This Friday was Family Fun Night at the Y!  My son and I spent time volunteering together to help make it a great event. Roger asked if I would mind helping out with a craft project, so I found this easy snowman ornament to make with the kids.

This was a great event to spend time volunteering with my oldest son.  I think it's important to provide these types of experiences to kids and teens to help develop them as responsible citizens and leaders in the community. It was also another great way for me to spend time interacting with children and their parents at the Y.  These types of events are right up my alley, I really enjoy planning and organizing family centered activities. I believe its important for parents to spend time with their children outside the home, not always playing video games or watching television. 

I have considered additional educational opportunities for myself in nutrition and life/family coaching as part of my career path. I am happy that this internship is allowing me to expand on many of the health & wellness ideas/activities I already did. 

One of the priorities for the staff this week was to finalize the schedules for the Winter I Session that begins on January 6th.  On Friday, I was invited to sit in on their planning meeting to hash out schedules and programming. There are two unique situations that occur as the team develops the schedules: first, there are recreation programs from the city that have to be included in the programming and second, as the staff develops more programming the spaces available become overbooked.  The meeting then becomes a strategic battle by each director to make sure their programming is included and on the days and times their staff is able to work. 

It's great to see the facility begin to offer so many diverse programs and activities, on the other hand, it is very difficult to coordinate scheduling of studio and meeting room times.  At some point during the Fall Sessions the Yoga class had to have class in the office area because the Square Dancing Club was using the studio.  This was very distracting to the people participating in the yoga class as people were in and out of the offices at the entire class.  This time, the staff took extra time to be sure there was no double-booking and that all individuals participating in activites would be happy and enjoy their class.

I was able to lend feedback throughout the meeting and my "couch to 5k" program will be included in the Winter itinerary!

With the Thanksgiving Holiday behind us, the staff at the Delaware YMCA began to focus on preparations for the facility's one year anniversary!  December 17 will mark one year of serving the Delaware community and the Y plans on marking the occasion with a celebration Saturday, December 15th! It's great to see how far the facility has come in one year and what a  important part of the community it has become.

Erin and I spent time Wednesday shopping for decorations and finalizing plans with sponsors.  It was fun to get out of the building and spend time one-on-one with Erin. I took the time to pick her brain with some questions and also discussed some ideas I had to run a "couch to 5k" plan after the first of the year.

I spent time decorating the main lobby with Erin and enjoyed taking time to greet the individuals and families that came to spend time at the Y. It's great to see so many families that come to the Y to spend time together and time leading active, healthy lifestyles. I have always felt that health & wellness is where I would like to see my career path lead to. I enjoy interacting with the children in my gymnastics classes and meeting their parents.  It's very encouraging to see so many families make health & wellness a priority in their lives.

Not too much going on this week due to the Thanksgiving Holiday. I thought I would utilize this blog to talk about the gymnastics/tumbling classes that I have been assisting with each week. The programs that the Delaware Community Center YMCA offers are introductory gymnastics/tumbling classes for children ages 3-12.  Because the movements are fairly basic, I feel pretty confident assisting the children and helping them improve.
Like any new programming for a community, interest level is gauged on participation in the program and feedback from the parents. This paticular class is offered on Tuesday evenings and Saturday mornings, with three classes based on age level (not skill). The first class is for pre-school age children with parent participation and the next two classes are based on age without parent involvement.
I have enjoyed working with the children and have found a new appreciation for these instructors. It has been challenging to find ways to course-correct the children when they misbehave and give feedback and instruction in a way they can understand.  This is a much different experience than working with adults at my regular job (although adults can be just as challenging at times).  I think the new skills I am learning will be valuable as I enter a sports management position.  I have interest in entering the fitness or recreation services sector, and this is giving me a better understanding from the perspective of the parents, children, and instructors.
The most challenging part so far has been that the primary instructor has had some attendance issues due to an illness. This illness has affected her work performance and participation in the class. My mentor, Erin, has asked for my feedback on several occasions on the instructors performance. It is sometimes uncomfortable when I have to step-up and take charge of her class when she is underperforming. However, it is beneficial when my previous management experience allows me the confidence to step-up when it is necessary.

This is one of the basic movements that we teach the children in the Tumbleweeds classes.

This week there was not much going on in the Sports Department, so I elected to help Roger Hanafin (Youth, Teen and Family Programming Director) with some prepartations for the Teen Leaders Club Fundraiser. The first fundraiser is going to be a Rock Wall Climbing Competition that will be held at the end of January. The teens will be helping get sponsorships, plan the event, and volunteer to work at the event. I spent the afternoon making some marketing materials to promote the competition and preparing the registration form that will be used to sign up.

It is very exciting to see new events being promoted at the Y!  Nearly one year ago there were very few activities to choose from, especially for children and families, as the membership base was not there yet and the facility had not had time to develop programming for families yet. I was one of the Delaware YMCA's initial members and I remember being very frustrated at the low level of programming it had to offer at the time.  I now understand the time it takes the staff to develop the programs that work well within a community and the time and resources it takes to plan and staff the programs and events.

I am including a copy of the Rock Wall Competition Registration form that I helped prepare.

