Help in your hip pocket!

“When campers get bored, camp stops being fun. We know there are those inevitable times during camp, like when an activity is being set up, lunch is being prepared, everyone is waiting for the evening activity to start, etc.

Many counselors, especially first-time counselors, aren’t sure what to do when this happens. They remember they learned some games during training, but they can’t recall them.”

That’s where the Hip Pocket Activities booklet comes in. This is a small booklet that each of your staff can carry in a pocket or backpack. The 60-page booklet fits in your pocket and contains:

• Riddles
• Tongue Twisters
• “Would You Rather” and “If” Questions
• Conversation Starters
• Minute Mysteries
• Charade Topics
• Attention Getters
• Ice Breakers
• Nature Activities
• Games for Small Gorups
• Games for Large Groups
• Teambuilding Activities

Jackson started making these for his staff four years ago, and he says they all carry one with them every day of camp. He says this version is the best one yet.

To order, click here.

The meeting will take place Sept. 28-Oct. 1 in Phoenix.

This year’s theme is “Beyond Boundaries: Design, Leadership and Community.”

There will be honors and awards, speakers, and educational sessions and workshops where landscape architects can earn professional development hours.

The Expo will feature 450 exhibits and a dozen learning labs featuring the newest and best products and services.

ASLA members also will give back to the community, working the the ACE Mentor Program to upgrade the horticulture program greenhouse and build a courtyard garden at Metro Tech High School.

For more information or to register, click here.

Use tweezers to remove ticks.

Hikers and others who enjoy the outdoors in areas where Lyme disease is present should be vigilant in checking themselves and their children for ticks to help prevent the transmission of Lyme disease.

To help prevent bites, be sure to tuck pants into socks, and shirt into pants.

Shower within two hours of leaving the trail and be sure to check yourself (and children) for ticks, especially checking armpits, hair, ears and behind the ears, belly button, behind the knees, and groin.

If you find a tick, do not follow old-school advice such as using a lit match to detach it. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends removing ticks with tweezers. View their easy-to-understand tick removal instructions and pictures.

When back from the trail be sure to launder clothing (dry in a hot dryer) and also check your pets.

A tepee and a platform tent at Quiet Waters Park.

Quiet Waters Park’s Rent-a-Tent/Tepee Campground in Deerfield Beach, Fla., has the solution.

Its 25 Rent-a-Tent sites and two tepee sites are ready and waiting for you.

The tent sites feature a canvas platform tent already set up for you–all you have to do is move in. Each site comes with water and electricity, as well as a grill, a picnic table, and a fire ring.

Tepee sites are similarly equipped.

Two camping specials run from June 1 through Sept. 30, 2012:

• The Family Fun Package offers a two-night stay (Fridays and Saturdays only) for four campers for just $55; two more campers can be added at only $3 each.

• The Escape Special, which is good Sundays through Thursdays only, offers a one-night stay for four campers for only $20 per site. Two additional campers can join you for just $3 each per night.

Quiet Waters Park is at 401 S. Powerline Rd., Deerfield Beach 33442

For further information, call the park at 954-357-5100.

The Griffin family cuts the ribbon on the new inclusive playground in Belton, Mo.

In Belton, Mo., the quick and positive reaction of the Parks and Recreation department to the pleas of a family show the tremendous effect a community can have on its citizens and its social capital.

In March 2010, Kelly Griffin, a mother of two daughters, wrote a heartfelt letter to Todd Spalding, Director of Parks and Recreation for Belton, to say that although they loved going to their local park, they were frustrated that their daughter was unable to play with her older sister.

Kelly explained that her daughter Paisley has a rare genetic syndrome that requires her to spend most of her time in a wheelchair. That left her sitting on the sidewalk, watching everyone else play, because she could not access the playgrounds in Belton’s parks.

Both Paisley and her older sister, Hayley, often ended visits to the park in tears because one couldn’t play, the other played by herself, and both parents were torn and frustrated. Kelly went on to say that it didn’t seem fair that the parks were not set up for ALL kids to enjoy, and that children with special needs are entitled to play outdoors like every other kid.

The very next day, Kelly received a call from Spalding. He told Kelly, “I didn’t realize the magnitude of the challenges that members of the community with disabilities faced.”

He vowed to make it right. He asked if the family would come meet with his department and discuss the challenges the current play spaces presented to help him better understand how to improve them.

“When we showed up,” said Kelly, “his assistant, Vanda Meehan, already had pictures of swings and playground surfaces ready to present to us at the meeting. We were blown away by their rapid response.

“Shortly after the initial meeting, Mr. Spalding contacted us and said they were going to re-do a whole playground and make it completely accessible, and they wanted our family to give input on the designs.”

Paisley Griffin is happy to be able to play with her big sister and other kids on the playground.

Belton Park and Recreation contacted PlayCore to learn more about the company’s Seven Principles of Inclusive Design and to understand what products were available to help create the vision that the Griffin family dreamed of.

PlayCore, which created the design program in partnership with Utah State University’s Center for Persons with Disabilities, saw the need to create a playground design program that addressed a multitude of abilities, taking inclusion beyond ADA access guidelines to provide best practice design principles that ensure that all people are included.

PlayCore’s Play and Park Structures brand provided the products to execute the design, and their local representative, Karen Herren with ABCreative, listened carefully to ensure that the play space met the needs of the Griffins and the community.

Spalding contacted the Griffins to let them know that they were going for a completely new play space in the community’s Memorial Park, and that they were going to put a measure on the ballot for the community to vote for the park improvements.

“The first time we saw the plans, I was overcome with emotion,” Kelly Griffin said. “Just the thought of my daughter getting to play on a playground like that was so incredible! We were so impressed with the options that were offered.

“The plans included shade, and something for kids of all abilities, not just those in wheelchairs, but for kids with sensory, communicative, cognitive issues; we found all of that in their design plans.”

The Griffins began working hand in hand with the Belton parks department team to get the community on board, and the measure passed with overwhelmingly strong community support. It is worth noting that the measure included plans to revamp the entire park, not just the play space, because the community saw the value and the overwhelming community capital that the new space would add.

The ribbon cutting ceremony to open the new space was held on October 13, 2011, only 18 months after that first letter from Kelly Griffin, which is a testament to the power of the park department and the community to commit to and achieve a goal.

Kelly states, “There are no words to describe the moment we arrived at the playground for the first time and Paisley was able to enter the play area in her wheelchair. There were no tears of hurt and frustration this time, only tears of joy and thankfulness poured from our hearts. All that our little girl wanted to do was play! She was able to laugh and giggle and play WITH her sister!

“Our family absolutely loves the park now. Paisley’s favorite part is the slide; the smile that she has as she is going down is priceless!”

The Griffins have been approached by several families in surrounding communities, who share their excitement at being able to take their children with special needs to the park and experience the same playful joy and freedom.

They hope that by telling their story, other communities will see that there is no limit to what can be achieved by a park department and a community with vision, support, and dedication.

To receive a complimentary copy of The 7 Principles of Inclusive Playground Design, send a request to info@playcore.com.

The exhibit opens May 19 and features the plants that inspired so many of the artist’s paintings.

For more information, go to www.nybg.org.

If you would like us to feature your project or event in our Wordless Wednesday emails, please send photos or videos to Web Editor Ann Norman at ann@northstarpubs.com.

For more videos from the Fairfax County Park Authority, click here.

If you would like your park or recreation activity to be featured in a future PRB Wordless Wednesday email, please send photos or videos to Web Editor Ann Norman at ann@northstarpubs.com.

Learn more about Space Camp at www.spacecamp.com and on www.CampsNReviews.com

If you would like us to feature your camp in our Wordless Wednesday emails, send photos or videos to Web Editor Ann Norman at ann@northstarpubs.com.

Each campfire is as unique as a snowflake.

2. You’re never as fat as your bathing suit makes you feel.

3. If you aren’t leaving camp with a new, previously unknown talent (like making a blue ribbon-worthy goat bleat in a state fair animal skit) that you didn’t have before you left home, you’re not trying hard enough.

4. Each campfire is as unique as a snowflake and equally as beautiful.

5. If you want to make leather rounder nametags and your best camp friend wants to learn the line dances to “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” and “Sugar Sugar,” leave the rounders for a rainy day.

6. When you do make a leather rounder nametag, don’t let the cute Goth boy make yours unless you don’t mind being known as “Deth” for the next few summers.

7. There is nothing as comforting as sharing a blanket of stars with your friends.

8. Alone, we all sing horribly. Together, we’re a symphony.

9. After you gather the courage to jump from the high dive and make the plunge, everything in life gets easier.

10. Even if the hand next to you in the dark is sticky, wet or cold when the camp sings “Taps,” don’t try to get away. They might be your next best friend having a bad day.

11. Take lots of pictures and hug your cabin mates (even the weird ones) often. Chances are, you’ll never see them again.

12. Hang out with people you don’t know. They’re more like you than you think.

13. Proper fire-building skills are equally as important as proper fire-extinguishing skills.

14. It’s easier to make a friend through a warm fuzzy even if some people are more deserving of a cold prickly.

15. Like candles dipped at the log cabin with a counselor dressed as a pioneer sporting neon jelly bracelets, each year’s camp experience melts into the last and makes beautiful light in the back of your memory during dark days.

16. Fish do not eat moldy cheese, saltines stuck to a hook with bubblegum or shoelaces with magic marker eyes.

17. Act out a skit with boys wearing makeup and no one remembers. Act out a skit with feathers, a water gun and a Barry Manilow song and no one forgets.

18. T-shirts made with permanent markers at camp, with inside-joke phrases like “Funner” and “Downstairs,” should not be worn in civilized society.

19. If the boy you ask to dance tells you to dance with his friend first but his friend looks a little weird, take the chance. He might be the funniest, sweetest guy in the entire camp.

20. Camp memories built on laughter and friendship last longer than anything you can make in the arts & crafts building — except leather rounders with your name spelled wrong.

Beth Morrow is a teacher, author and Senior Week Program Director at Camp Hamwi in Danville, OH, though several of these lessons were learned during her formative years at Camp Ohio. Share your own camp life lessons here or with her at beth@bethmorrow.com

What's really going on in Ron's brain?

They are typically not understandable to others, and when I try to explain them to people I usually get this twisted-face look in response.

They are the bells that ring when one thing is said and another thing immediately pops into my mind.

I’ll give you an example:

If I am watching football and there is a fourth-down situation and whether or not they got the first down is in question, the refs will call for “the chains” to measure if the yardage was achieved.

Have any of you stopped to realize that the refs pretty much already know? It is my opinion that the reason they call for the chains is to transfer the blame to an inanimate object.

Do you understand what I mean? Typically, if it is a short-yardage situation and the defense is all pumped up to stop the opponent and the offense is all pumped up to achieve the yardage, emotions are running high.

Everyone is yelling and screaming, there is this huge buildup, the play is run and the air fills with anticipation. Well, if the ref just ran out there waving his arms and signaling “NOPE–you didn’t get it,” the crowd would go for his hide.

The same holds true the other way. If he came out and said, “OH YEAH, you got it,” the other fans would go for the tar and feathers.

By saying, “GEEZ–I AM NOT SURE … let’s measure,” the focus goes to the inanimate measuring device, not the man in charge of it.

The chains are pulled, the ball is an inch short of its intended mark, the crowd says, “AWWWWW,” and the ref trots back to the line saying, “WHEW!”

See the beauty of that? So in the moment they say “they’re calling for the chains,” my connector kicks in and I immediately am transported back to a day when, at 8 years old, I broke the lid to my mom’s antique cookie jar while a bunch of people were at our house.

The jar was glass and cracked in two complete pieces. I was able to put the two pieces back on top of the jar as if they were one, and it wasn’t until a day later that someone went to open the jar and it fell apart as they touched it.

Everyone said, “Oh no,” including me, and I had to hide my smile when Mom said, “With all those people over yesterday it could have been anyone. Plus, it is very old–you never know.”

One of the greatest victories of my childhood–which I probably just blew wide open with this story, by the way, but I’m pretty sure the statute of limitations has passed in the last 42 years.

So that’s an example of my personal connectors. I have a bunch of them bouncing around in my head all the time, little snippets of things that made an impression on me that somehow connect to something familiar.

Here are a few more:

• Former Colts quarterback Peyton Manning will be playing for Denver this year after a long, illustrious career with his former team. Before leaving town to report to Denver, he called 10 or 15 of the most prominent sports news reporters in Indianapolis and thanked them for being so kind, generous and accurate in the years they covered him.

That is such a classy move, in my opinion. It reminded me of the kind of lessons I was always taught by my father. I think of the day I lettered in football and came home that evening and propped it up on his dresser, where it stayed till the day he died. He taught me the importance of strength, discipline and class. He earned it as much as me.

• I recall reading Lee Iacocca’s first book as a very young man and being impressed with his disciplined rules of work and personal time. He said in the book that he refused to work weekends no matter how important the business needs were that week.

