A Blog About a Blog

by Nancy Turnage

Member Services Coordinator

Virginia Recreation and Park Society

In my position at VRPS Central Office, I love watching the evolution of service areas and resource groups from year-to-year, and in particular, their stellar efforts at growth.  It seems that in July, when we're putting together resource group and service area ballots for the following year (yes, it starts in July), that we were just starting to get a groove going with the current year boards.

However, I am seeing greater transition between the two teams - the current and oncoming ones.  There is less "starting over" and more "picking up where we left off".

For example, Senior Resource Group is holding call-in meetings, formulating a theme-driven effort for the year, and blogging.  Aquatics Resource Group is hosting GoTo meetings, employing creative methods to expand their reach, and qualifying themselves to be a go-to resource in Virginia for aquatics training.  And, several of the event committees are charting new territory as well, into the world of webinars and Google docs and apps and WebEx.

Recently, under the guidance of Chair Heather Grubb (Special Events Coordinator, Henrico County Recreation and Parks), the Central Service Area has initiated its own blog.

So, in a sense, this is a blog about a blog.  Central Service Area is employing some newer "talent" (i.e. what some of us would consider professionals on the more youthful side) to reach a wider audience and highlight their objectives.

2017 is off to a great start!

Fall Friends

by Sandy Kellogg

Aquatic Operations Supervisor, Mount Vernon RECenter

Fairfax County Park Authority
VRPS Aquatics Resource Group 2016 Chair

VRPS 2016 Awards Co-Chair

Ahhhh, fall!  Wonderful season of crisp air, harvest festivals and pumpkin spice flavored everything.  Fall brought us one more wonderful thing; a full board meeting for the Aquatic Resource Group!  Yes, finally after a long hot summer the 40 some pools represented by the Aquatic Resource Group Board are all put to bed for the year.   We were able to get together, share lunch, and plan an amazing year for 2017.  Even our new board members were able to join us!

As we met, I kept thinking about the last couple years.  I’m leaving the board as an official voting member (although ‘past chair’ gets to still be involved-just try and stop me!), and I can’t express enough what the ARG and VRPS memberships have meant to me.  We have done so many amazing workshops, bringing nationally renowned speakers like Shawn DeRossa and Tom Griffiths to Virginia.  We ran several of our own workshops, things like the Model Aquatic Health Code and Camp Safety Training.  The best though was our roundtables, the chance to get out to other places in the state and meet with parks and recreation professionals from all over Virginia. 

Our 2017 board will continue to do great things, we have already planned a lot of it, and we look forward to an exciting series of events in the spring.  One warning though, while everyone is dusting off their beach bags and buying sunscreen in April and May we may be a little harder to find.  Join us on the pool deck, see us in our natural environment!  Until then, looking forward to conference and more of that fabulous fall season!

Dog Swim Days

First Ever Dog Swim Days for two agencies in Reston, VA:

Dog Daze at the Water Mine Family Swimmin' Hole, Fairfax County Park Authority, September 11, 2016

Dog Paddle at Dogwood Pool, Reston Association, August 27 2016

Bring on the Competition!

by Sandy Kellogg

Aquatic Operations Supervisor, Mount Vernon RECenter

Fairfax County Park Authority

VRPS Aquatics Resource Group 2016 Chair
VRPS 2016 Awards Co-Chair

There are a lot of things happening on the VRPS website.  There is a common thread that seems appropriate for an Olympic season – the Spirit of Competition!  We are a profession that thrives on teamwork, networking and cooperation, but sometimes a sense of competition can unify a team and create fun opportunities for people to aspire for first place.

First of course is the Lifeguard Cup!  The Aquatic Resource Group has been running this for several years, and last year decided to go to a Virtual Cup.  No, you don’t get to compete online, but your team gets to compete at their own site, and in their own times.  Results are sent back in and tallied.  Last year the Princess Anne Recreation Center in Virginia Beach won a pizza party and prize pack for coming in first.  Registration deadline is July 22; the VRPS website had more details.  Based on last year’s spirit videos this was a fun event at the sites that participated; there are some very creative staff members out there!

The VRPS Resource Groups and Service Areas are currently calling for nominations for the 2017 Boards, and VRPS nominations will be out soon as well.  It is wonderful to have the chance to choose between amazing applicants, but to do that we need more people running!  Please consider stepping up to nomination for a board or two.  The friendships and fun far outweigh the work.  VRPS needs all our help to extend their mission statewide, serving on a board is a great way to start.  Nominations for many of the groups are out there right now; there is more information on the VRPS website.

The Awards and Citations Committee would like to encourage everyone to submit applications for the 2015 VRPS Awards, presented at our annual conference.  As a member of that committee, it’s really fun to read and evaluate different programs and facilities.  There are so many interesting ideas, programs and projects going on out there, you all deserve to be recognized for the great things you do!  Here’s your chance for the state organization to recognize you as well.  Deadline for nomination is July 31; the VRPS website has more information.

Lastly, when I think back at my time at the VRPS Leadership Training Institute (LTI) this year, what I remember most (other than the awesome educational sessions!) are the games and challenges we did.  Our closing night there was solo cups being stacked, toilet paper being thrown, and even some booty shaking ping pong ball activity!  We all tried to be the best we could be, but in the end we all won and got some great pictures!  In the end, whether it’s with competition or collaboration, we are doing awesome things for Parks and Recreation in our state.  Come join us!

Pool Operations 101

by Sandy Kellogg

Aquatic Operations Supervisor, Mount Vernon RECenter

Fairfax County Park Authority

VRPS Aquatics Resource Group 2016 Chair
VRPS 2016 Awards Co-Chair

I started as a pool operator 6 years ago.  Through a lot of on the job training and some certification classes I have slowly gotten pretty good.  One thing has changed significantly though, and maybe not as quickly as it should!

