As professionals managing these facilities, your offerings need to hit the sweet spot of being varied enough to attract a diverse audience, and trendy enough to draw a good number of
people through the proverbial doors.
This month, we’ve got all kinds of ideas to help you with that. Make your playgrounds more diverse by adding more inclusive elements (see page 26). Bring more people to the pool by adding competitive programs like water polo (see page 18). Meet demand by finding ways to add today’s biggest trend—pickleball—to your offerings (see page 38). Or simply get more people in the door by taking seasonal programs year-round with nonconventional structures (see page 38).
Finding new ways to reach people with recreation, sports and fitness is all in a day’s work, and that work is, according to our Salary Survey, highly rewarding. People’s careers also vary, but professionals who responded to our annual survey are largely happy in their work, well educated and earning more than the average American worker. See how your earnings measure up on page 12.
We’re all so different in so many ways, but we all need the outlet provided by recreation, sports and fitness facilities, whether it’s traversing a ropes course or swimming laps in the pool, building strength at the outdoor gym or soaking in the music at the local summer concert in the park. So keep strengthening what you have on offer, and find new ways to get more people involved and connected. It’s important work.
Cheers!
Emily Tipping
Editorial Director,
Recreation Management
emily@recmanagement.com
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Recreation Management, 50 N. Brockway St.,
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