He wanted to be sure his children could grow up without ever having to say, “Dad was never around.” He figured they could always at least say that for a minimum of 2/7ths of every week, he was completely theirs.

For a man as powerful as Iacocca was at that time, that was a pretty neat trick. It reminded me of the change box my grandpa built with me. A solid wood box nailed together with a slot at the top. I could put money in but not take it out without destroying the box.

When it was completely full, we broke it open and I had enough to buy my first 10-speed bike when I was 13. The rule was whenever I had change in my pocket, at the end of the day, I’d drop it in there before bed.

You know I still do this to this day? I break it open before the Christmas holiday and it buys a big dinner out for my wife and all of our kids.

• Recently deceased 60 Minutes reporter Mike Wallace was the topic of a recent interview with his son, Fox reporter Chris Wallace. Chris talked about his father’s impressive career and how he unfortunately suffered from some dementia in his final years.

Chris noted the irony of the fact that his father’s illness prevented him from remembering any part of his career and all of the famous people he had interviewed, yet he had perfect recall when it came to his children and grandchildren.

The connector for me there was confirmation of the fact that one should always keep perspective about the priorities of life. Those lessons were hammered home by my mother every single day I can remember. She was always pointing out how ridiculous it is to take yourself or anything too seriously.

“Now you’ve got yourself all upset over something no one else even knows or cares about. What’s the use of that? Let it go,” she would say. She was so right. She is so connected.

• Here’s one that drives me nuts. People–what is up with Christmas cards? I mean, I just don’t get it. Now, if you write out a beautiful verse or include a very personal note or photo with your holiday cards, that I understand. You are reaching out to family and friends at a special time of year to show them how your children have grown or to update them on your lives or to reach out and ask them to please to make some time for you soon in the coming year; I get that.

But if you mass produce hundreds of cards with some lame deer and a bunny in the snow on the front with some trite drugstore verse inside and all that is in the card is an illegible signature because the sender was clearly signing piles of cards that night–why waste the postage?

I know so many people who talk about the drudgery and duty of “getting the old Christmas cards mailed” every year AND THEN they pester you after and ask, “Did you get my card? Did you get my card?”

And it’s someone you see every day. “Yeah, I got your card for crying out loud–great bunny?” What IS UP with that?

You know what this reminds me of? Talk radio.

Talk radio is where they say, “Gee, Eddie, if they only get another pitcher I bet they take the division.” And Eddie says, “Think so?” And the caller says, “I know it!”

Why does this drivel get air time?

“Well, Bob, if Korea does have nuclear power it’s because of Reagan in the ‘80s.” And Bob says, “Think so?” And the caller goes into a five-minute lecture about space capsules that landed but were covered up in the ‘80s and the host covers the fact that he just ate a whole sandwich by ending with, “Wow—well, thanks for the call.”

What purpose does that all SERVE?

Here’s what callers are really saying, “Hey mega dittos Rush, I am retired and haven’t had anyone listen to me for decades and my grandkids run out of the room every time I show up and tell them what to do so I sat on hold for the last 45 minutes to tell you and America how pitiful, twisted and bored I am.”

“OK and hey, thanks for the call!”

Seems like much ado about nothing, but I am finding that to be the case in a lot of places these days.

My connectors provide the vines I swing on to get from one end of the abyss to the other, and that works for me. I don’t expect you to understand what makes me tick; I just appreciate the fact that I’m allowed to do it as I see fit.

I trust it is a privilege you exercise as well.

Ron Ciancutti is the Purchasing Manager for Cleveland Metroparks. He is not on Facebook, but he can be reached at rdc@clevelandmetroparks.com.

What are these desert dwellers so excited about?

However, when I tell you what it was, most of you will laugh. That’s right, I said you will laugh. Not because it is funny, necessarily, but because it is probably something that happens so often in your city that you don’t think twice about it. You probably even curse it under your breath every now and then.

But we were captivated and overjoyed. What was this event that sparked our interest, you ask?

Well, quite simply, it rained.

Yes, you read that right. It rained.

In 2011, Phoenix received less than five inches of rain in the entire year. For us, anytime it rains, it is a pretty big deal.

There are some places in the country that get that much rain in a month, possibly even within a couple of weeks. (Heck, at LAB headquarters in Northeast Ohio, we have been known to see that much rain in a matter of days.)

While the rest of the country may take something as simple as precipitation falling from the sky for granted, we Phoenicians appreciate every precious drop.

As one might imagine, when it comes to landscape irrigation here in Phoenix, it is a given that every installation will require some measure of supplemental irrigation.

Not every landscape installation is cactus and boulders; we do have quite a bit of turf throughout the city. As you can probably guess, that turf requires a large amount of water to keep it green.

If you’ve ever visited Phoenix or Scottsdale, you’ve no doubt noticed the number of golf courses throughout the valley. Fortunately, most large commercial properties–golf courses included–are required to use reclaimed water for irrigation.

The city of Tucson, about two hours south of Phoenix, now requires all new commercial construction projects to include a rainwater harvesting system with each landscape installation.

Rainwater can be collected off roofs, patios, and parking lots. The water can then be treated, stored, and used for landscape irrigation.

The city of Tucson is very forward thinking, in my opinion, with this requirement. While Tucson is currently the only municipality with this sort of ordinance, it is my hope that eventually others will follow suit.

Water is a precious commodity here in the desert. We are in the midst of a long-term, multi-year drought. The more steps that people voluntarily take to conserve their water use consumption on an annual basis, the more sustainable our footprint on the environment will be.

If the drought continues for many more years, I believe it will be just a matter of time before we see more restrictive regulations put in place regarding the use of water for landscaping.

Does your city have any water use restrictions or requirements for new projects? If so, I’d love to hear about them. Feel free to leave a comment below, send me a tweet, or even an email. I look forward to hearing from you.

Have a great weekend!

Boyd Coleman is a landscape architect in Phoenix, Arizona. He can be reached on twitter at @CDGLA or email: bcoleman001@gmail.com.

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Kevin Bains of Boulder Rock Club in Colorado takes you through the club’s interval training system, which utilizes auto-belays. An auto-belay eliminates the need for a partner and can speed up your climbing workout.

If you would like to be featured in the PRB Wordless Wednesday emails, please send photos or videos to Web Editor Ann Norman at ann@northstarpubs.com.

Here are some great tips on educational theater basics from the folks at Mainstages.

For more videos on building a better camp theater program, click here. For more resources, visit www.mainstages.com.

If you would like your camp or camp program to be featured in our Wordless Wednesday emails, please send photos and videos to Web Editor Ann Norman at ann@northstarpubs.com.

If you would like to be featured in an LAB Wordless Wednesday email, send photos or videos to Web Editor Ann Norman at ann@northstarpubs.com.

A little boy's wish come true!

On Saturday, April 28, Will Schrader, a 3-year-old leukemia survivor from New York, walked out his back door and skated onto a 28-foot-long, 20-foot-wide synthetic ice rink with ProWall boards surrounding the surface.

“Will’s rink was the very first hockey rink Make-A-Wish Central New York had ever granted, so the process was a little intimidating,” said Olivia Colabufo, the charity’s manager of program services.

“Sport Resource Group came highly recommended. Chris and the team were wonderful to work with. They spoke directly with our synthetic ice supplier, which made ordering the boards easy.

“The directions were easy to follow. A group of volunteers easily put the entire rink together. Sport Resource Group helped make Will’s wish come true,” she said.

Will was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia when he was nine months old. After several rounds of treatment that included chemotherapy, total body radiation and a bone marrow transplant, Will has been in remission for nearly one year.

An avid Boston Bruins fan, Will wore his Boston Bruins jersey for the ribbon-cutting and was all smiles as his friends and family cheered him on.

Synthetic ice and ProWall panels mean Will can play hockey in his back yard all year round.

Skating lessons started this past winter, and now he has his own year-round ice rink.

ProWall is a rotationally molded plastic dasherboard system customized for hockey, lacrosse, soccer, football and other enclosed sport activities. ProWall can be designed for permanent or portable applications and can host a variety of upper containment options.

For any further inquiries or questions about ProWall or Sport Resource Group, visit www.sportresourcegroup.com.

A little boy's wish come true!

On Saturday, April 28, Will Schrader, a 3-year-old leukemia survivor from New York, walked out his back door and skated onto a 28-foot-long, 20-foot-wide synthetic ice rink with ProWall boards surrounding the surface.

“Will’s rink was the very first hockey rink Make-A-Wish Central New York had ever granted, so the process was a little intimidating,” said Olivia Colabufo, the charity’s manager of program services.

“Sport Resource Group came highly recommended. Chris and the team were wonderful to work with. They spoke directly with our synthetic ice supplier, which made ordering the boards easy.

“The directions were easy to follow. A group of volunteers easily put the entire rink together. Sport Resource Group helped make Will’s wish come true,” she said.

Will was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia when he was nine months old. After several rounds of treatment that included chemotherapy, total body radiation and a bone marrow transplant, Will has been in remission for nearly one year.

An avid Boston Bruins fan, Will wore his Boston Bruins jersey for the ribbon-cutting and was all smiles as his friends and family cheered him on.

Synthetic ice and ProWall panels mean Will can play hockey in his back yard all year round.

Skating lessons started this past winter, and now he has his own year-round ice rink.

ProWall is a rotationally molded plastic dasherboard system customized for hockey, lacrosse, soccer, football and other enclosed sport activities. ProWall can be designed for permanent or portable applications and can host a variety of upper containment options.

For any further inquiries or questions about ProWall or Sport Resource Group, visit www.sportresourcegroup.com.

This webinar is for those new to CAD. It will not deal with any Land F/X functions, but will teach CAD basics for those with little to no experience.

For this webinar, Dave will be using F/X CAD, which is a licensed product of AutoCAD 2012, packaged and sold by FX.

The general content of the webinar will include Menu Layout, Mouse Navigation. Drawing Functions, Layer Usage, Modification Functions, and Preparing a Base Plan and Sheet Setup and Layout.

To sign up, email krystal@landfx.com.

Miscanthus is a good warm-season ornamental grass for your landscape.

These ornamental grasses thrive when the soil warms, and are easy to maintain.

Visit http://bit.ly/IV6wTA to learn more about five of these grasses from Andrew Keys at www.houzz.com.

Looking for the right sports camp for your child?

Here are some helpful tips from sports parenting expert Janis B. Meredith:

• How competitive do you want the camp to be?
• What are the coaches like?
• What are the camp’s values?
• Is it safe?
• Is it fun?

For more, read Janis’ blog on the subject.

Let this e-card wing its way to your mom this Mother's Day. Photo by Janet Haas

The e-cards feature a zebra, a butterfly or a landscape. Each donation helps the conservancy in its mission to protect the world’s land and water.

To send a card or learn more about the cause, click here.

Successful camp fund-raising is all about connection.

In my time working in the non-profit/summer camp world, fund-raising and volunteer cultivation has become a larger part of the work that I do. So I have been thinking strategically about how I can increase my effectiveness and, at the same time, share these tips with staff and other summer camp professionals.

If you weren’t able to hear me speak last week in Pittsburgh but are still interested in how you can effectively connect and engage with your staff and customers (parents and campers) this summer to increase your effectiveness in gaining donors and volunteers, here are the few tips I shared:

Figure Out The Connection
I ask a lot of questions when I meet people. I want to know what they do, where they are from, what are their hobbies, do they have a summer camp story?

When I am talking to people about camp, I usually ask them about their fondest memory from camp. I then follow up with what skills are you using today that you can trace back to camp?

Camp is a place of connection. It can be a person, place, event, experience, skill or time of self-awareness. Knowing what it is that connects someone to your camp is the first step in connecting them deeper through volunteerism or philanthropy.

Don’t Forget The Parents
If you are like most camps, you might only see the parents of your campers twice a year: once at check in and the second time at check out.

If you are going to connect with the parents of your campers, you better have a plan in place.

Here is the plan I have used for a few years:

a. Know who is coming that week – I would go through the campers that week and look for individuals I should connect with.

b. Have a goal – I would intentionally have a goal of “connecting” with 10 parents and then plan to follow up with them during the week (hand-written note).

c. Enlist the help of my staff – If a counselor met a great parent during check in I would ask them to introduce them to me.

d. Be accessible – On check in day, every parent had to meet me as they came into the dining hall to sign in for the week.

e. Follow up – I would spend the week going through my connections looking them up on Linkedin, Googling them and then on check out day I would make a point to find them and continue the conversation.

Create The Habit Now
What opportunities are available for your campers and staff now to give back to your camp or organization?

Volunteer opportunities, service projects, helping with your annual campaign, writing thank you notes to donors, call nights are great ways to get your younger staff and campers hooked early on the work that you are doing. Share stories of impact with your campers.

