PCA November Partner of the Month – National Parks and Recreation Partners
12.02.24
This month we celebrate our national parks and recreation partners.
We spoke with The National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA), which is the leading not-for-profit organization dedicated to building strong, vibrant, and resilient communities through the power of parks and recreation, and Apex Park and Recreation District (APEX), located in Arvada, Colorado.
PCA: Teresa, we are very excited that NRPA has joined the Million Coaches Challenge (MCC), led by the Susan Crown Exchange which is funding a cohort of organizations to bring critical training to coaches across the country.
Teresa Morrissey (NRPA): We are super excited to have joined MCC. Through the MCC, NRPA is partnering with leading national training providers – like PCA– to ensure that park and recreation agencies have access to no-cost, high-quality training programs. We knew providing a menu of coach training opportunities to our partners was important and we’re excited to see the number of agencies interested in working with PCA.
Brian McFadden (NRPA): As part of our partnership with MCC, I joined NRPA as Program Manager, responsible for overseeing our work with coach training providers to deliver training to our members. When we talk to park and recreation programs about their needs for coach training, the frequent responses that we get is that there’s an exceptional coach that knows a lot of X’s and O’s, but they can’t really connect with the young people. I think that’s where PCA came in amazingly for this need. They understand the training needs to help equip these coaches with the tools they need to connect with kids especially because it might be their first time working with kids.
Teresa Morrissey (NRPA): One of NRPA’s youth sports priorities is to support the field of parks and recreation in training coaches and volunteers in DEI, SEL, and youth development core competencies. We promote the importance of training coaches as a key factor in making sure that young people have a positive experience, which we know plays a major role in keeping kids in sports.
PCA: Jesse, you work for Apex Park and Recreation District, located in Arvada, Colorado. Can you tell me your thoughts on coach training?
Jesse Badder (Apex): Coaches are everything in youth sports. People that continue to play sports, do so because they have good coaches. I’m in the position I’m in right now because I had good coaches when I was growing up. As an administrator, what I want to do is give our coaches as many tools in their toolbox to be as successful as possible. I also want to have guard rails and guidelines for them to follow so they’re not just making it up as they go either. We believe in being competitive and wanting to win, but we also believe that our bigger goal is to build and develop good people, and everything that PCA does is around that. It’s such a powerful message that positivity is more important than X’s and O’s, and scoring a lot of points, and that building and filling tanks is probably the most important thing you could do for a young athlete.
PCA: How is Apex implementing coach training?
Jesse Badder (APEX): For two years we have made it a mandatory part of our training process. There was an instance where we had a coach that wasn’t acting correctly, and he was a volunteer coach, and we had to let him go and it was difficult for everybody, and we didn’t want to have that type of instance again. When I have those types of problems as a leader, I look for long-term solutions and I thought PCA was that solution. We knew we wanted to invest in training, so we worked with PCA, and we were able to get a grant and through the National Parks and Recreation Association we received another grant and are able to offer virtual training this year.
PCA: Teresa and Brian, NRPA hosted your annual conference in Atlanta in October, and PCA was proud to be a presenter.
Brian McFadden (NRPA): As a part of the MCC, we had PCA lead one of our educational sessions. PCA President Jason Sacks presented the ‘Leading with Empathy’ course, which was phenomenal – standing room only.
Teresa Morrissey (NRPA): The year prior (2023 NRPA Conference) Jason was a part of one of our keynote general sessions that was wildly successful. People loved it. We got so many emails of people saying “Who is this guy? Who’s PCA? We’re really excited about this content and how can we get more?” There’s just been a lot of buzz and need for training that is focused on things like youth development and also that’s focused on things like supporting your staff, which is one of those reasons that we love to work with PCA.
PCA: PCA and NRPA both clearly have a strong commitment to equity and access. Tell us how NRPA approaches this in your work.
Teresa Morrissey (NRPA): Equity is at the center of everything that we do at NRPA. It’s one of our three pillars. For us it just means connecting with every community member, which we know is important to all of our agencies because that’s what parks and recreation does. They connect every community member to programs and services that improve and enhance their quality of life.
PCA: PCA recently launched a Cultural Proficiency Toolkit. Similarly, NRPA has an Equity Language Guide – can you tell us about the guide?
Teresa Morrissey (NRPA): NRPA’s Equity Language Guide is a glossary of terms to help park and recreation professionals develop a common language around diversity, equity, and inclusion. It also provides guidance to help people become familiar with terms they may not be aware of and best practices for making writing accessible. This is a living document and will change frequently.
PCA: We think your guide is amazing and our Cultural Proficiency Toolkit works in the same way. It provides coaches and organizations with a comprehensive framework and practical strategies to navigate the complexities of cultural diversity, overcome barriers, and promote inclusive practices that value diversity and foster equitable experiences for all participants.
Thanks to all the amazing work that our parks and recreation offer – “Every day, in communities across the country, the people of parks and recreation are providing essential services and confronting the most pressing issues of our time — advancing mental and physical health, creating climate-ready parks, supporting equity and inclusion, and so much more.”*
For local park and recreation agencies interested in partnering with PCA, please fill out the form here, and a member of our team will contact you!
To learn more about partnering with PCA, click here.