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This was my final week of my internship at the Delaware Community YMCA. I spent my remaining time filing paperwork and preparing coaching letters for the upcoming baseball drafts. I will not be there to assist with the drafts (the week of April 14th), but I am told by my mentors that they are very exciting and a lot of fun.  

I have really enjoyed my time at the YMCA and I have learned much more than I ever expected. 
I am grateful to my mentors for inviting me to work at the YMCA and appreciate everything they have allowed me to experience.

 
These last two weeks I have spent some extra time with the gymnastics classes helping to prepare for the Team performance. I also spend a good portion of time preparing binders and filing paperwork for baseball registration. 

I have really enjoyed my time with the gymnastics classes, much more than I originally thought I would. Every Monday I spend ten hours at my full time job and then, very tired head over to the YMCA
to spend the evening with the gymnastics classes. I am always reenergized by the children and truly enjoy spending time with them. It makes the day not seem so long and I always feel rewarded by the fact
that I can impact their lives. This experience has changed my perspective on working with children and I have even accepted a part-time position with the YMCA after my internship to continue working in the gymnastics program!  I should be a lot of fun, as I enjoy working with Christine (the main instructor) and the kids so much!

 
These two weeks the work load has been fairly light. The Sports Department will be preparing for baseball season in the coming weeks. I was able to participate in a Recreation meeting held at Mingo Park, the community’s main park & recreation facility. Mingo Park houses an outdoor pool, a main building with gymnasium, baseball fields, a skate park, a few shelters, and a mile-long paved walking path. The reason the staff meeting was held at Mingo, was to discuss the upcoming opportunities and scheduling for summer programming. The aquatics staff was there to talk about what their plans are for the pool scheduling as well. 

Since the city and YMCA merged it has been a challenge to get many of the recreation programs to be successful. While much of the YMCA programming has been popular, the recreation programs run out of  Mingo have not had good numbers and attendance at the pool has been falling. The meeting served as a brain-storming session, so to speak, to find creative ways to drive the recreation programming. There was much discussion about how to get the numbers up for pool passes and some activities/programming that could be added to boost these numbers. Some of things suggested were: adding music to the pool deck, purchasing additional lounge chairs and umbrellas, theme nights for teens or adults, and different entry times for school groups, members and day passes. The conversation also included safety information for lifeguard recertification, wristbands for school groups, and CPR training schedule for staff.

An important addition to this year’s schedule at Mingo will be the YMCA Summer camp that will be based out of Mingo.   Much of the discussion focused around the logistics of staffing, parking, and programming for the children.  

It will be challenging for the staff to continue to highlight the programming offered out of Mingo and revitalize this location for the community. I think there were a ton of great ideas thrown out
in the meeting, the key will be execution from the staff. 


 
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This week I spent some time helping Roger with some of the Youth & Family activities. Thursday, February 21st the Delaware Community YMCA hosted a special event to celebrate the 1st graduation ceremony of the newest group of Teen Leaders.Teens participating in the program have spent the last six weeks completing a formal training program designed to give the kids the opportunity to learn various job and life skills.  Each week the kids focused on a different topic, including: interviewing skills, customer service skills, and even writing a resume. My own son participated in the program and the graduation ceremony. 

Much of the programming and events that happen at the YMCA are supported with volunteers. This base group of Teen Leaders will become a force of volunteers that will help out with various events, projects, and support staff at the Community building. The teens will do things like fold towels, mop the floors, help at the rock-wall, and even become assist counselors for summer camp programs. These children will become invested in the YMCA culture and become future leaders within their community. I have been very impressed at the ways the YMCA is able to bring people in from the community, children and adults, and integrate them in to the YMCA culture and organization. 

As I said, I spent a good part of my week helping with the Teen Leader graduation ceremony. I helped Roger with the graduation certificates and also drafted the “official” Teen Leader Club Pledge.  Thursday night was the ceremony and I was impressed to see over forty kids participate in the graduation!  Local community leaders and YMCA directors were on-hand to give speeches and encourage the kids.
I have included a picture of my son receiving his certificate and a group picture.


 
With baseball season fast approaching, it was time to prepare sponsorship request letters to be sent to area businesses. Delaware City has a very successful youth baseball league each spring. My mentor, Jeremy Byers, has been overseeing this program for several years. Now, as part of the YMCA, the baseball programming falls to the Sports Department as a recreation program. Team sponsorships are important to keep the program running and provide much needed equipment and supplies for the teams. This is also a great way for area business to support youth development programs and its great advertising.
 