What Is An Alumnus?
I believe that most people think of themselves as alumni of a camp if they have been on staff there, but if what makes someone an alumnus is a shared experience, then anyone who has spent time at your camp is an alumnus.

The 5th grade school group from the local elementary school, the father-son weekend overnight, the parents of your campers, your seasonal staff and full-time staff all share in the experience of your camp culture.

Remind them that they all are alumni and don’t let them get away.

Easy Entry Points
We say we want our campers, staff, parents and volunteers to be engaged with our work, but we make it so difficult.

Don’t put up barriers to their engagement and don’t forget to share the work you are doing with them. Many times we keep people at arm’s distance because we are afraid they will be “too involved,” but when we do this we miss many more opportunities for support.

We in the summer camp world need the involvement of key supporters, volunteers and donors. Without this support, we would not be able to effectively fulfill our mission and deliver the transformative work of summer camp.

Don’t be a barrier to the individuals that can help further your cause.

Dave Bell has directed day and resident camp programs for more than 15 years. Currently, he is the Executive Director of Camping Services for the YMCA of Greater Seattle. He is a former American Camp Association Southeast Section board member, a certified Y-USA Day Camp Director Trainer and a Y-USA partner YMCA camp consultant. Reach him via e-mail at dbell@seattleymca.org.

You've got mail!

It can be a wonderful time saver, but it can also be a big time-eating monster.

If used incorrectly, it can even get you in a lot of trouble.

The problem with email is that it has made it far too easy for people who have way too much time on their hands to share their spare time with those who don’t have enough hours in the day.

Am I the only one with friends and acquaintances, and even people I barely know, who appear to have little else to do but forward an endless array of emails to everyone they know?

The emails may or may not have relevance in anyone’s life, but it’s just so easy for people to hit “send” or “forward” to a distribution list that some people can’t resist it.

Most of the time people don’t mean any harm; they think they are helping to keep their friends informed, or entertained.

However, a great deal of what is forwarded is inaccurate or misleading information. People don’t always stop to check that before redirecting it to unsuspecting recipients.

Do you get those emails that start in all capital red letters with URGENT! THIS IS A MUST-READ! or YOU MUST FORWARD THIS ON…? I mean, there are only so many urgent things that one person can handle in a day.

I used to try and read every email I’d get, just to make sure it wasn’t something important. But I was finding that 90 percent of them were irrelevant.

Now I breeze through my inbox hitting “delete” at a high rate of fire and feel pretty certain I’m not missing out on anything truly important.

Besides, if something is that important, people who know me will call me or come see me or we’ll meet for breakfast and talk about it.

I remember one time when I went away on vacation for a couple weeks and had 300 or more emails upon returning, even though I had my “out of office” message on, which I mistakenly thought deflected incoming emails.

I tried to catch up but new emails were coming in faster than I could keep up with. So, in frustration, I highlighted them all and hit “delete.”

It was a liberating experience. It was like I had finally conquered the machine. But it was a short-lived victory because within two or three days the inbox was filled up again.

Machines rule.

Another problem with email is that it lacks the advantages of facial expressions, body language, eye contact and all the other human touches that eyeball-to-eyeball communication provides.

Sometimes the message can get lost or misconstrued because of it.

I remember once I made an off-hand comment in an email, purely in jest, about police and doughnuts, and somehow the police chief saw it. He wasn’t a happy camper and he let me know it; thereafter, I kept my jokes to myself.

Of course you can put happy faces (☺) or LOL on passages you mean to be in jest, but that doesn’t always ensure that your words won’t offend someone anyway; my policy — if I don’t have something nice to say, say nothing at all.

Oh, and never, ever under any circumstances should you respond to an email while in an agitated state of mind. Invariably, you end up writing something you later regret.

I am in an organization that has members all over the globe, and all it takes is for one or two loose cannons to write something that someone else doesn’t agree with. What follows can often be, shall we say, unsavory.

I tend to take the high road and stay out of it. I’ve learned from hard experience that stepping into one of those email threads will only lead to trouble…rule of thumb, when in doubt, delete and claim you never got the email. That’s sort of like “plausible deniability.”

I guess email is only as good as the user. If someone is going to be the south end of a north-bound horse on email, odds are they have those tendencies in person, too. Although I’ve seen otherwise kind and gentle people turn into Genghis Khan via email.

So, in the course of your day today, dear reader, be cautious, be courteous and above all, do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Randy Gaddo, a retired Marine, who also served until recently in municipal parks and recreation, lives in Peachtree City, Ga., and can be reached at (678) 350-8642 or email cwo4usmc@comcast.net.

Goldwater Lake offers a nice reprieve from a hot Phoenix summer.

We’ve already had multiple days over 100 degrees. I am not looking forward to another long, hot summer in Arizona, but I am afraid it will be here before I know it.

This past weekend, my wife and I had the opportunity to get out of the heat for the weekend and head north about an hour and a half to the mountains and the city of Prescott.

Nestled on the edge of the Prescott National Forest, the small town is a perfect weekend getaway with cooler temperatures and the smell of pine in the air.

In 1864, Prescott became the capital of the Arizona Territory and was known for its nearby mining operations.

I love that the historic courthouse is still located in the town square. It is surrounded by grass and trees and is a beautiful park.

Just west of the park is what is known as Whisky Row. Most of the old saloons have been renovated into shops and restaurants, but a couple of the historic watering holes are still in operation today, complete with swinging doors.

The main reason for our weekend getaway was to listen to a local Phoenix band that was performing in the town square after a big mountain bike race through the town and surrounding mountains. The concert was great and everyone had a good time.

One of the things my wife and I have been talking about doing for a long time, but never have done together yet, is to go camping. On Sunday, we took a drive through the forest and visited a couple of local lakes that would be perfect for camping.

My wife and I also enjoy paddling. We have two kayaks, and both lakes we visited would be ideal for that. The best part is that they are both less than 15 minutes apart.

The first lake we visited was Goldwater Lake, and while it is only a day-use lake, the fishing and kayaking opportunities are great. The lake is located such so that there seems to be a constant light breeze blowing across the water, and the wind rustling through the pine trees is very peaceful. The photo above was taken there.

Lynx Lake–the other lake we visited–is a bit larger and has Forest Service campgrounds associated with it. Lynx Lake is closer to town, only two miles from Costco (in case you happen to forget anything) and seemed to have more visitors during the daytime. It too is nestled among the pine and oak trees and lends itself to being a very peaceful place to picnic or escape for the day.

With temperatures now regularly flirting with the triple digits, I can’t tell you how much I am looking forward to a nice weekend getaway in the cool pines later this summer, when the temperatures in Phoenix reach the middle 110s.

Do you have a favorite summer getaway spot? If so, I’d love to hear about it. Feel free to leave a comment below, send me a tweet, or even an email. I look forward to hearing from you.

Have a great weekend!

Boyd Coleman is a landscape architect in Phoenix, Arizona. He can be reached on twitter at @CDGLA or email: bcoleman001@gmail.com.

But there can be danger lurking in all that beauty, especially for children.

Here is a list of gardening do’s and don’ts from the folks at the Gardens Inspired blog: http://bit.ly/K1L8ci

Find out why from Naturalist Julie from Ohio’s Erie MetroParks. Stay tuned for more park videos on the park district’s YouTube channel.

Learn more about the Erie MetroParks.

If you would like to be featured in PRB’s Wordless Wednesday emails, send photos or videos to Web Editor Ann Norman at ann@northstarpubs.com.

Here’s a link to more ideas for self-watering planters.

If you would like to be featured in the LAB Wordless Wednesday emails, please send photos or videos to Web Editor Ann Norman at ann@northstarpubs.com.

If you would like a listing like Camp Eagle Hill’s, visit this link.

If you would like to be featured in a Camp Business Wordless Wednesday email, send photos or videos to Web Editor Ann Norman at ann@northstarpubs.com.

Proper maintenance is important in running a splash pad or spray ground.

It was essentially a set of holes in a galvanized potable-water supply pipe that was erected 9 feet over a concrete pad; the pad was piped to drain into a creek at the back of the property.

It worked, but it lacked novelty; the concrete slab sustained algae and moss, and every year, a section of pipe or the gate-valve needed replacing. It was eventually removed since it no longer met the wastewater-management code.

Modern splash pads and spray grounds have come a long way. Besides interactive designs and individualized layouts that create unique travel circuits, many are installed with a recirculation system that filters the water and provides a sanitizer, and in many cases, a UV-treatment phase.

Although the modern system is considered better in most instances, it also requires a higher level of technical ability to troubleshoot and maintain to meet the health codes that apply to these features.

The town of Trophy Club’s parks and recreation department in Texas installed a new splash pool in 2010. While a spray ground, splash pad, and splash pool all use the same elements to eject or spray water, a splash pool exists where there is any depth of standing water.

This also creates the need for lifeguards and a few other mandates that come with operating a pool. On the flip side, however, splash pools create opportunities for slides into low water, which are not typically possible with spray grounds and splash pads.

“In all, I have been … satisfied with our spray pool,” says Jacob Lohse, the town’s aquatic coordinator. “It brought in double the amount of people from the year before, and I believe this year will be even better.”

Lohse was very involved with the vendors before the facility was built to ensure he knew as much as possible about the procedures and potential feature problems he might encounter. Despite the upfront knowledge, Lohse said he and his crew are still learning how to manage the unique features.

Develop A Maintenance Plan
The best strategy to protect the value of these investments is to have a customized, comprehensive maintenance program. According to Hillary Boen at Lewisville Parks and Leisure Services in Texas, this starts with conducting a thorough end-of-season inspection and wear-and-repair checklist for features. This past winter, Boen explains, the agency decided to keep water in the “pools.”

“In respect to the splash pads, that means we are keeping water in the surge tank. The feature pumps are closed off and drained to prevent any winter damage. The UV systems are turned off to preserve the light-bulb life. One bulb can get us through about three seasons or one full year. These run about $1,500 each. The pump motors and impellers are inspected during this time,” she says.

“We also order any parts that may need replaced or repaired. We do not typically replace the broken/missing parts until right before the summer starts. The weather is very hard on our splash pads.”

The managers at Lewisville realize they will replace the poured-in-place decking every 5 to 6 years, which allows them to budget for this expense.

A fun time in the water takes planning and maintenance.

Levi Biles of Grand Prairie, Texas, shuts his system down by draining and cleaning the storage tank, turning off all the equipment, and winterizing the pipes. General repairs to equipment or features sometimes are made during this time, but the majority of work is completed before starting up for the following spring/summer.

“We do not have policies set for the start-up of the equipment,” Biles relates. “We have operations manuals that give guidelines for starting up the system. If something doesn’t work or seem right, we contact the installers to troubleshoot problems or have them come out and fix what is needed. The basic start-up is re-cleaning the storage tank, attaching pipes back together, and turning on the system.”

Manufacturers and installers also play a significant role in splash-pad maintenance strategies. Terry Putnam, a sales representative of these products in Colorado, says the process of starting up a system can take up to three days.

“We send a technical specialist product/factory representative out to the site upon completion to do a thorough check and start-up of the systems, as well as train staff in the operation and maintenance of the equipment,” he says.

During this time, staff members are provided a comprehensive operations manual.

Those who have had great training are ahead of the game when it comes to closing down the system and preparing for the next season. However, what makes one efficient in a job is the ability to customize training, experience, and available resources.

Keep Track
To enhance efficiency as well as track repairs year after year, create a database of each activity. Not only will this help for organization, but it can also be a useful tool when creating the budget and time/task preparation strategy for the following year. Items to include in a database are:

• The item to be repaired
• How the item is repaired
• The cost to repair the item
• The time it takes for the repair
• The person who repairs the item (contractual or staff).

Keeping track of all repairs also will provide a solid indication of which items typically need replacing annually, biannually, or longer.

At the end of each season and a few weeks before starting up the system for a new season, contact any outside contractors who have previously worked on the facility, and speak with in-house maintenance crews as well. This helps to verify that the contractors you have used previously are still in business and that the facility is scheduled for repairs before the next season. Schedule in-house maintenance crews for any repairs they can conduct as well.

Helpful Tips
Every facility operator encounters unique obstacles and ideas of how to deal with maintenance. Here are some additional suggestions from Lohse:

• “There must be a way to consistently drain the spray pad. Our spray pad is only 15,000 gallons, so after one or two good rains, it begins to fill up the entire attraction. I installed a float-valve sump pump at the bottom of the pit.

Plan now for a fun summer at the splash pad.

• “Be prepared to change the batteries. Many of our features have buttons that control them. Some of the batteries last a month and some all summer. I would make sure to have many on hand.

• “Be aware that features may be constantly caked with calcium. We have fought this problem for two years. This is a recurring event, even though the water hardness is checked every day, along with alkalinity and cyanuric acid. We are, most of the time, in perfect range and we still had calcium all over our features. We also scrubbed them once a week and that it still did not work. I am working with our vendors to figure out this problem.

