Creating a Public Recreation Program - Essay Example

SPORTS MANAGEMENT A PROPOSAL FOR CREATING A PUBLIC RECREATION PROGRAM Introduction In the modern times, while the U.S. government has the biggest level of health costs, there appeared the main importance of physical activities to be promoted across the nation in order to prevent and improve a wide variety of problems with health (Godbey & Mowen, 2010). According to Science Daily (2010), such health issues can be solved by a stronger commitment of people in U.S. to different recreational opportunities that should be provided by the local and state powers (Oregon State University, 2010). The quality and importance of recreational instruments should rely on the impact these recreational programs make on the community and its participants and also on the level of their satisfaction with such recreation possibilities (Milton & Patton, 2011). However, due to different obstacles, such as fiscal restraints of local and state authorities, people are not able to use recreational possibilities and feel positive physical benefits for them. For that purpose the following paper will illustrate how a positive impact on the community can be created by means of designing a public recreation program. In order to provide the highest quality recreation possibilities, each aspect of the program should be well managed and if any issues appear, recreation managers should be aware of to deal with them. Program benefits and description While physical inactivity is considered to increase the level of one’s life in general, there should be provided an access to parks and open spaces to enable community to take part in active recreational activities. Here the critical factor lays in ability to organize recreation programs. Among the benefits of public recreation program there is a great role of a program in alleviating the social problems such as youth crime, violence and drug and alcohol abuse that can be prevented by recreation program (Landes, 2008). Along with it, physical inactivity and lack of public recreation activities increases the level of excessive weight among children and adults, which are at higher risk for chronic and heart diseases, diabetes and cancer. Offering recreation programs in cooperation with other agencies can also bring many benefits, such as raise money needed for supplies purchase, volunteers to staff the program and promotion help. Public recreation program improves family ties by allowing people to share their leisure time and become closer in their relationship. The recreation program can also provide the after school and summer child care, which is an additional benefit for the family if all adult member work. Besides, being involved into the building a public recreation program by volunteers also promotes building self-esteem and enable people to be more effective and productive within their own communities. The public recreation program includes Program area, the Population segment of the program and Pricing strategies to be used. The Program area can include the Adventure activities such as skateboard, paintball, rock climbing, biking. Sports, Games give participants to play football, soccer, baseball. Volunteer Services include coaches, program volunteers that help others in the recreation community. Population segment is classified by the age, skills, seasons and group size. Thus, participants of the program can be of different age and be involved in different recreation activities such as programs in theater, art, music. Providing activities such as kayaking and paintball should vary on the age and the degrees of skill that allow everyone to find an activity that fits best. To ensure the comfort spending of recreation activities, there is a need to provide parking, restrooms, as well as boat ramps, canoe portages for the participants of the program. The Pricing strategy enable the program management to determine the cost of the recreation program, such as prices for basketball games and the trophies the winners can obtain. Discount pricing encourage participants as well. Program objectives to be addressed Due to the importance of recreational physical activity for its reduction of problems with health, the following objectives are defined to guide the management program of public recreation: -to meet the demand of society and particular community for recreation opportunities that can be achieved by provision of functional day-use facilities for; -to provide high quality of services for visitors; -to promote public awareness and understanding of recreational area management vision through providing useful information about the recreation program Planned activities One of the important requirements for public recreation program is the knowledge of specific characteristics of recreation facilities that are used to support the management of its activities (Mull, Beggs & Renneisen, 2009). Due to the many factors are involved in the creation of such facilities, the major philosophy behind the public recreation facilities is to develop the service-oriented operation in order to respond the need of people who pay taxes for the operations and construction of these facilities. Public recreation program can offer the golf area, park and pond places to spend time in, roads for cycling and other multipurpose areas for picnics, playgrounds and organized soccer, football, group activities, and special events. A wide range of recreation opportunities are open within the diverse landscapes that allow off-highway vehicles to use these roads as types of public recreation. However, it is worth mentioning that in developing a proposal for allowing off-highway vehicles, the access should be granted only the limited one, since the off-road open permission can negatively impact the environment, its wildlife and cultural and historical resources can be damaged (Off-Highway Vehicles, 2015). The other activities that public recreation program can offer may include hiking, fishing, hunting, camping, boating and horseback riding. Program facility requirements and issues related While planning certain activities in the public recreation program, it is vital to manage facilities, such as the location of objects or site that would receive big attention. Thus, there can appear typical site issues such as natural barriers of a rock formation, drainage areas that if managed improperly can cause serious troubles during their exploitation. Rock at and around the facilities can also create negative predisposition for further construction, therefore, it should be examined accordingly. The engineers of the public recreation program should take more attention on the nearby rivers and streams that can flood other area. Barriers and fences can also be used as facilities in the outdoor production within the services provided by the public recreation program. They allow managing the secure and creating certain isolation with the specific entrances and exits for the people taking part in different activities. According to the research provided (Oregon State University, 2010) a close relation between public health and recreational opportunities are found, which also show that health aspects of recreational possibilities are not appreciated as they should be and thus recreational program can be closed due to the absence of appropriate funding. Thus, there are about 49% of cut state budget for parks, California lost 21% of its parks budget (Oregon State University, 2010).  