Minutes of the Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Present: Michael Arbour (Chairman), Peter Beaupre, Jr., Sara Szado
Also Present: Timothy Pascale, Director/Program Coordinator Jeannie Guertin, Secretary/Clerk; Jackie Rickson
Peter called the meeting to order at 6:41 p.m.
Sara made a motion to approve the December meeting minutes. Peter seconded; all in favor and the motion passed.
Approximately $1,000 is owed for outstanding basketball fees. Rather than hand out outstanding balance slips, Jeannie has been e-mailing and calling parents to remind them they have a balance. Jeannie will try to collect more fees and we’ll see where we land by the February meeting.
Lacrosse registrations started and league meetings are happening. We need to tell the boys’ league how many teams we will enter by January 31. If high school waivers go through we may not have any Senior (7th/8th grade) teams if those boys and girls play for the high school.
John Fiester went to the Tri Town baseball meeting for the department since Tim was out of the office after foot surgery. There will be no C divisions, only A and B. Tim will talk to Craig Szado to confirm the dates we want to set for evaluations.
Mike Arbour arrived at the meeting at 6:50 p.m.
Mike feels the high school weight room isn’t being utilized enough and discussed the possibility of a physical training program for middle school students using this room. The weight room does not conform to MIAA specifications. The equipment is crowded among other issues. Jackie Rickson addressed the Commission. She is a physical trainer and works at the Asylum gym. She currently trains the Palmer High School baseball and soccer teams and created a six week program for them. Quintin Ostrander is also a certified personal trainer and works well together with Jackie.
After discussion the Commission and Jackie agreed to try an after school program at Granite Valley Middle School on Tuesdays and Fridays, starting March 10 and ending April 17. The program would start at 2:45 p.m. for one hour and we would charge $60 per participant. The Parks & Rec will receive $10 of this fee to cover administrative costs. Jackie will come into the office to talk with Jeannie about details for a flier/registration form.
Mike wanted to discuss baseball clinics done indoor with tennis balls. Craig Szado, the varsity baseball coach, is doing three winter baseball clinics at the high school gym. Mike wanted to know if Craig wanted to run the clinics through the Parks & Rec. We can discuss at the February meeting when Craig will be available.
Sara wanted to know the policy of gym usage, for example adult open gyms. Regarding the current basketball open gym for men, $3 per person is charged. Mike has asked a group with private invitation. When there is an open gym there sometimes are men that play too recklessly and it discourages others from participating.
Peter wanted to have an on line resource for coaches, realizing our coaches are volunteers and may not have any or little experience coaching kids. It is more difficult to get coaches every year. We should have something accessible to help them. Younger players need repetitiveness, and some players in 3rd grade sports don’t know basic skills. Jeannie said she could have a “coach’s corner” on our town’s website, and have links to handouts for drills, etc.
Tim is looking into updating our technology so staff has access to the same data, for example scheduling practices, work detail, etc.
Tim discussed the possibility of a stipend for instructional lacrosse and that opened discussion on if we should offer a stipend for those who run our instructional programs in general. Jeannie will reach out to the Monson Lacrosse Board regarding an instructional coach, and perhaps change the day from Saturday in order to accommodate anyone who may step forward.
Sara discussed the low participation in past years for our softball program. Last year’s varsity softball coach, Heather Korzec, was enthusiastic for a recruiting strategy for girls for softball but has since left her position. At this time there are no JV or varsity softball coaches. Participation has been low for girls in all sports. Sara wanted to try to recruit more girls for softball. Merging with Palmer could be an option.
The next meeting is Wednesday, February 11 at 6:30 p.m.
Meeting adjourned at 8:17 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Jeannie Guertin
Secretary/Clerk
Timothy J Pascale
Director/Program Coordinator
Monson Parks and Recreation
110 Main Street
Monson, MA 01057
413-267-4105 - Phone
413-267-0327 - fax
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