• “Expect to do extensive power-washing. Due to the problem above, we HAVE to power-wash our features to remove the calcium. Our vendors said not to. They recommended using acid and water to scrub off the calcium. That did not work at all! I had guys out there for two days, and we got nowhere.

• “Anticipate additional work associated with LEDS. We have LED lighting on the floor of the splash pad. Moisture gets in them all the time, which means we always have to take off the protective covers to clean them.

• “Expect features to get clogged with debris. This is a pain. Every spout of every feature gets clogged with particles. This is a daily occurrence. About two to three times a day, we have to clean out the toys.”

Joseph Walker is an assistant professor of recreation at the University of North Texas. His recreation background includes aquatics, community/special event programming, facility operations/development, staff management, and comprehensive planning. He can be reached via e-mail at joseph.walker@unt.edu.

Laura Walker is a lecturer at the University of North Texas in the department of Kinesiology, Health Promotion, and Recreation. An alumnus of Clemson University, she received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management. Laura also has more than ten years of experience working for private and municipal recreation agencies.

A playground should be accessible to everyone.

In addition to anticipating another great play year–many people have begun to make changes based on the March 15 mandatory compliance deadline for the 2010 Americans with Disabilities Act Standards for newly constructed and altered play areas.

The Importance Of Access
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) is a wide-ranging civil-rights law prohibiting, under certain circumstances, discrimination based on disability, which is defined by the ADA as “a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity.”

The ADA establishes standards by which public facilities, including public play spaces, must comply to ensure opportunities for people of all abilities.

Complying with ADA standards is the law, but it’s also advantageous to the mission of encouraging more free play for kids.

Free play on playgrounds has been scientifically proven to have a variety of physical, mental, emotional, and cognitive benefits for children and parents of all ages, and can be an important activity to promote family interaction and relationship-building.

Making sure a public play space is accessible to all–not only for children of varying abilities, but for parents, grandparents, and caregivers with different physical conditions–helps ensure a play space that is a healthy community gathering spot.

Playground equipment and surfacing materials are both subject to ADA standards. Specific guidelines for play components–both ground and elevated–and surfacing materials and access routes are listed below.

But having compliant materials and designs isn’t enough. Vigilance with regard to proper installation and maintenance procedures is the key to upholding compliance. Working with certified experts on installation and maintenance is recommended to safeguard the investment made in a compliant facility.

Understanding The Standards
Because there can be some confusion about the standards for new or existing public play facilities, the International Play Equipment Manufacturers Association (IPEMA)–the industry’s membership association that provides third-party validation and certification for playground equipment and surfacing safety standards–has compiled a toolkit designed to help those in charge of play facilities with compliance.

The Checklist for Access summarizes 12 key steps for compliance. It is intended to help owners of public play areas understand how to use the Department of Justice’s 2010 Standards for Accessible Design.

Newly constructed and altered play areas must comply with the 2010 Standards for Accessible Design (includes the play-area guidelines) on or after March 15, 2012.

Requirements And Key Considerations For Existing Playgrounds
Existing play areas are not required to meet the 2010 Standards by March 15, 2012. Guidance is provided below.

March 15, 2012, is the Department of Justice’s compliance date for all entities covered by Title II, and Title III must begin using the new (2010) accessibility standards. This means all new construction and alterations to existing facilities should begin utilizing these standards.

It is important to understand that playgrounds built prior to March 15, 2012, are subject to review if they are undergoing alteration, or if physical or communication barriers exist to the programs, goods, services, or activities offered at the facility.

The new Department of Justice’s 2010 Standards for Accessible Design trigger access if one is building a new playground or making an alteration to an existing playground. In both cases, owners need to provide a primary means of access.

Here is the “real” consideration: If there is an existing playground and no alterations are planned, the question becomes “Are there any barriers to participation by people with disabilities?”
Can a person with a disability gain entry into the playground by an accessible route?

Providers of public playgrounds have the responsibility under the Program Access standard to remove barriers and make their programs, services, and activities accessible. So if the facility doesn’t currently provide access, barriers should be identified in an official transition plan. This should include a prioritized action plan for accessibility improvements.

One of the most important playground-access activities is to complete an audit of the facilities and create a realistic transition plan to remove all physical and communication barriers to programs, services, and activities for people with disabilities.

Public Playground Accessibility Checklist

1. Public playgrounds must have an accessible route at least 60 inches wide, a maximum running slope of 1:20, and a maximum cross slope of 1:50. The route to the play area is an accessible route. Minimum width is 36 inches, and the maximum slope is 1:12. Any running slope over 1:20 or 5 percent is treated as a ramp with handrails and landings.

2. Within the play area, the safety surfacing must comply with ASTM F 1292-99 or -04 Standard Specification for Impact Attenuation of Surface Systems Under and Around Playground Equipment when located within the use zone for proper impact attenuation. All accessible routes within the play area, clear floor, or ground spaces at play components required to be accessible and turning spaces must comply with ASTM 1951-99 Standard Specification for Determination of Accessibility of Surface Systems Under and Around Playground Equipment.

3. Within the play area, the accessible route must be at least 60 inches wide, with a maximum running slope of 1:16, a maximum cross slope of 1:48, and a minimum of 80 inches overhead clearance. For small play areas of less than 1,000 square feet in total size, the accessible route must be at least 44 inches wide, with a maximum running slope of 1:16, a maximum cross slope of 1:48, and a minimum of 80 inches overhead clearance.

4. Composite play structures that include a transfer system as a means of access must meet the following criteria:

• Transfer platform height must be between 11 and 18 inches with a clear minimum width of 24 inches and a depth of 14 inches

• Transfer steps are a maximum of 8 inches high, and include handholds to aid movement.

• Minimum 30-inch by 48-inch transfer space must be provided adjacent to the transfer platform. The 48-inch-long minimum dimension of the transfer space shall be centered on and parallel to the 24-inch-long minimum side of the transfer platform. The side of the transfer platform serving the transfer space shall be unobstructed.

Be sure people of all abilities can access your playground.

5. Composite play structures that include ramps connecting elevated play components as a means of access must meet the following criteria:

• Elevated ramps must be at least 36 inches wide, with a maximum running slope of 1:12, and a maximum length of 144 inches (12 feet) before providing a landing.

• Elevated ramps must include handrails on both sides, meeting hand-gripping criteria, and with a height between 20 and 28 inches. Elevated ramps with handrails, barriers beyond the ramp edge, and barriers not extending within 1 inch of the ramp surface must have edge-curbing at least 2 inches high for the entire ramp length. No handrail extensions are required.

• When elevated ramps change in direction, a 60-inch by 60-inch minimum level landing must be provided at both the top and the bottom of each run.

6. Elevated ramps and accessible platforms attached at ramp levels shall have no openings on a surface greater than ½ inch, and a vertical change in level less than ¼ inch or up to ½ inch with a 2:1 beveled edge.

7. Openings on elevated-ramp accessible platforms for access/egress play opportunities must be narrowed to 15 inches or less.

8. Advisory reach-ranges for accessible manipulative and interactive sensory and communicative components must have reach-range heights between 18 and 44 inches for the 5- to 12-year-old user group and between 20 and 36 inches for the 2- to 5-year-old user group.

9. Ground-level upper-body equipment intended for use by a person using a mobility device must be less than 48 inches above protective surfacing.

10. Ground-level play tables and components must have a minimum vertical-knee clearance of at least 24 inches high, a minimum depth of at least 17 inches, and a minimum width of at least 30 inches. The maximum top of a playing surface shall not exceed 31 inches.

11. Composite play structures must have elevated accessible routes by ramp and/or transfer systems to connect at least 50 percent of the elevated play components. Large composite play structures with more than 20 elevated play components must have at least 25 percent of the elevated play components connected by elevated ramps.

12. Play areas must have the minimum number of accessible play components and types on the accessible routes per the following criteria: One of each type at ground level and 50 percent elevated must be accessible. The trigger to use the table is for additional numbers and types. Where elevated play components are provided, ground-level play components shall be provided in accordance with Table 240.2.1.2, and shall comply with 1008.4. EXCEPTION: If at least 50 percent of the elevated play components are connected by a ramp and at least three of the elevated play components connected by the ramp are different types of play components, the play area shall not be required to comply with F240.2.1.2.

Tom Norquist is the IPEMA secretary and communications committee chair. For more information, visit www.voiceofplay.org.

——————Sidebar————————

Summary Of Important Dates

New Construction and Alterations
• Sept. 15, 2010-March 15, 2012 — Title II: 1991 Standards, UFAS or 2010 Standards; Title III: 1991 Standards or 2010 Standards

• On or after March 15, 2012 — 2010 Standards

Program Accessibility
• Sept. 15, 2010-March 15, 2012 — 1991 Standards, UFAS or 2010 Standard

• On or after March 15, 2012 — 2012 Standards

For more information on compliance, visit:
• www.VoiceofPlay.org
• www.ada.gov
• www.access-board.gov

Your kitchen staff is on the front lines of protecting campers who have food allergies or intolerances. Photo Courtesy Signature Services

People struggle daily reading food labels, carefully ordering at restaurants, and double-checking everything they eat.

This is of special concern for food-service professionals at camp, for according to the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network, one in 20 children will have a food allergy, and that number is growing.

It is extremely important that kitchen staff members are aware of the seriousness of food allergies and intolerances, and know how to handle special dietary needs from checking labels to serving the food.

Awareness also goes beyond the kitchen. Counselors and staff personnel should note campers’ allergies as well. Preparation of camp policies, procedures, and staff training are critical in preventing any harmful food reactions.

When talking about special diets, allergies and intolerances are usually grouped together, but they are completely different reactions that occur in the body.

What is a food allergy?
A food-allergy reaction occurs when someone consumes a food product and the immune system responds to a specific protein found in that food. Symptoms of a food allergy include hives, swelling, itching, and in severe cases anaphylaxis, or difficulty in breathing.

These may seem like simple symptoms, but they can be uncomfortable, dangerous, and even result in death, depending on the severity of the allergy.

The “Top 8” allergens are:

• Milk
• Eggs
• Peanuts
• Tree nuts
• Soy
• Wheat
• Fish
• Shellfish.

The most common allergy is to peanuts. Peanuts can also be the most severe, causing reactions in some cases merely when someone is in the same room with the allergen.

Many schools and facilities have even gone peanut-free to prevent such reactions. If your facility has not taken this step, it is important to check labels before serving anything to someone who has a food allergy.

Ingredients labels can be confusing, and allergens are often found in unexpected food products or a food that “may contain traces of nuts,” meaning the item could have been produced in a factory that also makes other products with nuts.

Luckily for those in food service who have to deal with these allergens, the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act (FALCPA) of 2004 addressed these food allergies. The FALCPA requires food manufacturers to disclose in plain language whether a food product contains one of the eight allergens in any form, even in colors, flavors, or spice blends. It is mandated that the common name be listed among the ingredients or immediately following, with the word “Contains: ____.”

This act makes it easier for food-service professionals to identify whether a product contains a certain allergen.

The “Top 8” allergens make up 90 percent of all food-allergy reactions, but what about the other 10 percent? When serving meals to large numbers of people, such as at a camp, one is bound to come across uncommon allergies as well.

Just this past summer at one camp, some campers had allergies to carrots, melon, strawberries, bell peppers, red dye, and even the spice rosemary. To handle these allergies, a list of special dietary needs must be created and examined before each meal to decide how to handle each person’s special need.

For example, in the case of the rosemary allergy, the camper couldn’t have any marinara sauces; when pasta or pizza appeared on the menu, there was a separate preparation of pasta with sautéed veggies and olive oil, or a margarita-style pizza.

An allergy must be considered individually to ensure safe food is being served to everyone.

What is food intolerance?
The main difference between food intolerance and food allergy is the reaction that occurs when the food is ingested. An allergic reaction is an immune response, while an intolerance reaction is a digestive-system response.

With food intolerance, the digestive system may become irritated, causing symptoms such as stomachache, diarrhea, bloating, cramps, etc., or it may be difficult to digest or break down that food properly, sometimes causing nutrient deficiencies.

Also, those with food intolerances may be able to consume small amounts of the food with no reaction, unlike with allergies, where the food must be avoided completely.

The most common food intolerance is to lactose, which is not the same thing as a milk allergy. A milk allergy causes an immune response to a protein in milk, while with lactose intolerance an individual cannot digest the sugar (lactose) in milk, causing digestive symptoms.

Gluten intolerance can also be referred to as gluten-sensitive enteropathy, Celiac Sprue, or the more common Celiac Disease. While this condition does produce an immune response, it is not to be confused with a usual wheat allergy.

Gluten intolerance does not produce immune reactions such as sneezing and hives because a different antibody is involved that causes the body to attack the lining of the intestines when gluten is present. The damaged intestines then cause nutrients not to be absorbed, which leads to vitamin deficiencies and the underlying health problems caused by the deficiencies.

