The Young Professional 1 - Arizona Parks and Recreation Association

More documents

Recommendations

Info

supervising full time staff who run various aspects ofrecreation including athletics, fitness, special events,and programming. From the tennis contractors on hisoutdoor courts to rentals and everything in between,Shane manages a budget of close to $1 million inMissouri City. But don’t believe that Shane has changedtoo much since he was promoted. Having been knownto try to convince supervisors that he was wearing his“good jeans” to special occasions, he still showed upto be honored for his award at the Missouri City CityCouncil meeting wearing, you guessed it, his goodjeans.The people who Shane has left the biggest impressionon are his children. While he might refer to his childrenas Numbers 1 through 4 in jest, Gracie, Gibson,Hayden, and Landry are the lights of his life. Marriedfor the past 12 years to his college sweetheart, Hannah,Shane feels that one of his biggest accomplishments isbeing the best husband and father possible.Shane is very honored to have his name associated withRobert W. Crawford. After learning that he had beenhonored with the award, Shane decided to do researchon Robert Crawford. “I am honored to have my nameassociated with an award named after him,” Shane said,“He was a great leader in the field and was a mentor tomany students and young professionals in his career.”Shane has good news for next year’s Robert W.Crawford Young Professional Award winner. Aprevious winner has bought a book about RobertCrawford and it is being passed down from winner towinner. Shane is looking forward to passing both thebook and the award to next year’s winner. No matterwhen the two meet, Shane will leave a big impression.Adrienne Lacy is a Community CenterSupervisor with the City of Fort WorthParks & Community Services Department.Adrienne.Lacy@fortworthtexas.govMWR - Visual Methods Pilot Studyby Kelly UlmThe Morale, Welfare and Recreation department at theBlue Grass Army Depot in Richmond, Kentucky is afacility that is utilized by active military, veterans, retirees,civilians, and Department of Defense contractors. MWRknows the importance of a soldier’s health and fitness andtherefore a gym must be part of the facilities available forthose on base at any given time. The Blue Grass ArmyDepot is a small garrison and is not utilized by manysoldiers, but the gym and other facilities are of highimportance to the employees and contractors on baseand is seen as a valuable commodity. However, the MWRoffers other services that many people do not know exist.This is due to ineffective marketing and the fact that theseother services are too often underutilized. The depot hasa lot of quality services to offer but the needs and wants ofthe users are not considered when planning for events orfacility use.The value of this pilot study will show what MWR userssee as valuable and what they would like to see moreof. With this information, the MWR staff can planappropriate programs to enhance customer satisfaction,market effectively, gain new users and expand business.For most garrisons the issue of finding new members isnot a prominent problem due to the numbers of soldiersthey have every day. However, at the Blue Grass ArmyDepot, an installation that is largely ran for civilians dueto the small size and lack of soldiers, it is important to findPage 29 | The Young Professionalout what they want and what would draw them to useMWR services more often. These findings can help be aresource for MWR staff to know where more attentionneeds to be focused to enhance customer satisfactionand gain new memberships.Description of Study17 people volunteered to complete a visual researchpilot study at the Blue Grass Army Depot. Of the 17volunteers, 6 were females and 11 were males; theyoungest was 19 years of age, while the oldest was 63.3 of the volunteers were active military members, 8of them were employees with 4 of those being retiredveterans. 4 volunteers were civilians and 2 were notemployees but were retired veterans. Each one had cometo the depot to use the gym and fitness center. Thisvisual study used photographs of different activities orfacilities offered by MWR at the Blue Grass Army Depot.The six photographs represented the facilities offered atthe Blue Grass Army Depot. The photographs showedfitness equipment, a basketball court, fishing, outdoorequipment rentals, a golf course and a pool. Each onewas also labeled with the corresponding activity so thatthere were no misconstrued perceptions as to what thephotographs meant (see Appendix A). Participants wereasked to put the photographs in order from the first onebeing the main reason they use the depot and the lastbeing the activity or facility that they use the least. After