Jesse, Head Lifeguard at Mount Vernon RECenter

I came into aquatics after raising three boys, homeschooling them all up to high school while following my husband to several Army bases around the country.  Becoming a lifeguard at 40 and then an aquatic manager at 45 is not your typical path into parks and recreation!  My management position was the first full time job I ever had, HR was very patient explaining the mysteries of 401k’s and retirement plans.  I was so proud the first time I backwashed by myself, especially since my facility has an open pit DE system where backwashing is not just a chore, it’s an art!  I am very good with mechanical systems, and I learned a lot trouble shooting an older system and getting that last little bit of flow rate.  But…..

I wore the stains and holes in my clothing with pride.  Only real career professionals have chlorine stains, which quickly develop into holes, in all their pants legs.  Blue shirts actually turn a lovely pink when chlorine sprays out of a Stenner, and I thought I looked awesome in my clothes that proclaimed to the world that I was a pool operator, dealing with serious equipment and serious chemicals.

The problem was that I didn’t take it seriously.  PPE was for guards who weren’t as careful as I was, or as much a professional.  Duct tape and improvisation, chemical splashes and drips, that all meant that I was ‘one of the guys’, a pool mechanic and miracle worker.

It wasn’t until I was training my staff that I realized what an idiot I had been.  Splashes on clothes could just as easily be splashes in my face, acid in your eyes is not inconvenient, it is permanent.  Stains on my clothes did proclaim that I’m a pool operator, but I’ve come to understand that it means I’m a bad pool operator.  Every stain proclaims to a staff member that I am not practicing what I preach, and it is a very short leap to them doing the same.  So I bought new pants, threw away stained shirts, and promised to try to never announce that I am a pool operator just by my clothing.  My staff will see me doing what I expect them to do, keeping us all safe and chemical free.

Anthony, Lifeguard at Martin Luther King Jr. Outdoor Pool

Becoming a Lifeguard - Welcome to our World

by Sandy Kellogg

Aquatic Operations Supervisor, Mount Vernon RECenter

Fairfax County Park Authority

VRPS Aquatics Resource Group 2016 Chair
VRPS 2016 Awards Co-Chair

It’s hiring season in the pool world!  This time of year there is a fresh crop of young, enthusiastic lifeguards entering the world of aquatics, ready to save lives and make money doing it.  Some start as brand new employees, learning how to get to work on time and be responsible.  Others come back from their first year of college, ready to earn money to go back in the fall.  All are hoping for a fun, rewarding summer without too much drama.

Interviewing new staff can be very entertaining.  Applicants that couldn’t find a pen and thought a mostly illegible pencil would work are weeded out.  All are swim tested to eliminate candidates that can’t actually swim. Finally we all find ourselves across a table from a slightly nervous young person.  Desperate to sound enthusiastic and hirable most potential lifeguards answer this question the same way.  When asked “Why do you want to be a lifeguard?”  The answer is always two parts; “I like being around the water, and I love kids”.

Instead of moving into the specifics of training and hiring I really want to stop the process right there, and give this young person a hint at the reality of the job they are hoping to get.  Not only will they spend the summer being stressed and nervous at work, they will probably never again relax by a body of water.  They will forever be vigilant and watchful, sometimes without even knowing why.  On a cruise ship last Christmas I found myself scanning the 6 by 8 foot pool, a habit reinforced when I fished out a three year old whose family was busy at the bar.  Going to the beach will never be relaxing and fun, the waves, tides and murkiness make the possibility of someone slipping under and disappearing all too real.  And children?  They go from adorable little things splashing gleefully to tiny monsters desperately trying to drown, wandering into areas they cannot be while their parents binge watch something from the sidelines.  Diving into shallow water, breath holding competitions and our ever present call of “Walk!” will be what lifeguards remember from their summer job.

And yet, they will hopefully spend the summer knowing they made a difference, that the children were safer because they were there, that every reaching assist they did or lifejacket they fitted on a child saved a life.  Children will always be safer around them, they will always remember how quickly and quietly things can go badly at a pool.  Infant CPR will be the same whether they are on duty or a parent five years later.  Maybe that’s the message that I should make sure they get, along with welcome to the team.

Notes from the Lifeguard Chair

by Sandy Kellogg

Aquatic Operations Supervisor, Mount Vernon RECenter

Fairfax County Park Authority

VRPS Aquatics Resource Group 2016 Chair

VRPS 2016 Awards Co-Chair

Funny how things look different angles. I spent three years every weekday morning eight feet above a pool deck, watching early patrons swimming back and forth. By midmorning they would switch to older women doing water aerobics, the music taking me back to things my father played on Saturday mornings while Mom was getting groceries. Lunchtime saw the beginning of private lessons, swim instructors coaxing small children into the water while moms or nannies sat nearby. By one-thirty the pool had quieted down again, only a few dedicated retirees with their routines, and it was time for me to go home.

The years I spent on chair were followed by years of management; hiring, training and staffing an aquatic facility. Every once in a while I end up back up there - some crisis with a staff member, unexpected group, or maybe just to reward a lifeguard with an early lunch. When I do, I remember why it is both the hardest and the most boring job we could ever hope to have. At any given second, there is a chance of catastrophe. A guard cannot be ready for disaster without being aware of every pause a swimmer takes, every time a child wanders deeper than they have been before, or a patron that just doesn’t seem like them-self that day. And yet every morning, every shift, every sit, day after day, very little happens.

Mount Vernon RECenter, Fairfax County Park Authority

I have seen a lot of crazy things from up there. After my time as a lifeguard I have taught, demonstrated and explained to a lot of lifeguards what we do and more importantly why we do it. I hope that every minute of every day that my staff is looking at our facility from that angle they remember why they are there, and why they matter.