There is no cure for Celiac Disease; it can only be managed by adhering to a gluten-free diet. Gluten is a protein found in wheat used in a great deal of bread and packaged snacks.

There is no law at present that requires manufacturers to state whether the product contains gluten, so one must be aware of uncommon names, or stay with gluten-free labeled products. If these products cannot be accessed, campers may want to bring in their own foods and have the kitchen staff prepare their meals.

How do I handle allergies and intolerances safely?
The best way to handle special diets at camp is to have one person in the kitchen responsible for these dietary meals. This person should be trained and knowledgeable in reading food labels for allergies and intolerances, balancing protein needs for vegetarians, and even counting carbohydrates for diabetics.

This food-service worker should be responsible for cooking the meals and ensuring they are served to the right person. It should also be the worker’s responsibility to keep in contact with the camp nurse to make sure there is an accurate and up-to-date list for each camp session.

Even though there is one person dedicated to special dietary needs, the entire kitchen staff needs to be aware of what type of special diets are needed for each week, and the list should be prominently displayed in the kitchen. With everyone aware of special diets, there is less risk of cross contamination.

For example, if making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, one must not use the same knife or cutting board as someone who is preparing a meal for a camper with a peanut allergy. Also, the counselors, the nurse, and any other camp staff that may come in contact with the camper must be aware of the allergy.

There also needs to be a set of procedures to follow if a reaction were to occur, such as who can administer an epinephrine pen in severe cases, or how to get to the nearest emergency-care center. These procedures should be posted in the nurse’s office, but also in or near the kitchen, as this is the most likely place for a reaction to occur.

The most important component to dealing with campers’ special diets is effective communication among parents, camp staff, counselors, campers, and the kitchen staff. Reactions can be prevented, and campers can be served safe, delicious meals.

Elizabeth Schmitt is a Nutrition Specialist at Signature Services Corporation.

Once a Marine, always a Marine.

I have enjoyed relating my boot-camp experiences over the last four “LBWA” columns, and I hope readers have enjoyed them too, but you might ask, why?

Why should it interest someone in parks and rec or a related field?

Well, because it’s really about the youth in America. Many of today’s youth need more of what the Marine Corps represents: honor, courage, commitment, heritage, camaraderie, and service.

I have heard many distinguished Marine leaders talk about their experiences on youth-sports teams and how they prepared the players for the type of teamwork required in the Marine Corps, and in life.

The Marine Corps is a young organization: 63 percent of Marines are 25 or younger, 82 percent are 35 or younger. The true power of this band of brothers and sisters is mentoring, a word that most parks-and-rec professionals are involved with in one way or another.

Marines don’t call it mentoring; it goes by the more pithy term “leadership,” but is essentially the same. The “Old Corps” has a sacred obligation to pass on the lessons of experience to the “New Corps.”

The Old Corps is essentially that other 18 percent from 35 years old to, well, 85 or 95 or 105, because “Once a Marine, always a Marine.”

The Marine ethos is different from that of other military services, and possibly from any other group in society. Many have tried to capture that spirit in words, but generally it’s like capturing a wisp of smoke in your hand. Just as you think you’re about to capture it, the wisp curls around and escapes.

But it is a sense of belonging to something much larger than the individual. It’s about putting the “me” behind the “we.”

It’s the same type of attitude a youth-sports coach tries to instill in his or her young players … hopefully not as enthusiastically as a drill instructor.

Lead The Way
I worry about our youth because many don’t receive mature, adult direction in this digital, decentralized, quickly changing world, where we worry more about what’s happening in the moment, or the immediate future, and not what has happened in the past.

Lessons of history are sadly lost on the majority of people, young and old, in today’s society. But, as we have learned so many times in the past, a society that forgets the mistakes of its history are doomed to repeat them.

The recreation environment is arguably one of the last places in society where youth can obtain some direction. Youth sports and other activities provided by parks-and-recreation professionals teach some of the basics like teamwork, goal setting, and preparation.

The Marine Corps, like the recreation field, is not a perfect organization; over the years there have been issues. Marines are, after all, a reflection of the society from which they come. But one thing the Corps has been consistent in is accountability.

Mistakes happen. Bad things happen. Errors in judgment happen. But covering up an incident should never happen. When a mistake is made, those responsible should be held accountable, including and especially yourself.

No excuses, no short-cuts. Admit the mistake, dole punishment where it’s needed, make adjustments to fix the problem, and move on.

President Ronald Reagan once said, “Some people spend a lifetime wondering if they have made a difference. Marines don’t have that problem.”

Pride For Life
A friend of mine was a Marine in World War II, attaining the lofty rank of Private First Class during his brief but eventful tenure from 1942 to 1945. As a member of the “Greatest Generation,” he was among those fabled Marines who landed on the Pacific beaches in actions that led to the defeat of Japan, and set a standard that Marines still emulate today.

He left the Corps after his tour was up, earned his law degree, and became a very successful lawyer in Atlanta.

I lost count of the number of times he recalled his experience in the Corps and how he credited it with any success he had later in life.

Then one day he called and told me he was dying of cancer and wanted my wife and me to help him arrange his funeral. He wanted to be buried in his dress blues and asked that I work with the funeral home to make sure his uniform was perfect.

Here was a man who could claim a dozen or more major accomplishments in his life, but the one he held most dearly as death approached was his title, Marine.

There are no words to adequately explain that type of pride. And he knew I would arrange his funeral well, and do it with honor.

It would not be the last time I did that.

A few years ago, I invited a WWII veteran to be the guest speaker on Memorial Day in our town. In his mid-80s, he was trim and lively, and gave a humorous and touching talk about his time in the Corps during WWII.

About a month after that, his daughter-in-law called to tell me he had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and had little time left. She asked for my help in getting him a dress-blue uniform because he never had one, but wanted to be buried in it.

So I helped obtain the full uniform and, in the process, discovered he rated the Purple Heart (for injuries in combat), but had never received it.

Again, words fail to adequately describe how I felt in watching this now-frail man in his last days, supported by his son and grandson to stand for photos, dressed for the first and last time in the Marine dress blues he had so perilously earned decades before, with his Purple Heart pinned above the other ribbons he had earned.

Earning The Title
Year after year for 236 years, young men and now young women have continued to fill Marine Corps ranks in war and in peace. Since 1975 to today, they have all been volunteers. A draft did not require them to join. Many of them joined a delayed-entry program when they were still in their last year of high school, or while going to college.

I recently made a trip back to the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, this time as a father bringing my 17-year-old son there for the first time. He has expressed a desire to be a Marine. (Go figure, I wonder how that happened.)

I feel pride mixed with fear. I am proud he wants to take on that challenge, but this is a dangerous world for a Marine, and this is my boy. I know the heartache of telling a parent the worst news a parent can ever receive, and I can’t even conceive of the pain in hearing that news. I don’t ever want to be that parent.

As I traveled with him around the base, I saw the faces of these recruits. They were so young, but not much older than my boy. They were not so long out of Little League and youth football.

Oddly, they looked like the recruits in my old platoon from 1976.

They all graduated from high school because the Corps doesn’t accept anything less. They were last year’s sports stars, couch potatoes, nerds, or just regular guys and gals. Most were good students who could have gone on to college or a trade school or done nothing for a while and lived off their parents.

But they chose to be here, knowing–as did the Marines of WWII–that Marines today stand a better-than-average chance of seeing combat, even if they only serve one four-year enlistment.

I talked with some of them, asking why they were here. The answers were not what you might expect.

Some said they wanted to serve their country, others because a father or brother or uncle served in the Corps.

One young man said he’d wanted to be a Marine since he was five.

One told me he joined because people had labeled him ADHD, telling him he would not be able to make it through boot camp. He was here to prove them wrong, and with only one week left, he would do it.

None of the recruits said they joined because they needed a job or were looking for a paycheck.

Becoming a Marine is not a job; it is a quest, a way of life, a members-only club that only a small percent of Americans will ever know or understand. According to the old adage, “If it was easy to be a Marine, anybody could do it.”

As I listened and watched them train, I was overcome with hope for American youth. As long as there are men and women like these who are willing to stand up and fight for what they believe is right about America, there is hope.

I spoke with parents and family members who were there to watch their Marine march across the parade deck. There are as many stories as there are graduates.

One mother, confessing she never thought her daughter would be able to make it through boot camp, welled up with tears and couldn’t talk anymore.

One dad, a fellow Marine, talked about his graduating son, and I saw the same pride-fear emotion that I felt.

One 16-year old boy wearing a “My Brother Is A Marine” T-shirt told me he is joining the delayed-entry program as soon as he turns 17, with his parents’ permission.

On graduation day, my hope soared higher when I witnessed thousands of family members who had come to watch their Marine march past. The transformation in their young man or woman was amazing. I watched several parents walk right past their son or daughter, looking for the timid, unsure youth they knew, but discovered instead a tall-walking, respectful, self-assured young American.

Why have I taken my time to write these columns, and yours to read them? Because these young Marines, and members of all of the other military services, are important. They stand prepared to give the ultimate sacrifice so the rest of us can continue to enjoy the freedoms and privileges too easily taken for granted.

Many of the protected may never know the great sacrifices of the protectors. If these young men and women are brave enough to stand between us and the wolf at the door (and there are wolves out there!), we must be brave enough to support them up or at the very least show our appreciation.

Next time you see a young man or woman in uniform, please take the time to thank them for their service. It is a small gesture that doesn’t cost anything but a moment of time, but will mean the world to them.

Semper Fidelis!

Randy Gaddo, a retired Marine, who also served until recently in municipal parks and recreation, lives in Peachtree City, Ga., and can be reached at (678) 350-8642 or email cwo4usmc@comcast.net.

Getting your ball fields ready early is the key to a successful season.

Why should you, as a manager, let anyone use a field without a maintenance plan?

It makes sense, doesn’t it? And while you’re not out there trying to pitch, hit, and run in a way your opponent isn’t expecting, you are trying to vanquish weeds, annihilate pests, and create a superior playing environment, even when Mother Nature doesn’t seem to want to cooperate.

A game plan for proper field-maintenance and management starts in the pre-season, not a few days before players are due to take the field.

Here’s a quick primer from field builders on what to do and how to do it:

Fertilize
In a perfect world, sunshine and warm, drenching spring rains would result in an emerald-green field.

Do you live in a perfect world? Nobody does. As a result, there’s fertilizer.

“If you are in a situation of very limited access-time for maintenance of grass fields, consider use of very slow-release fertilizer formulations and use of growth regulators,” says Chad Price of Carolina Green Corp. in Indian Trail, N.C.

“This will result in fewer trips across the field with equipment, without sacrificing grass quality.”

Turf Inspection
Keep a careful eye on all aspects of the field, Price adds.

“In performing field inspections, look at safety first. Obviously, irregular surfaces, trip hazards, and ankle twisters are a concern, but look also at organic threats, such as bees and other insects. Clover flowers are a big attractant for bees. The best time for weed control for clover is typically fall or spring, before flowering starts.

“Fire ants are also a big problem for southern locations. Some of the year-round controls are also applied in the winter/early spring. Look at the soil for glass, rocks, or debris that may surface once the turf gets worn or thin. Check for hazards on perimeter areas that kids may wander off into, such as woods, fences, and other hardscapes.”

Look for worn areas where players typically stand, and re-sod or re-seed these areas. Again, this is a much more effective strategy if it’s launched in the fall so that new grass has time to establish. Sodding or seeding right before players take to the field means there’s little chance for new growth.

What's your field maintenance game plan?

Depending upon your geographic location, the big issue may not be waiting for grass to grow in following a hard winter, but waiting for the warm-weather grasses to re-establish.

“Most park-and-recreation fields in the southeast are Bermuda grass fields,” notes Dan Wright of Sports Turf Company in Whitesburg, Ga.

“Sometimes these fields are over-seeded with perennial ryegrass in the winter to maintain a green color for winter play while the Bermuda grass is dormant. It is an important process to transition out the ryegrass so as not to damage the Bermuda grass. The spring transition is the process of removing the perennial rye as soon as the dormant Bermuda begins to come out of dormancy (this process is known as ‘green-up’). The canopy of rye grass can kill Bermuda grass, so it is essential to be aware of what is happening.”

Wright notes that at the first sign the dormant Bermuda begins to green up, the following steps should be taken:

• There should be minimum or no mowing during January and February, but by late February, the process of mowing should be underway. Mow on a regular schedule during March and April. Mow with a reel mower.

• Mow the rye grass at a height of ¾ of an inch, and at a maximum of 1 inch.

• Mow to keep grass this height about three times a week, but not on consecutive days.

• Apply an appropriate product that will assist in the fast removal of the perennial rye during transition.

Ins And Outs Of The Infield
Because the grass fields demand statistically more time in mowing, weeding, and sodding, one may think the skinned areas of the facility don’t need as much attention. But the pros say that’s a misconception.