To prepare for the number of softball and baseball sign-ups I worked on setting up several binders that we will use to keep things organized. The binders are organized by each baseball/softball division and by gender. We will use these binders during the drafts for the teams that will be held in April. Jeremy’s experience with the baseball program is invaluable and many of the participants sign-up because of years of great experiences they have had in the program. I have learned the importance of building relationships with the businesses in the community; many have been sponsoring teams for years. Families support the businesses and many have had generations of children participate in the baseball leagues throughout
the years.

 
This afternoon I attended a meeting with the building leaders on the subject of the Central Ohio YMCA’s annual giving campaign. A representative from the Metropolitan Staff came to give a presentation to the staff and outline some of the new technology the YMCA began using this year. Andrew Roberts, Central Ohio YMCA President, also visited and spoke with the staff about the importance of the annual campaign. This year, in combination with the YMCA’s People Helping People giving program, the YMCA is launching Champions for a Cause. Individuals within the YMCA community are encouraged to become Champions for their branch. By sharing their success stories they are able to reach out to others and help
contribute to the success of their YMCA branch.


I was encouraged to hear some of Andrew’s personal success stories and understand how the annual giving campaign supports the many programs and community outreach offered by the YMCA. Everyone that attended the meeting worked through the steps to set up a “Champions Page” and establish a personal fundraising goal. The discussed some of the ways they would reach out to the Delaware members and recruit more Champions to help support the cause. It was very interesting to see the fundraising challenges of a non-profit organization and discuss the various ways to make the most impact within a community
 
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Today was the First Ever “Delaware YMCA Rock-Wall Challenge” Competition!  The event was organized by the Teen Leaders Club and all proceeds benefit the Teen Leaders Scholarship fund to help students attend camp and other activities. The Delaware Community YMCA is lucky to have a two-story climbing wall located in the front  lobby.  This is the very first event the Teen Leaders club is sponsoring and is a great moment for the teens to demonstrate responsibility and planning.  

Participants pay to enter the timed event and it is divided by age and skill levels. The first round was the small children and low skill level, and so on. The participant with the fastest time in each
division is the winner.  Roger was very generous and gave prizes to male and female winners of the events. I was recruited to help in the morning with some of the set up and help out during the
event. The Rock-Wall Challenge was a huge success! There was a swim meet going on at the same time, so the building was packed!
 
Later in the afternoon I stayed to help with the 7th & 8th Grade basketball games again. It is so
exciting to see all these programs so successful and so many members of the community benefiting from the facility and its programs. 
 



 
This week I spent some time putting together a plan for the "Couch to 5k" program I will be leading starting in February.  The 12 week program will be in conjunction with the YMCA's "Press Play" program that began this fall. It's geared towards helping adults get back to leading an active lifestyle. "The series invites adults in their 40s or older — YMCA patrons and non-members  alike — to join a bootcamp that helps get them back in shape. The 12-week training sessions would end in time for the participants, if they choose, to  sign up for the regular season of the corresponding sport" (see Delaware Gazzette Article). 

I am an avid runner, so this progamming was a natural fit for me to lead. I will help the group through a 12 week progam designed to help anyone complete a 5k race (3.1 miles).  This can seem very intimidating to some, but can be a great challenge to start off the new year!  My program will focus on a walk-run strategy that can be adapted to suit any running level. I am very excited to lead my own program and look forward to a successful session!  
delaware_gazzette_press_play_article.pdf
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This was my first week back to work at the YMCA after a three week break for the holidays.  Winter Session I began on Monday and I was back to helping with Tumbling/Gymnastics classes. We have a new instructor, Christine, who has a background in dance and gymnastics. Christine has a ton of great ideas for developing the gymnastics program and has worked out with Erin to add a "Team" class, for the more advanced children, that will include coordinated routines and a small performance for parents at the end of the session. I think the expanded gymnastics programming will be very popular and well-received by the community.

Saturday was also the beginning of 7th & 8th grade basketball season. This is a great opportunity for middle school boys and girls that don't make the school team to play on a team. This is also the first time the Delaware YMCA is offering this league. To clarify, the YMCA offers leagues for K-2 and 7-8 grades; there is a city recreation league available for 3rd-6th grade that holds games at another location. This may seem confusing, and sometimes it is, but the city program was in place before the YMCA took over all programming.

I worked Saturday to help with set up and be sure the basketball league got off to a good start. Erin also asked if I could assist with score keeping for the three games that afternoon. I am not a huge basketball fan and have basic knowledge of the sport, but I was happy to assist.  Once I figured everything out, it was really quite easy.  A few of my friends children were playing, so it was also fun to cheer them on!

I am learning so much about sports/recreation programming and the
challenges of developing new leagues in a community.