Parks and Recreation Department staffers Devyn Johnson, left, and Lucy Robinson, the director, have been busy with the reopening of the swimming pool and maximizing the usable space at the gym.
Teacher Matt Nore takes advantage of the extra space in the weight room to work out on Aug. 9.
It's beginning to look a lot like fitness at the parks and recreation department.
For the past several months, department staff and work crews have been laboring to finish projects, add more amenities and make the community healthier.
One of the recently completed projects was a major fix to the swimming pool, which reopened on Aug. 7. The pool had been closed since last November to repair a leak and to upgrade the ventilation system.
"We haven't had any major water loss, which means the repair work is holding," said Lucy Robinson, director of Parks and Recreation. "Lane Fitzjarrald is working hard at maintaining water chemistry, as well as doing checks and balances on the HVAC (heating and ventilation) system."
She added that if patrons of the pool or gym facilities find it "a little too hot, the air's too moist or it's too cold in one area, please give us some grace. We're continuing to work through our HVAC system."
The pool schedule rapidly filled with the reopening, and the number of reservations for pool use is being limited for a short time as staff gets fully trained and prepared to handle a larger number of swimmers.
"Swimmers have not been in the pool for nine months," Robinson said. "Granted, they could have been recreating in the ocean, backyard pools or in oceans on vacation. ... They're getting used to the water and we're also reintroducing our rules, the reason for the rules, and we also have new staff members and returning staff members that I want to get more experience before we rally 45, to 55 to 60 people in here."
The schedule for the pool has been slightly modified on Tuesdays and Thursdays to allow for more wiggle room between club swim, high school swim team and lap swims. Lap swim on those days is now at 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.
Outside of the pool, changes have been made to maximize available space. A bench was removed from the lobby to make room for more gym equipment.
"We've got the TrueForm Runner (treadmill), we've got the Echo Bike, we did bring out another rower that we had in storage. We have rearranged a few things," Robinson said. As for removing the bench, it was done "with the thought that folks could get in and get some cardio while they're watching their kiddos swim, if that's something they'd like to do."
Not only is there cardio equipment like recumbent bikes and ellipticals in the lobby area, there is additional equipment on the pool deck for those wanting a hot session. The temperature in the pool area hovers around 86 degrees.
An old dumbbell rack and dumbbells in the weight room were removed to make way for new Rogue dumbbells and kettlebells, along with a foam Plyo step-up block, which lets users do jump and step work and other plyometric workouts.
There's also a GHD (glute and hamstring developer) machine that was purchased; however, it is temporarily out of order, Robinson said, pending replacement of a part.
Since there is so much new equipment and it can be confusing on how to use it all, Devyn Johnson, recreation coordinator, has earned certifications through the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) to aid users.
"She hustled hard and she obtained through NASM the YES, Youth Exercise Specialist certification," Robinson said. Johnson is currently earning the senior specialist certification and will focus on nutritionist and personal trainer certifications next. "Getting the equipment is one thing, actually allowing folks to come in and get educated on it is another."
Robinson said even though the equipment is new and fancy, people won't come in to use it unless they know how. She and Johnson strategically planned the certification trainings to work in tandem with the new equipment so they could properly educate the public on how to use them. It also falls in line with Johnson's desire to help people reach their fitness goals.
"I've always been interested in helping people get fit and just feel better," she said. "I've been organizing pop-up exercise and hikes and all sorts of stuff. It's always been in my heart, but I didn't really know how to use my passion for helping people feel good. I didn't know what resources there I could access. Lucy had mentioned the NASM program, so I started digging into it."
Training from Johnson is an additional $25 fee on top of daily use fees for a six-week program for adults 18 years and up that began Tuesday, Aug. 15. The training is limited to 15 members and will provide an assessment and tips, tricks and techniques to reach their goals.
Outside of the Parks and Recreation facility, replacement of the building's siding is still in progress. Beyond that, other areas around Wrangell are being fixed up and improved for the public.
The adopt-a-bed gardening project is one of those, which focuses on the planters throughout the downtown corridor.
"We're targeting the public restrooms," Robinson said. "We would like to spruce them up and make them more aesthetically pleasing. As well, we're trying to assess doors, door handles, toilets, stalls, and just really make a thorough list, a quality assessment to see what kind of projects we can get after this fall."
Unfortunately, Eric Scheib, who oversees the projects at parks in Wrangell, is often pulled away due to public restroom damage.
"The public restrooms do receive a lot of use and damage, unfortunately," Robinson said. "We're encouraging our public to just be kind to our public restrooms."
The department will be working to promote the Helping Our Parks program over the next couple years, to get the community involved in various improvement projects.
"I really want to pull from the community because our community really loves those parks and playgrounds," Robinson said. "I think it's important that they're part of that process and helping to promote that."
Reader Comments(0)