“The most critical issue facing baseball and softball field managers is skinned infield maintenance–specifically lip build-up,” says Patrick Maguire of Activitas Inc., in Dedham, Mass.

“Often the skinned infield is considered ‘low maintenance’ by municipalities, leagues, and field managers–and by low maintenance, I mean no maintenance more often than not. In reality, it is the most maintenance-intense part of the field and the place where 99 percent of all play occurs.”

Maguire notes the correct infield surface-mix should be chosen (typical mixes use a combination of sand, silt, clay, binder, and more to achieve the right consistency for the level of play, the climate, and the amount of use).

“Once the right mix is chosen, keeping the right amount of moisture in the infield is paramount,” says Maguire.

“Also, keeping the mix in the infield and not dragging it into the infield or outfield grass is critical. When a lip begins to build up, it is a major safety issue and impedes proper drainage off of the infield. When this begins, it usually gets worse, as coaches, players, and umpires will often push puddles off of the field and into the outfield grass. This only exacerbates the issue.”

Effectively Equip Your Field
Just because equipment was ship-shape last year doesn’t mean it can be ignored this year. Conduct an investigation and inspection early so that, if necessary, repairs can be made or replacements ordered.

“Look at the bases to see if any need replacing, and that includes home plates and pitching rubbers,” says Wright.

“Are the dugout benches in good condition or need replacing? What is the condition of the fence–does it need any repairs to include replacement of any polycap material on the outfield fence?”

Some other things to examine, Wright notes, are aspects at the periphery of the field.

“Check any banners or windscreens attached to the fences. You may find you have to either repair, replace, or take down any unserviceable banners or windscreens.”

In many cases, banners may be the responsibility of individual teams or programs, since they indicate a local business has sponsored a team. Teams should update banners as a sign of continued gratitude to the sponsors.

Grading
Many of the problems athletic fields suffer from are caused by incorrect drainage. On natural fields, the soil may hold the water too long, or an incorrect slope traps water in puddles on the surface.

“The most important issue to address is surface drainage,” says Price.

“Make sure the field has positive surface drainage. If the field has bird baths and pot holes, fix them first so the water gets off the field. This will result in less down time for play, and less damage to the field. It will also require less maintenance staff and inputs if you do not have to worry with standing water on the surface.”

As was mentioned earlier, having the correct surface mix for the conditions is essential. Correct grading and avoiding build-ups that can trap water will remain a factor in successful field performance.

In all aspects of your field, it’s essential to begin planning months in advance. By the time the umpire yells “Play Ball!” your own game should be well underway.

Mary Helen Sprecher has been a technical writer for more than 20 years with the American Sports Builders Association. She has written on various topics relating to sports-facility design, construction and supply, as well as sports medicine, education, and health and industrial issues. She is an avid racquetball and squash player, and a full-time newspaper reporter in Baltimore, Md.

Help your staff learn how to be good camp representatives on the Internet. © Can Stock Photo Inc / MonkeyBusiness

They may not realize, however, the Internet is not a protected playground, where they may do whatever they please. In reality, it is just like the real world, where a careless word or action can have serious personal, financial, and professional consequences.

It is in a camp’s best interest to train staff members in ways to safely navigate the real online world. By taking one hour to teach counselors the “hows” and “whys” of keeping their own online personas clean, they will be cooperating in the ongoing task of keeping the camp’s Internet presence spotless.

Counselors should begin their training by learning the two most fundamental truths of the Internet:

• Everything is public. Once something is posted online, everybody in the world can see it. Nothing is truly “private” in cyberspace.

• Everything is permanent. It is impossible to completely remove something from the Internet. Once it’s up, it’s up forever, even if the original is deleted. One cannot “take it back.”

Just the implications of these two pieces of information should be enough to make anyone think before they post.

The following two scenarios will help staff members apply this knowledge in a more concrete way.

Scenario 1: George is an 18-year-old high-school senior applying for a counseling job at the ABC Summer Camp to supervise young children. The camp’s personnel director does a routine Google search on George and finds a three-year-old Twitter account with Tweets making jokes about his classmates, his teachers, and people of other races.

Scenario 2: Ellen is a 20-year-old counselor at Camp ABC. She “friends” three of her underage campers on Facebook. One of the camper’s parents clicks on their daughter’s new camp friend’s profile and sees multiple photos and videos of Ellen smoking, drinking, and posing suggestively, as well as Wall posts filled with expletives and poor grammar.

As part of the counselors’ training, ask them what they think happened next to George and Ellen. In the resulting discussion, be sure to point out that George and Ellen had the power to prevent their past online postings from coming back to haunt them–if only they had understood those two basic truths about the Internet.

After showing staff members why they need to exercise caution in their personal lives online, use the camp’s Internet Usage policy to begin more formal training.

Hand out printed copies of the camp’s Internet policy. It should be short, no longer than one page, and include the following three items:

• Definition of “inappropriate” usage. A general definition follows: “Any text, photo, audio, or video about the camp that could be considered controversial or questionable by the camp administration, campers, or campers’ parents.” An easier way to remember, though, is the classic “Mother Test”: before posting something, ask yourself, “Would I want my mother to see this?”

• Notification of monitoring and enforcement. Inform staff members upfront that while they are working for the camp, all of their online accounts are subject to monitoring. Tell them how they will be notified of any violations, and give them the opportunity to correct their mistakes.

• Notification of consequences. Reveal all consequences for violations, and list what type or number of violations will result in penalties (including reassignment, demotion, or outright dismissal).

Rather than dumping an exhaustive list of “appropriate” and “inappropriate” examples onto staff members, teach them instead how to see the difference on their own. Ask everyone to take out their smartphones and find an example of an online post that spectacularly fails the “Mother Test.” Lead a short discussion on why each failed posting is “inappropriate.”

By teaching the counseling staff the rules and techniques to protect themselves online, you have also succeeded in training them to be excellent representatives of the camp on the Internet.

Keisuke Hoashi is the Director of Communications for the New York Summer Music Festival in Oneonta, New York. He can be reached via email at KHoashi@nysmf.org.

Junior staffers bring great energy -- and some challenges -- to your camp leadership mix. © kali9 / iStockPhoto.com

When properly fed and watered, some of the junior staffers will eventually grow into unit leaders and administrative staff. That, too, is an asset. Second, the fact you employ junior staff members creates an incentive for the oldest campers to return. The prospect of being chosen to join these ranks is also a powerful motivator of good behavior.

By installing a thoughtful internal leadership-development program, you have ensured solid return rates, improved teenage manners, and invested in the future of the employees.

Pat yourself on the back for solving three vexing problems with one swift stroke. Then cringe at the monsters you’ve created.

OK, junior staff members are not monsters. But there is some bad news: The 16- or 17-year-old junior leaders, leader-corps members, LITs, or CITs (whatever the designation for the youngest personnel) are about a decade shy of having fully myelinated and efficiently pruned frontal lobes.

Huh?

That’s right. The area of their brains just behind the forehead–the area responsible for impulse control, wise planning, hypothetical thinking, and other so-called “executive functions”–will not mature until the mid-twenties. Until then, you can expect some neurological short-circuiting in the form of impetuous, puerile, egocentric behavior.

Said differently, young staff members do dumb things.

You knew that, of course, and now you know why. The honest answer (though you’ll never get it) to the post-disaster query, “What were you thinking?” is actually “I wasn’t. I can’t. I’m neurologically impaired.” Seriously.

But wait. There’s worse news: Campers are even more neurologically underdeveloped than the junior staff members. In essence, you have chosen to take one impulsive, immature group and put it in charge of an even more impulsive and immature group.

Oh, and did I mention the latter group would be running around in the woods, swimming in the lake, and shooting arrows? Yikes!

Of course, it can’t be that bad or directors wouldn’t work so hard to cultivate their internal leadership programs. Indeed, it isn’t. The benefits of exuberance, creativity, and playfulness far outweigh the liabilities of limited executive function skills.

And when you begin an internal leadership-development program with careful selection and loving mentoring, perilous problems disappear. What remain are typical pitfalls, each potentially corrosive, but none without a solution.

The Trouble With Teens
Here are the most common junior staff troubles:

Acting immaturely.
Junior staff members are young, so they may say or do things that seem immature compared to how you may act. For perspective, recall how you acted at that age. Remember gossiping, giving wedgies, using foul language, and pushing each other into the water? On the plus side, some of this immaturity is hilarious during skit night.

Befriending instead of leading.
Junior staffers are close in age to senior campers, and perhaps have friends who are still campers, so they may want to hang out instead of doing their jobs. Expect the regressive pull of peer interaction to eclipse their job description as instructors. Gently guide them back on track by pointing out that position, not age, defines responsibilities.

Over-sharing.
Junior team members are often impressed with staff privileges, and may want to share them–such as day-off exploits and staff-lounge goodies–but they really shouldn’t. It’s tempting to pull back the curtain, Oz-style, so urge young employees to use discretion. Instead of quickly but superficially impressing youngsters with camp secrets, teach junior staff members to impress them with sterling leadership-by-example.

Neglecting enforcement.
Junior staffers may have trouble enforcing rules and setting boundaries, especially with peers. Remind staffers that all leaders need to make unpopular decisions from time to time. Ultimately, the consistent enforcement of limits will earn them the deep respect of campers and colleagues.

Becoming bossy.
Junior employees are in a position of power for the first time at camp, and may abuse that role by becoming bossy or authoritarian. Control is intoxicating, but leadership loses its muscle quickly when applied or enforced with a heavy hand. Temper those tempers.

Taking little initiative.
Junior staff may become intimidated in the presence of older, wiser, more experienced personnel and so retreat into the background or fail to take the initiative. Reward initiative by telling junior employees you would rather see them try and fail than not try at all. Better yet, teach experienced team members to invite the cooperation of juniors in all they do.

Behaving unsafely.
Junior staff members may sometimes lack an appreciation for the magnitude of responsibility they have in taking care of other people’s children. In an effort to be liked by the campers, staffers may break rules or act in unsafe ways. They are also the most likely to be swayed by peer pressure during time off, making illegal activities such as substance abuse even more dangerous. Becoming a parent may be the only thing that instills profound feelings of responsibility, but serious staff training will certainly help. Reviewing close calls from the past few seasons may also motivate responsible behavior.

Getting defensive.
Junior staffers are not used to being supervised and hearing constructive criticism from senior workers, so the former may become angry or defensive. Indeed, the so-called “millennial generation” was raised with so much vapid praise that older-staff criticisms may be a first. Over time, the junior staff can become familiar with feedback, both positive and negative. And if the majority of what you offer is specific, authentic praise, no one will cringe when they see you coming. In a few weeks, defensive junior staff members can be transformed into young professionals committed to their own development.

Forming cliques.
Junior team members are often more uncomfortable in their new role than they let on. As a source of comfort, a sign of immaturity, or maybe as a byproduct of the competition they feel with other junior staffers, they may form cliques. Keep a close eye on exclusive groups, and thwart their formation by offering plenty of integrated leadership opportunities.

Repeating mistakes.
Junior personnel may continue to make mistakes, even after they’ve been corrected and coached. But everyone makes mistakes. If a supportive culture, where leaders are encouraged to take initiative and learn from their mistakes, is created, then all of the youthful honesty, optimism, energy, creativity, and their connection with campers can be harnessed successfully.

How To Help
Junior employees are not the only ones who make these mistakes, but they naturally make them more frequently than experienced staff members. It’s ironic that the youngest leaders are held to the same high standard as every other counselor and administrator, but keeping the professional bar high for all leaders is best for the campers … and best for the junior staff’s own growth.

Of course, supervisors should be exceptionally patient with junior staff members. They need a reliable mentor who sets a solid example for them to follow.

Anticipate the young staff’s needs.
Older employees are especially effective mentors when they can predict some of the problems their apprentices will make. For example, if junior staff members are likely to have trouble enforcing certain rules or taking criticism well, talk with them ahead of time about these challenges. Suggest specific solutions that you know from experience will work.

Keep the lines of communication open.
Observe, question, and reflect. Never stop asking, “What can I do to help you do your job better?”

Set a good example.
What you and the senior staff think and do–both during time on and time off–is what the young staffers will imitate. Lead the way with kindness, maturity, and discretion. Avoid the temptation to talk to junior staff members the same way they talk to each other. When experienced staffers try to “act cool,” it feels forced. Remember your role.

Provide real responsibility.
Help young leaders successfully navigate the transition from camper to counselor by giving them significant responsibilities. Most of their training is experiential. If junior leaders are only given manual labor, they won’t be having the types of experiences that actually train them. The most effective internal leadership-development programs offer junior staff members a supervised, structured apprenticeship that includes leading groups, supervising campers, co-running activity periods, and devising creative solutions to daily challenges.