This week I had the opportunity to work with one of the other Directors at the Delaware YMCA, Roger Hanafin is the Youth, Teen, & Family Program Director. I got to spend some time learning about his responsibilities and specifically, the YMCA's Teen Leaders Club. The Teen Leaders Club is is a National Club that gives teens, ages 11-17,  an opportunity to gain  real-life, hands-on leadership experience through volunteer opportunities and  trainings at the Y, planning and  executing events (to benefit the Leaders Club), weekend leadership retreats, and weekly Teen Leader Club meetings.
I was asked to lead the first Parents' Meeting to kick off the club. Roger had a previous engagement, so he asked me to step in and lead the meeting on Thursday in his absence.  Leading the meeting was very last minute, but I felt pretty confident with the information after spending time learning its background earlier in the week with Roger. He had prepped for the meeting very well, so all I had to do was make sure it was a success!  At the same time the teens would be in the adjacent room getting aquainted and playing some games.  I felt a personal connection to this paticular project's success, as my own son was participating in the program that evening.
All in  all, the meeting went off without too much trouble (some minor computer problems when showing the video Roger had prepared).  I did get a little nervous when one of the other Directors checked in to be sure the meeting was going well. He didn't offer any feedback, but stayed to share a few things with the group of parents.

This week I was only able to work Tuesday evening for the Coaches meeting for the new K2 Basketball Program. The great news is that 51 children were registered for the program!  This was much more than anticipated for a new program in the community. The closest YMCA, Powell, has a very successful and established K2 program that typically has close to 200 children that register. I thought it was interesting to see the differences between an established YMCA facility and a newer one, and the challenges associated with finding the right programming for the community.
Another challenge to establishing a program like this is finding enough volunteer coaches to run the program successfully. Erin explained that if not enough parents volunteer to coach, she typically sends out an email to the parents explaining that without enough coaches there will be no program.  This is usually a very effective tactic and parents start to volunteer pretty quickly!
The coaches meeting lasted only an hour. I was able to present my new powerpoint presentation to the volunteer coaches and answer any questions relating to the basketball season and scheduling.

This Saturday was the annual Pumpkin Run 5k and the community Halloween Party! 
The Pumpkin Run 5k is an annual partnership with Ohio Wesleyan University and the City of Delaware. With the changes made to the city's recreation programming and the partnership with the YMCA, there were some additional planning challenges to this year's race. Jean Fry, the YMCA's Wellness Coordinator was in charge of planning the event this year. Because the YMCA has very specific branding specifications and event guidelines, some of the event details needed to be alterted fom previous years; including tshirt design and some of the post race prizes.  Most of the race preparations were already in place before I started my internship, but I was able to help with set up that morning and my son and I participated in the event!
The second event of the day was the Annual Community Halloween Party!  Because my mentor, Jeremy Byers, was previously with the city's Parks and Recreation Department he was in charge of coordinating this event. I was able to help make some follow-up calls and confirm details for the Trunk-or-Treat event.  I also volunteered that evening and assisted wherever I was needed and stayed to help with clean up at the end. The event was a success, with nearly 1000 children and their families participating! It was great to see the two city events blending well with the new YMCA family.
Because most of the weeks activities were focused on executing these two events, I was not able to do much else while I was at the YMCA.

This week I put the finishing touches on my powerpoint for the new Coaches Training Meeting for the YMCA and Recreational leagues. The idea behind the presentation is to have information available to present to new volunteer coaches that explains the YMCA philosophies and provides information that will help get coaches started with their new teams. For many of the volunteer coaches, especially the new basketball leagues at the Delaware YMCA, this is their first time coaching.  There are links to YMCA eLearning training programs, YMCA four values and mission statement, a sample practice agenda, and some game day tips to get the coaches started with their teams.
I think this will be great starting point for the coaches training. Because this is a new sports programing partnership in the community, it is important to express the philosophies and mission that the YMCA stands for and assimilate those values into the youth sports programs. 
I am attaching a copy of the finished product.

Today, the majority of my day was spent working on a marketing project (aka-front entry display) focused on the new K2 Basketball League forming for Fall II Session. This will be the first time the Delaware YMCA will be offering this program and they are looking for a strong registration numbers for the league. I worked with Erin, one of my mentors, on designing and setting up the display in the main lobby to attract members as they enter the building. One piece of the display required some signing and information to be displayed on a basketball hoop.  While we were putting together the information, I learned all about the YMCA's rebranding initiative. As a leading nonprofit with a strong, meaningful brand, the YMCA must present itself consistently as a unified cause with shared values and a common voice.  This is being executed through several branding initiatives that will eventually phase all USA-YMCA locations to present the same brand image. This includes the use of trademark logos, approved color combinations, imaging, and approved fonts for communication. I have included an approved basketball image that we used for the marketing promotion.
I found the branding initiative to be very interesting and restricting at the same time. While I am use to my current company to be very brand orientated in its marketing strategies and communication, I struggled a bit on the YMCA being so restrictive in its imagery and communications mediums for the staff and members.  However, I can appreciate the importance of a recreational facility or sports team being able to convey a clear message through their brand communication.  Logos and brand symbols are the primary way fans identify with their favorite teams, so the need to communicate that brand through a unified, consistent means is imperative.
The display turned out great and was already attracting attention from the kids coming in after school that day!