they arranged the photographs, they were asked for anyadditional information on why they chose how they didand if there were any particular reasons that the lowestranked were chosen last.AnalysisAfter reviewing the results of the pilot study, it was foundthat 13 of the 17 participants come to the depot for thefitness center and 4 come for the basketball courts with thefitness center as their second choice. Golf was in the topthree for the majority of participants while the swimmingpool and outdoor equipment rental was ranked in thelowest spot for all participants. Fishing was ranked higherfor all men than for woman participants but was rankedin the bottom three in eight cases for the men. Swimmingand outdoor equipment rental were chosen in the bottomspots because they are not year round activities. The poolis open Memorial Day thru Labor Day and the equipmentrentals are not as readily available during the wintermonths. What was interesting was that 7 participants didnot know that the MWR had outdoor equipment rentalsand therefore they did not choose it. Most people that hadthe swimming pool ranked low said they do not enjoypublic pools by themselves but said if they had young kidsthey would be happy to take them to the pool during thesummer.DiscussionThe results of this pilot study can help the MWR at theBlue Grass Army Depot plan for marketing to a newaudience and also enhance the facilities that currentmembers use most often. The fitness center and basketballcourts were highly ranked for each participant and that ispartly because it is free to employees, contractors and anyactive military or retired veteran. However, because theMWR is looking to get more membership accounts, it isimportant to see what people want and target those whowould enjoy what it has to offer. Using the responses ofthese participants can help MWR staff see what memberslike about the facility and target audiences that may wanta cheaper or different facility than they currently use. Thedepot offers very similar programs as other gyms andfitness centers, but at a competitively low price. However,what they lack is effective marketing to gain new members.It would prove helpful if the MWR department does moremarketing for the outdoor rentals because most peoplesaid they would love to take part in that if they knew itexisted. There is a lack of communication on all of theservices that are offered and it is the responsibility ofMWR staff to ensure that each new member or interestedparty gets a tour of all the facilities and programs that areoffered.Morale, Welfare, and Recreation is designed for soldiersand their families, however at this particular installation,programs and facilities are also important to employeesand civilians. For current members, they should knowabout all programs and facilities that are offered and thiswas not the case. For membership satisfactions, MWRshould make sure that each person fully understandswhat is offered. For new membership recruiting, focusingon the main reasons people use the facilities may help infiguring out a target audience. This can help them figureout where they should market and what the most effectiveways to do so. The depot wants to increase membershipsbut there seems to be a disconnect that needs to bebridged and by marketing to specific groups, this mighthappen. Eastern Kentucky University’s Veteran AffairsDepartment may be a good starting place for gettingveterans out to the depot. EKU is ranked as a top schoolfor military veterans and yet the department has nobrochures or has ever had a MWR employee come speakto service members about what the depot offers. There ispotential for growth in the MWR department but onlyif the appropriate steps are taken. Seeing what currentmembers want, need and enjoy can help in programmingand also in facility management. Enhancing a visitoror members experience may help in the word of mouthmarketing for the overall Morale, Welfare and Recreationdepartment.My study found that those participants that come to thedepot, it is mainly for the gym and fitness center. Thedepot has much more to offer than those facilities, andtherefore, MWR staff should ensure that all our programsare marketed fully so that each person knows that theyexist for their use. To increase memberships for thedepot, marketing outside to new groups needs to happen.MWR facilities are open to the public, but if they are notknown about, people will not come out there. It wouldbe valuable to MWR at the Bluegrass Army Depot if theywent to market at Eastern Kentucky University, LakeReba where there are fisherman and other facilities thatmay have a good target for the programs the depot has tooffer. In the long run this may help increase membershipsand visitors to the Blue Grass Army Depot.Kelly Ulm, originally from Morgan Hill, CA isin the final semester of earning her Masters ofScience in Recreation & Park Administrationat Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond,KY. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts inCommunication from West Texas A&M inCanyon, TX and currently works at the BlueGrass Army Depot MWR as a Recreation Aid.Page 30 | The Young Professional
Page 1 and 2: The Young ProfessionalIssue 1, Volu
Page 3: CONTENTS346789101113151719202123252
Page 10 and 11: Visit a Park Dayby Chris Lucas & Je
Page 12 and 13: that receive no government funding
Page 14 and 15: AGENCY HIGHLIGHTFACILITYQuillian Re
Page 16 and 17: An Anaheim Reflectionby Jennifer Up
Page 18 and 19: Dear Steven, Advice NeededA new par
Page 20 and 21: Procrastination!by Tatiana Chalkido
Page 22 and 23: The method to our madness: As the S
Page 24 and 25: Staying passionateon and off the jo
Page 26 and 27: AGENCY HIGHLIGHTFACILITIESEast Recr
Page 28 and 29: she and her company were the right

The Young Professional 1 - Arizona Parks and Recreation Association

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?