See training as iterative.
The online pre-season training and customized on-site training are complements to the on-the-job training your junior staffers receive every day from their interactions with campers. Therefore, it’s best to conceptualize training as an ongoing process. Be sure the junior employees are receiving frequent, informal feedback in addition to scheduled, formal feedback. Make sure your training program is dynamic–adjusted and improvised as different needs arise. Expect to train junior personnel on the same issue in different ways, at different times. Simply put, their learning should never stop.

Talented camp staffers come from every part of the world, but those cultivated from the camper ranks are a unique asset because they understand the camp’s culture and mission. They lived it as campers.

However you select junior staff members–from the ranks of senior campers or by application and interview–those young leaders will face challenges transitioning to this new set of responsibilities.

The best news of all is that when you anticipate those challenges and train according to the principles outlined above, that young staff will infuse your camp with vitality and charisma.

“What were you thinking?” will turn to “Wow! That’s good thinking.”

Dr. Christopher Thurber is a board-certified clinical psychologist and professional educator for camps, schools, and youth programs worldwide. He is the co-author of The Summer Camp Handbook, the host of the DVD-CD set, The Secret Ingredients of Summer Camp Success, and the co-founder of ExpertOnlineTraining.com. To learn more about Chris, visit CampSpirit.com.

Help keep your elders relevant.

I have mentioned this time-honored tradition in previous articles–the value of that experience and how it keeps the family ties tight.

As time passes, the wisdom gained by elders from challenging experiences is passed onto the younger families, leading to generations of well-balanced, thoughtful offspring–all of them ready to face the world “our way.”

As the elders of the family realize the days behind them far outnumber the days ahead, for many a certain loneliness sets in that is difficult to shake. In some ways, it’s almost a sense of desperation.

Looking Back
My wife’s stepfather, Miki, one of my dearest friends, recently received a letter from “the old country.” Enclosed was a picture of Miki and 15 of his classmates when they were teenagers. Their bodies were hard, their faces young, their spirits high.

Miki sat atop a white horse–no saddle, no shoes, no fear.

Fifty years later, he scrutinized the cracked black-and-white photo through a small magnifying glass he carries in his breast pocket, since he lost most of his vision by the time he was 20. Medical knowledge was not as developed in Hungary then as here in the states, and a facial kick by a draft horse “adjusted” Miki’s eyesight only a few weeks after that picture was taken.

He’s told me many times of how he brought his wife and newborn daughter to America with one trunk and the clothes on their backs. They didn’t know the English language or American ways. But the family was greeted by another Hungarian group that helped him get his family settled, and to find work as a laborer.

Miki applied himself and became a tool-and-die maker. He rented half a house, saved enough money to finance a loan, and then bought the entire house from the landlord. He then rented out the other half. The rent covered the mortgage and soon he owned the house outright.

He learned English by listening to other workers.

His daughter went to public school and showed abilities in science and math that fast-tracked her into college.

Miki worked, developed a good reputation, and moved up. He took extra shifts to cover her schooling, to acquire a better home, a newer car, and better food. It was then he coined the phrase, “In America, every day is Christmas!”

As he watched American consumers pile up “things,” he spent in a modest way, buying a used car, a black-and-white television, and hand-me-down clothes.

His principles didn’t change as he became more financially secure–“good enough” was indeed good enough. He invested and saved money that came from coveted extra shifts. Still fresh in his mind were his sisters and brothers back home, sitting around the fireplace in winter and sleeping on mattresses filled with hay and straw.

He packed boxes and boxes of clothes from Goodwill and over-the-counter medications to send “back to old country,” not only to share his good fortune, but to help those relatives live longer, as most of his kin were usually dead by 60.

Was It All Worth It?
So with all that in his heart–the job, the family he left behind, the wife who eventually left him because he was always at work, the loneliness of wondering if he ever should have left his roots–he gazed at this photo and wept. That Sunday at dinner, there was a silence about him I had not seen before.

I began to wonder if all of this health and science and nutrition that help to extend lives well beyond what it used to be is really a good thing. Maybe there’s some value to dying when all has been said and done. And I came to understand exactly what was foremost in Miki’s mind that day, a question we all must face eventually, “Was it all worth it?”

His youth and middle years were consumed with finding a better way. He fought his way to America and fended off the wolves at the door to raise his daughter well, provide for his family, and move up.

And now, as he reaps the benefit of his work and retires to a handsome home with heating and air-conditioning and a new car in the garage and cupboards full of food and clothes, society suggests he is supposed to lie back, go to water aerobics, use his senior-citizen card for discounts, and try to lower his cholesterol.

No Cruise Control
What is my point?

Individuals from these circumstances have no idea how to retire! They find it difficult to drop into a lower gear and just cruise. They should celebrate the early-bird special at Denny’s? Miki does not read well, write well, or take vacations–he doesn’t even know how to be good to himself. All he ever knew was that if he worked his body hard, there would be a reward for everyone else, so he did it.

Miki knew how to survive and provide, and while he doesn’t have to do it anymore, he can’t just stop. How does he go from carrying the world on his shoulders to letting the world now care for him? The fact is he doesn’t, and it’s natural to resist it.

Chewing The Fat
While Miki looked shakily at the picture, inches away from his one good eye, I saw it all so clearly. What is the one thing that makes him and seniors like him feel better? What is it that lessens the pain? It’s the ability to share stories with those like him, those who have their own stories to tell.

You see it all the time in coffee shops and fast-food restaurants–older men, clustered in groups, regaling each other with the stories and adventures of their youth. They commiserate, for there is safety in numbers and comfort in getting lost within other people’s problems.

My Italian ancestors all talk of their love for the piazzas in Rome and of other outdoor eateries and waterfront cafes–places where the young and the old meet, live, laugh, and love.

Places where the onset of “what-might-have-been” can be easily ignored and replaced with other important things: a good cup of coffee, an ice-cold beer, a delicious piece of pie, the punch line of a friend’s joke, the shriek of laughter from a grandchild, and most of all–a peaceful family that now thrives because of the sweat and toil from an old-timer’s brow.

I’m setting some money aside from this year’s tax return to spruce up the backyard–some shade structures, umbrellas, a few more tables, and a filtered pool. There is already a nice sound system and a handsome fire pit and grill, but I want everyone to be outside this year instead of inside with the air-conditioning blasting.

I want to replicate that piazza, keeping a couple of chess and checker boards set up on tables and the driveway clear so Miki and all the other elders in the family can drop by any time this spring, summer, or fall and fill the air with their stories, memories, and histories.

“Yes, Miki, I’ve heard you tell this one before, but please tell it again. I don’t think my son has heard it.”

Ron Ciancutti is the Purchasing Manager for Cleveland Metroparks. He is not on Facebook, but he can be reached at rdc@clevelandmetroparks.com.

Kyle Kebaugh

“I would say in my 11 years as a youth athlete, I saw my fair share of coaches and players who did not represent a quality level of sportsmanship on the playing field,” says Kebaugh, the sports coordinator for St. Mary’s recreation and parks in Maryland.

“So now I work to educate our coaches and parents on what true sportsmanship is, and take pride when I see it displayed in our community.”

St. Mary’s caters to more than 10,000 athletes ages 4 to 17, and offers indoor soccer, roller hockey, indoor field hockey, indoor lacrosse, gymnastics, cheerleading, tennis, and basketball. Volunteer youth leagues conduct more than a dozen other sports, ranging from baseball and cheerleading to wrestling and kickball.

With such a large program, the challenges of providing top-quality experiences are varied and many.

Kebaugh shared his department’s efforts to make a difference in the lives of children through sports:

What is the best display of good sportsmanship you have ever seen in your program?

Kyle: Prior to the start of basketball season, players complete an individual offensive-skill routine in front of coaches, other players, and parents to give coaches a chance to view players before teams are selected. There were about 150 kids in attendance, so the gym was packed. While all players are placed on teams, this day still can be nerve-wracking because of the kids’ exposure to everyone in the gym.

This particular age group consisted of 3rd and 4th graders, some of whom had never played organized sports before. The first child completed his routine, which consisted of dribbling, layups, and shooting. Afterward, parents, siblings, and players clapped and cheered. I was somewhat surprised because the player was no Michael Jordan.

Sure enough, every single child who played that day received a hearty round of applause no matter if they made all their shots or threw up air balls. The parents did not have to show this type of support, nor did they need to stay for the entire tryout, but almost everyone did, and the kids really seemed to brighten up after they left the court, knowing everyone was cheering for them.

Share a story that has made all your hard work and long hours worth it.

Kyle: Every year we provide program scholarships to county residents who are in financial hardship. Our department does not receive any financial assistance to aid low-income families, so we very much depend on our annual special events to raise funds to assist our participants.

Recreation and parks pays for 50 percent of registration costs for families in need. Each year, this equates to more than $6,000.

As a recreation professional, it touches my heart to know we are able to provide recreational opportunities to over 100 children who, without our help, may not be able to participate. Recreation should be a component in everyone’s lives, and I feel that every bit of help we can provide will truly make a difference for these families. It makes this job well worth the time and effort.

If you were made the czar of youth sports nationwide, what would be your first order of business to improve them?

Kyle: Safety is number one when it comes to youth sports. The best way to ensure a long and injury-free athletic career is to play it safe from the start. To reduce the risk of injuries and/or to make sure they are cared for properly, head coaches would be required to complete basic first-aid and CPR training.

I would also like to see sports opportunities available to all children, regardless of income. Many sports leagues offer assistance to cover registration costs and some equipment, but many kids are still left sitting at home because of the costs involved. I would like to see more state and local governments come to the aid of these children.

I also think an equipment-donation program should be put into place for those who cannot afford to purchase new items.

What is the worst parent situation you have ever dealt with, and how was the matter resolved?

Kyle: As a parent myself, I can understand the time and money parents devote to their children’s sporting experience. While most parents are respectful and supportive, there is always a handful every season that can make your job particularly difficult.

We once had an incident during a youth-football practice. A custody situation involving divorced parents and their current spouses culminated in an assault in the parking lot in front of the child’s team. This was a frightening experience for all the young athletes.

We spoke to the individuals involved, as well as to law enforcement to obtain all the facts. We didn’t want to single out the child for the behavior of his parents, and we certainly didn’t want to end his participation by revoking his registration.

After our investigation, the parties received suspensions from the park, and were required to re-sign a code of ethics. They also wrote separate letters apologizing to both the football league and recreation and parks. There were no further incidents with these families, and the child still participates.

How do you deal with the fact that no matter what you do, there will always be some kids who don’t have an enjoyable experience in your program?

Kyle: It’s always difficult as a youth-sports administrator when a child has not had a favorable sports experience. However, we do not give up. Sports are more than a game; they are a set of life lessons. Kids growing up without them are really disadvantaged.

A bad sports experience can often be traced to a few causes: The child simply feels he or she is not talented enough to continue; the child is playing on a losing team; the parent(s) undermine the child’s experience, based on their own ideas; the coach is not a good fit; or the sport is not of interest. Most of these factors can be adapted until a child is able to find a fun experience.

With plenty of great coaches and over 21 sports offered in our area, there are ample opportunities for children to find an enjoyable experience in both individual and team sports at all levels of competition.

Fred Engh is founder and CEO of the National Alliance for Youth Sports (NAYS) in West Palm Beach, Fla. He can be reached via e-mail at fengh@nays.org. To join more than 3,000 communities by starting a NAYS chapter, visit www.nays.org or contact Emmy Martinez at emartinez@nays.org or (800) 729-2057.

Like all mid-week vacation days, this one still entailed some non-vacation activities, like getting my high-schooler to the bus stop across town (at 6:30 a.m.), running the two middle-schoolers through their morning routine and, when it was all done, celebrating with breakfast at a local restaurant with my wife and four-year-old twins.

While we watched our twin girls get scolded by some well-meaning grandma for not sharing enough trains at the train table, we tried to decompress from what had already been a busy week.

As we sipped our coffee and chatted, the conversation inevitably turned to what we were going to do with the rest of our precious vacation day.

After a little back and forth, we decided we’d take a few minutes and hang up the bikes in the garage–to avoid further destruction to the sides of our vehicles and sanity.

Like all projects that are envisioned to be “easy” or “quick,” this one derailed into a daylong affair complete with trips to the local bike shop (twice), Home Depot (once) and a complete re-arrangement of everything in the garage.

But the result was well worth the effort. Now, all seven family bikes are neatly hung across the front of the garage, where we can easily access them and, as I joked to my wife, if needed we can rent them out to earn some quick cash.

This last idea, bike rental or bike sharing programs, must have been a popular topic, because when I arrived at the office today, my first task was to read through this issue and finish writing my Publisher’s Note.

Wouldn’t you know it? The first story I flipped to was Tammy York’s piece titled: “Develop A Bike Sharing Program” (page 12).

