The Town of Outlook’s newest Recreation Director has certainly come into his new role amidst some very challenging and unheard-of times with the COVID-19 pandemic, which has severely hampered recreation as a whole in the community, at least from a public and group point of view.
Nevertheless, Trevor Ouellette, who started his new job on March 16, is keeping positive and looking forward to seeing what he can bring to the table.
“The facilities are what caught my eye,” said Trevor, touching on what grabbed his interest about the position in an email to The Outlook. “The Jim Kook RecPlex has many possibilities to serve the community as well as draw outside interest.”
Ouellette, who lives in Davidson and grew up in Saskatoon, has a degree in Kinesiology from the University of Saskatchewan and has worked for three other municipalities over a course of 11 years, spending time in Whitewood, Watrous and Davidson. Trevor says adjusting to his new work environment in Outlook feels nearly the same as other places that he’s worked and he’s integrating himself into the responsibilities of his new role.
“The adjustment period is very similar to what I have experienced in other municipalities where I have worked,” he said. “Learning how the work flows, operating procedures and staff structures are always somewhat of learning curve. Currently, I am working on an organizational chart, job descriptions, a little bit of budgeting with Huguette, and preparing for the pool season.”
Some families and individuals may find it difficult to remain active at home during the COVID pandemic, especially if they’re used to doing so in groups and public settings, but Trevor says there are a number of ways in which one can keep their mind and body activated and engaged.
“Recreation can be a wide range of activities that individuals and/or families can do,” he explained. “In our household, puzzles are a focus, each member is responsible to plan and cook (or help based on age) one meal a week, and grandma phones every other day wanting to play online cribbage with someone. If you are concerned with not getting enough physical activity, try some of the challenges that are circulating that don't require equipment. For younger kids, there is the 25/25 challenge where it calls for 25 push-ups and 25 sit-ups every day. This can be done while the kids are watching TV or parents can yell out, "Activity Break", and the kids can punch out 25 and 25 quite easily. For more active people, there is the "100 Burpee Challenge" and the participant does 100 burpees a day for 30 days. They can record physiological changes weekly, changes like resting heart rate, quality of sleep, etc. One suggestion that I have is, to have fun with your physical activities so they seem less like a chore.”
When the world finds a way to return to a level of normalcy in which we can gather in public events once again, Trevor says he could see some special interest in what Outlook has to offer.
“I think if we can get our outdoor space to a level that I’m comfortable with, we can attract some outside interest in coming to Outlook,” he said.
Those who aren’t involved in the daily goings-on in the community from behind the scenes may be unaware of just the level of dedication and attention it takes to work in recreation. It’s a job where you certainly wear a lot of hats and command attention from a lot of voices that are coming in from all directions. Ouellette says it’s time-consuming and has its own unique challenges.
“That recreation is a plug and play type of service to the community,” Trevor said, when asked what kind of challenges come with the job that people may not be aware of. “The amount of planning, discussions, rejections, and learning from mistakes can be surprising to the general observer. Ask a team or club manager how involved and time-consuming their role is and then transpose that to my role and add four facilities, supervision of up to 25 staff and trying to meet the needs of a large number of stakeholders.”
It’s a job that asks a lot from even the most seasoned candidate, but when life manages to get back to the old normal from the new one, communities full of people looking for something to do such as Outlook are likely to be very glad that they have people serving as Recreation Director like Trevor.
As soon as communities across the province get the green light, they’ll be just begging for some form of public recreation, and it may finally hit home with some residents the importance of the position of Recreation Director.