The main issue that recreation managers deal with is the problem associated with the economy and fiscal restraint. To manage such an issue, the recreation services require a well-developed philosophy that would reflect the main beliefs and values of the organization with its policy to be clearly articulated and reflected in the social and economic conditions (Searle & Jackson, 1984). Participating organizations and other providers of the program Landes (2008) states, that government cannot handle with being the single provider of recreation services. Its resources are the part of general recreation services that involve the interrelated group of public, nonprofit, private and commercial agencies that facilitate the program to be available to people. Therefore, among the other participating organizations and providers in the public recreation program there are local governments, individuals that understand the opportunities of the recreation. All private, voluntary, nonprofit and public agencies strive to focus more attention on strengthening of the community’s recreation system offering wider opportunities of recreation opportunities. Public recreation program budget Public recreation programs are usually limited in their funding since the operation is based on the free-of-charge ways of providing people services in recreation. Therefore, people involved into the public recreation program receive low wages, the supplies and other items are transformed into fees. These fees in turn are not high, since they should be affordable to most of people. However, the every concrete public recreation program should be calculated for the estimated costs of personal expenditures, which are the amount of income that a program expects to receive, costs for a program with possible materials used in the program, operational costs that include fees and advertising of the recreation program. People are also included into the budget, despite the fact that public recreation program is helped by numerous volunteers. Costs Organizations and individuals $, Total/ year Personal -The amount is expected to receive from the program- -individuals volunteering 340,000 -- Program -Materials for programs, -Events (fairs, concerts) 500,000 250,000 Operational -Administration costs: advertising, -fees for entering etc. 100,000 240,000 Staff -Pay for people who would take care of the materials of the programs (guard, facility) 50,000 Evaluation of program A projected 250 people will be able to attend the public recreational program. The management of the program will receive valuable information on program-related topics designed to increase awareness in the right managerial approach in creating a public recreational program. The outreach worker will assess the attendants who leave the area about the overall impression and what management could do in order to improve the quality of program. A projected 50 participants will be assessed at least two times in three-month period to understand if they are completely satisfied with the program opportunities. Interview surveys will be conducted with every participant of the program, while the community survey will be administered at the beginning of the program in order to measure the level of expectations and in 6 months to get more information about the applicability of the program. The importance of the public recreation program benefits should also be taken into consideration during the interviews and surveys. The great social value that such program brings cannot be underestimated. The preservation of lands, water and parks for free use is the greatest mission of every public recreation program. However, due to the enormous amounts of land that certain program should take care of, there is no possibility to manage everything in the proper way. Recreation departments should cater to the different conditions and have to be treated in the different way, involving private entrepreneurs to help with the funding of such objects. This is one of the greatest challenges for the modern recreation areas of U.S. (Fulton, n.d.). The recreation areas are losing the competition for the general fund dollars, as Fulton (n.d.) states. The parks and recreation departments in Philadelphia, for instance, was cut its workforce by 30% since 2009 and in Los Angeles the parks department was given a new tax for property. While the most obvious solution for the problem with funding is to start charge fees for entering the recreation area, this is the only way out to receive at least some money because the general fund revenue is already lost. This has already called for an issues in providing high quality of services for visitors of the recreation areas, because lack of funding has simply cause the fact that the territories are not taken care. Conclusion Natural resources of U.S. are able to provide a wide range of recreational opportunities for people. However, due to serious obstacles such as lack of financing, the public recreation program should be developed in accordance to possible issues. Communication is important in overcoming challenges connected with the lack of budget for the program. Therefore, the management can attract investors that would improve the recreation areas, hire people on volunteer conditions that would also be a part of the program. The other way to make the program to function is to provide as many quality services as possible that would be placed without exceptional burden on the taxpayers. The taxpayers in turn would constitute the great positive impact on the availability of the program to perform. Due to the appropriate balance of tax and fee revenues, public recreation program and its managers will be able to broaden the participation and serve expectations of their visitors. The public recreation programs allow more people to have access to free spending of physically active life. They also provide greener space in the fast-developing landscape and teach the upcoming generations to preserve the nature and environment. References Fulton, W., (n.d.). The Critical Role of Parks in Urban and Metropolitan Infrastructure, Retrieved from http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/412506-The-Critical-Role-of-Parks-in-Urban-and-Metropolitan-Infrastructure.pdf Godbey, G. and Mowen, A., (2010). The Benefits of Physical Activity Provided by Park and Recreation Services: The Scientific Evidence, Department of Recreation, Park and Tourism Management, The Pennsylvania State University, Retrieved from http://www.nrpa.org/uploadedFiles/nrpa.org/Publications_and_Research/Research/Papers/Godbey-Mowen-Research-Paper.pdf Landes, S., (2008). Municipal Recreation Programming, Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Bureau of Recreation and Conservation, Retrieved from http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/cs/groups/public/documents/document/dcnr_002292.pdf Milton, P. and Patton, B., (2011). Who Enters Campus Recreation Facilities: A Demographic Analysis, International Journal of Sport Management, Recreation & Tourism, Vol.7, pp.11-29 Mull, R., Beggs, B. and Renneisen, M., (2009). Recreation Facility Management: Design, Development, Operations, and Utilization, Human Kinetics Off-Highway Vehicles, (2015). Bureau of land management, U.S. department of the interior, Retrieved from http://www.blm.gov/co/st/en/BLM_Programs/recreation/Recreation_Activities/off-highway_vehicles.html Oregon State University, (2010). Parks and recreation programs declining as obesity, health concerns rise. ScienceDaily, Retrieved from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100115112121.htm Searle, M. and Jackson, S., (1984). Recreation non-participation and barriers to participation: considerations for the management of recreation delivery systems Read More