It’s a welcome idea–one that is gaining traction across the country both in commuter-heavy areas where parking garages are turning car parking spaces into bike parking spaces and communities, colleges, and recreation departments are developing networks that allow patrons to rent a bike in one location, ride it across town and drop it off.

There’s no doubt this trend is going to grow. The only question is will your community be part of it?

To find out what it takes to get started, check out York’s article.

And, if you’re already tuned in to the bike craze, we’ve got a lot of other goodies to offer up this month. I won’t bore you with the details, but I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.

If you do, or if you don’t, be sure to let us know.

Have a great May!

Sincerely,

Rodney J. Auth
Publisher

P.S.: Make sure to add your parks to the ParksNReviews.com mobile app. Just log in to your Insider account and create a listing (one-page website) for each of your parks. There is no cost to participate. Questions? Call 866-444-4216.

Hard to believe this junior editor now has his learner's permit! © Northstar Publishing, Inc.

Until recently, my pre-dawn ritual was pleasantly simple–a bowl of oatmeal with raspberries, a cup of coffee, a leisurely drive to the bus stop (to drop off my high school-aged son) and then the office, followed by a few precious moments of quiet prior to the arrival of my staff members.

I don’t think I truly understood how much I enjoyed this ritual until it was shattered, and I mean obliterated, by the arrival of my son’s learner’s permit.

Now I need those few minutes of peace before staff arrives to make sure all my pieces and parts are still in working order. This morning was a good example.

It had been three consecutive days of sitting in the passenger’s seat helping my son navigate the light to nonexistent traffic across town to the bus stop. Each day he improved. So much so, that the night before, I let him drive halfway home from his high school–which is about 40 miles away.

Again, he did well. So well, that I decided to scroll through the email on my phone as he backed out of the garage to begin our morning commute.

As I thumbed to my third message, I heard a grating sound followed by a thump. More perplexing, the car was still moving backwards.

“Dude, you just hit something. Why are you still moving?”

“No I didn’t. I’m still in the driveway.”

“Stop the car.”

He stopped.

“Didn’t you hear that sound and feel that thud?”

“Yeah.”

“And, you kept going?”

“Yeah.”

“Get out and see what you hit.”

So, my young charge got out and reported back that all was well, he just ran over the garbage cans Mom put out the night before.

He got back in, pulled forward, backed up–this time avoiding the garbage cans–and made it to the street. Only then did I realize he never actually picked up the garbage cans or the trash that had fallen out. So, he got out again, cleaned up his mess and off we went.

Needless to say, my phone stayed on the dash and my Dad radar went back up. We made it safely the rest of the way.

I bring this up because this is exactly the type of person you’re dealing with when you try to turn campers into junior staffers.

As you know, all is not lost, and more importantly, the fact that you have junior staffers actually speaks to the popularity of your camp and your program. I won’t ruin the rest of this topic with my ramblings; instead I suggest you flip to page 36 and read Chris Thurber’s take on the subject.

Once again, he turns in an excellent piece that will make you laugh and help you harness the power and creativity of your typical adolescent and keep your camp in one piece.

Because this is our annual staff training issue, you’ll also find a bunch of other stories sure to help you navigate the waters of senior staff, safety, risk management and more.

As usual, I hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed creating it.

Till next month…

Rodney J. Auth
Publisher

P.S.: Our mobile camp search app is coming soon. If you’re not one of the 14,000 camps currently listed on CampsNReviews.com, take a moment to log in to your Insider account and add your camp. Need a login? Call 866-444-4216.

Take hiring lifeguards seriously. © Gene Chutka / iStockPhoto.com

Hiring would be much easier if all lifeguards were required to have the same skills verified by the same certification, ensuring they were properly trained in the latest rescue techniques and procedures, as well as on the equipment necessary to perform such duties.

However, this is not the case.

A variety of lifeguard certification programs exist in North America and throughout the world. Although the training aspects of these programs have many similarities, the significant differences might lead to hiring the wrong lifeguard to meet a camp’s specific needs.

In a worst-case scenario, this may lead to a preventable injury or death–and likely litigation.

Yet, many of these issues can be avoided, addressed, or rectified with a proper understanding of a lifeguard’s duties, basic hiring and management principles on the part of camp administrators, and some effective supervisory skills.

Consider the following:

The Duties
Before hiring, an official must be clear as to what a lifeguard is supposed to do. A lifeguard, whether at a camp location, a swimming pool, a river, an ocean, or other waterway, is a person in charge of the safety of everyone in or near the water area.

The lifeguard’s job may include interacting with visitors; enforcing pool regulations, local laws, and ordinances; protecting the environment; saving drowning victims; and providing first aid.

Necessary Skills
Lifeguards are often categorized as “first responders,” which means a crucial part of their training must include emergency medical services (EMS). This includes performing CPR when necessary, as well as tending to wounds, burns, fractures, head injuries, and other medical crises.

Depending on the water area, he or she may be responsible for handling other emergencies, such as boat fires or disabled boats.

Equipment
For lifeguards to properly perform their duties, camp administrators should provide appropriate rescue equipment: a rescue float or craft for larger water areas, buoys made of hard plastic, binoculars, swim fins, telephone and radio communication devices, and first-aid equipment.

The lifeguard must know how to use this equipment, and how to maintain and repair it.

A well-trained lifeguard can help keep your campers safe. © jabejon / iStockPhoto.com

Most lifeguards also are expected to complete daily logs of their work activities. These forms should be provided.

Certification
Although certification programs may vary, a prospective lifeguard must be certified by a respected, nationally recognized certification organization. Part of the hiring process also requires screening and testing to ensure the applicant has the necessary skills and training for the camp’s specific needs.

Finding what other skills the applicant actually has beyond certification is extremely helpful.

Swimmers Vs. Lifeguards
Some camp administrators might believe that a competitive swimmer or a swimming instructor, one who also has lifeguard certification, may be a good candidate to hire for lifeguard duties. This is not necessarily true; in fact, the two skill sets may actually be in opposition.

A competitive swimmer or swimming instructor is typically comfortable in the water, and may not have the awareness necessary to spot potential dangers that might harm others less at ease in the pool. A skilled lifeguard keeps a close eye on the pool, constantly aware for potential signs of people in distress.

Water Dangers
Each year, approximately 6,000 people drown in pools and waterways in the United States. This is the second-leading cause of accidental death for people 15 to 44 years of age.

Further, an estimated 200 children drown, often in public pools, and several thousand others are treated in hospitals for submersion accidents, some of which can cause permanent brain damage and respiratory health problems.

In a majority of cases, these victims were only 10 to 30 feet from safety, which means a lifeguard who was aware of their distress potentially could have saved them.*

Who’s In Charge?
Camp pools are supposed to be fun and relaxed places, which can apply to both users of the pools as well as lifeguards. Sometimes administrators and staff, in this case, the lifeguards, merge the duties and responsibilities. However, administrators must always remember that ultimately, being in charge, they will bear the responsibility if a problem or accident occurs.

Once a lifeguard has been selected, camp administrators must continue to maintain a high-quality and safe aquatic system. They must be sure the lifeguards are well aware that their performance on the job is a primary concern of the camp.

To reinforce this policy, many administrators find it beneficial to do some “wandering around,” to visit the pool or water area frequently, to talk with the lifeguards, and observe any in-service training at the facility. This helps ensure quality control, and is essential to maintaining a safe, healthy, and fun pool this and every summer.

Katherine Pickett is a freelance writer and copy editor. She may be reached at (773) 525-3021.

*U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

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Field Notes
Underhill International has tapped Eagle Sales of Grass Valley, Calif., as the company’s new sales agency for Arizona, California and Nevada. Eagle Sales will represent Underhill’s lines of irrigation products for residential/commercial installations, golf courses and sports fields.

Jacobsen, a manufacturer of turf equipment, announces that Britton Harold is the new product manager responsible for multi-deck and outfront rotary products. Prior to coming to Jacobsen almost 5 years ago, Britton served as Product Marketing Manager at Husqvarna.

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Thanks For The Motivation

Ron,

I just wanted to say that I have really enjoyed and looked forward to reading your inspirational stories in PRB each month over the years. I have passed a number of them on to my own kids, church groups and [co-workers]. I am planning on retiring at the end of April this year and my wife and I plan to do what I have spent most of my life doing for others and that is recreating and traveling around this beautiful country in our motor home and enjoying the lovely scenery that God has created. Also, I plan to spend more time in Minnesota playing with the four grandkids we have living up there with our daughter and son-in-law. Keep up the good work–I will miss getting to read your articles in the future.

Happy Trails,

Tom Cook
Director
Hutchinson Recreation Commission
Hutchinson, Kan.

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To Your Health

Hi Ron,

Just read your real-life story and am happy to read you take your lifestyle change seriously (“Become A Moral Compass,” January 2012).

Cheryl Plankey
West Bend, Wis.
————- —————— —————-
I just read your article in PRB January. Wow. Very well-written and right to the point. I hope many people read it and pass it along … AND take it to heart.

Barbie Johnson
Administrative Assistant
Valpo Parks Dept.

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Turn On The Waterworks

Hi Ron,

I enjoyed your article in the February issue, as always (“Give Of Yourself”). This one brought some tears to my eyes, so I thought I’d tell you so.

Julianne Chadwick
Recreation Supervisor–Arts & Crafts
Greenville, N.C.
————— —————– ————–
Dear Ron,

I just received PRB in the mail this morning. I just wanted to let you know what a nice article “Give Of Yourself” was. As I read the first page, I had to stop and flip back to the cover of the magazine to make sure it was the same one I picked up. It made me stop and reflect that what actions we do to others–big or small–do have an impact.

John Merkl
Oconomowoc, Wis.
Retired from the Milwaukee County Parks system

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Now Tweeting Turf Topics: @FMCturf
Philadelphia, Penn.–Follow @FMCturf on Twitter to get valuable business tips, learn about FMC Professional Solutions promotions, and keep up with industry buzz. FMC created the Twitter handle to keep turf-management professionals informed about best-management practices and solutions, as well as answer questions on industry and technical topics. Tweet your questions or comments to @FMCturf. Visit www.twitter.com/FMCturf and begin following today!

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Original GCBAA Member Passes Away
Lincoln, Neb.–Jim Kirchdorfer, Sr., an original member of the Golf Course Builders Association of America (GCBAA), died Feb. 3. He contributed to the golf industry for nearly 50 years. He founded Irrigation Supply Company (today known as ISCO Industries) and Kirchdorfer Irrigation Company in 1962. The companies teamed to install the first multi-row fairway automatic system at the Louisville (Ky.) Country Club in 1963 and Kirchdorfer was the first to install the multi-row irrigation using HDPE pipe throughout the entire system at Quail Chase Golf Club in Louisville in 1988. The practice is now an industry standard.

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STC In Search Of Field Of Dreams
Atlanta, Ga.–The Synthetic Turf Council is now accepting submissions for its fourth annual Search for the Real Field of Dreams, which recognizes the power that synthetic turf has to transform communities and schools, and keep youth active, healthy and fit. The national contest is open to schools (K-12 and college), parks, businesses and public spaces in the United States and Canada that have compelling stories about the impact of their synthetic-turf field or installation. Submissions are due by September 1, 2012 and will be evaluated by an independent panel of judges. The Grand Prize is $1,000, and all winners receive publicity and a modest cash award. Visit www.syntheticturfcouncil.org to learn more.

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iPhone App Identifies Harmful, Nonnative Plants
U.S. Forest Service research and funding have led to the development of a free software application that will help people identify and control destructive invasive plants in Southern forests and grasslands. The Invasive Plants in Southern Forests: Identification and Management application is currently only compatible with Apple products – iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch – and available through iTunes. The software provides photos and information that allow users to identify the 56 nonnative plants and plant groups currently invading the forests of the 13 Southern states. Versions for other operating systems are being explored.

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New Format For Aquatic Play Feature Course
Colorado Springs, Colo.–The National Swimming Pool Foundation announces the Aquatic Play Feature online training course is now available in a new format. The new format offers better user interface, more interactivity, and easier navigation. A Spanish version has also been launched. Participants can register for the course at www.nspf.org and click on online training.

Calendar

July
17-18 North Dakota Recreation & Park Association Quarterly Meeting, Williston, N.D.; www.ndrpa.com

August
27-31 Florida Recreation and Park Association, Orlando, Fla.—Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek; www.web.frpa.org

September
TBA Nebraska Recreation & Park Society Annual Conference, Reno, Nev.—Best Western Airport Plaza; www.nerpa.org
9-11 South Carolina Recreation and Park Association Conference, Greenville, S.C.—Embassy Suites; www.scrpa.org
17-21 Tennessee Recreation and Parks Association Annual Conference, Knoxville, Tenn.—Knoxville Crown Plaza; www.trpa.net
18-21 Minnesota Parks & Recreation Association Annual Conference and Exhibit, Brainerd, Minn.—Cragun’s Resort; www.mnrpa.org