Durning winter and summer breaks, students are home enjoying the holidays, taking a break from school, etc. This means your recreation center is probably a little quieter than normal and you have a lull in programming.
This is the perfect time to evaluate your recreation programming and determine what to improve for the next semester. To help, Brian Mills, the assistant director of recreational sports and family programming at the University of Houston, shares three elements to successful recreation programming:
1. Flexibility
According to Mills, flexibility has to become one of the most important things for any successful program.
“I have been doing this since 1999,” said Mills. “Almost everything has changed and the ‘old ways’ aren’t always the best ways. From the ways we market to participants to the way we recruit student officials, how we train and develop supervisors, to how we handle disciplinary issues, you have to be flexible and open to change.”
2. Foster Relationships
As Mills explained, it’s essential to build strong relationships among staff, co-workers and participants. “You can be the best graduate assistant, the greatest director or the greatest manager, but if you can’t build relationships up and down your organization and your university, you will struggle to maintain success,” he added.
In fact, Mills noted most students need to have more of a relationship with co-workers and supervisors in order to have that buy-in. “They have a need to feel like they serve a purpose and have a role in the success of the program more than ever,” he said. “As professionals, we have to acknowledge the differences in students’ wants and needs from the employment aspect. We have to work to create a high performing, high-achieving student staff to have program success.”
3. Dedication
It’s crucial to remain dedicated to improving the programs and services that are provided within the department. According to Mills, it’s essential to strive to be a better professional each and every day.
“We are the most exciting experience students might have on campus in their entire college career. We provide programs that create and nurture lifelong friendships,” said Mills. “It takes dedication to keep those things in mind when we get asked the same questions for the 10th time in the middle of the semester during the fifth year we have been in our job. We have to be dedicated to our values as a professional. We have to remind ourselves every day this may be the only interaction we have with that one student. That interaction could make or break their involvement in anything else on campus.”
Image courtesy of Shutterstock
