In The News: More on Playground Guardian

From this weeks Weekly

Minute

The Playground Guardian™

Playground Management

Software includes:

Listing of all playground

sites

Full inventory of play-

ground equipment in-

cluding photographs

Playground inspection

records and reports

Automated To-do lists

and work orders for

playground mainte-

nance

Playground accident

and playground com-

plaint records

Paperless records and

reports

Park News — Park Operations Creates Efficiency via iPads

this issue

Park News P.1

Enterprise Services P.2

Community & Recreation Center Services P.3

I S S U E

D e c e m b e r 2 1 2 0 1 2

62 WEEKLY

NEWSLETTER OF THE

PARK AND RECREATION

DEPARTMENT FridayFridayLetterLetter THE

In this week’s Park Ops Weekly Minute learn more about the Playground Guardian app for iPads. Playground Guardian™ Playground Management Software is a web-based application that helps you monitor your entire playground and park system, and ensures records are secure and easy to access. Through use of Playground Guardian, Park Operations staff are able to easily access and update most recent playground inspections and submit real-time work orders. Park Operations Employees in the Weekly Minute “Santa Todd” also stops by Mallard Creel Recreation Center in this week’s installment to lend a helping hand with the “Cooking with Santa” program. Park Operations Partnerships in the Weekly Minute View the weekly minute to learn more about recent Park Ops partnerships with CMPD rein-vested in our park communities by handing out gifts to citizens in need.

Click Here to

Park Operations

Jeff Robinson, Division Director

Greg Clemmer, Superintendent

Chris Hunter, North Park Region Mgr

Michael Campbell, Central Park Region Mgr

Patricia Poteat, South Park Region Mgr

Aquatics Events & News Fifty seven (57) high students competed in a dual dive meet at Mecklenburg County Aquatic Cen-ter on Saturday, December 15th from 7am – 12:30pm. Twenty-six (26) boys and 31 girls com-pleted their best 6 dives during the event Union County hosted their high school championships on Saturday, December 15 from 12pm – 4pm. Two hundred thirty-four (234) students competed in the event. Central Academy of Tech-nology, Cuthbertson, Forest Hills, Marvin Ridge, Parkwood, Piedmont, Porter Ridge, Sun Valley, Union Academy, and Weddington were the high schools that participated.

Did You Know ~ Winter Swimming

Winter swimming is the activ-ity of swimming during the winter season, typically in out-door locations (open water swimming) or in unheated pools or lidos. Many winter swimmers swim with standard swimming costumes rather than with wetsuits or other thermal protection. The activ-ity may or may not involve freezing water, depending on the geographical location and the local temperature. Famous winter swimmers are Lynne Cox and Lewis Gordon Pugh. Ice swimming is swimming in a body of water with a frozen crust of ice, and may be syn-onymous with winter swim-ming in colder countries. This requires either breaking the ice or entering where a spring keeps the water from freezing over. This may also be simu-lated by a pool of water at 0 °C, the temperature at which water freezes. Please use caution when winter swimming and do not attempt to winter swim alone. Training and health advisories must be considered.

Revolution Park Sports Academy Revolution Park Sports Academy Wrestling Program

Revolution Park Sports Academy’s wrestling season is in full swing! Wrestling is now being offered Monday through Thursday at the Revolution Park Sports Academy. The Police Activities League Wrestling Team meets Mon-day’s and Wednesday’s from 6:30 to 8:30 P.M Ages 5-18. And the Pit-Bulls Wrestling Team meets Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6:30-8:30 PM Ages 5-18.

For more information about wrestling at Revolution Park Sports Academy (1225 Remount Road) or any other youth sports programs, please contact us at (704) 432-4963.

Revolution Park Sports Academy Holiday Events

‘Tis the season to be Recreating at Revolution Park Sports Academy. Revolution Park Sports Academy will be taking two trips over the winter break. Friday Night Lights, for ages 10-15 is on Friday, December 21, 2012. We will be taking a van trip to McAdenville to view the Holiday Lights. The cost is $5 and the van will be departing Revolution Park Sports Academy at 4:30pm and returning at 6:45pm. Holiday Skating for ages 10-15 is on Thursday, December 27, 2012. We will be taking a van Uptown to WBT’s Holiday On Ice. The cost is $11 and the van will be depart-ing Revolution Park Sports Academy at 10:30am and returning at 3:00pm. Revolution Park Sports Academy is located at 1225 Remount Road, for more information about these two opportunities and many more, please contact the Revolution Park Sports Academy at (704) 432-4963.

Recreational News from Mecklenburg Communities Countywide Youth Basketball Season Begins The 2012-2013 youth basketball pre-season will commence this Saturday, April 15 as 150 teams will participate in scrimmage games at 13 recreation cen-ters throughout Mecklenburg County. Teams will begin regular sea-son play on January, 5 2013 after the holiday break.

Sugaw Creek Recreation Center Basketball Madness The community saw the first glimpse of the 2012-13 Sugaw Creek Basketball Program at the 3rd An-nual Pep Rally on Saturday, December 8. Fans were entertained with a program that in-cluded the department’s Ray Mascot , player in-troductions, cheerleaders, dance routines, Arrow Sign spinner contests, basketball relays, 3 on 3 contest, free throw shooting contest, photo ses-sion, giveaways, and refreshments. One of the highlights of the afternoon was the parents vs. coaches basketball game. This showcased out-standing play on both teams. The overtime game

was won by the coaches. The event was staffed by Cynthia Smith-Perkins, Nick Roberts, Brett Kri-zanik, Gary McDougald and April Drakeford. Other valuable contributions included Mallard Creek High School Girls Basketball Team, Arrow Advertising of Charlotte, Carolina Support Services and Atomic Awards and Design Company.

Sugaw Creek Cross Country Season Ends The Sugaw Creek Recreation Center Cross Country Youth Team participated in the southeast Re-gional Footlocker Championship on Saturday, November 24, at McAlpine Park. Tienna Young and Jazmine Flores received medals for the girl’s elementary school race. All participants are sched-uled to attend the 6th Annual Youth Appreciation Banquet on Friday, November 30, 6:00pm at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church. The purpose of the of this dinner is to express appreciation to the participants, coaches, volunteers and sponsors of the program.

Sugaw Creek Recreation Center For more information contact us at 704.432.1531 or ArborGlenOutreachCen-ter@MecklenburgCountyNC.com

Recreational News from Mecklenburg Communities

Therapeutic

Recreation

Young Athletes: Young Athletes, in partner-

ship with Special Olympics,

finished the fall session in

Mecklenburg schools on De-

cember 14th. The children

enjoyed learning skills over a

10 week period, such as:

jumping, balancing, throw-

ing & catching. We are look-

ing forward to a fun-filled

spring session! We will start

back in the Charlotte-

Mecklenburg Schools on

March 18th.

If you would like more in-

formation about Young Ath-

letes please contact: Abi-

gail.Bergman@Mecklenbur

gCounty.gov or

Ariel.Kliem@MecklenburgC

ounty.gov.

.

Happy Holidays!

We hope you have a safe and happy holiday break and a very prosperous New Year…

The Park and Recreation Friday Letter Team

Park and Recreation News:

Submissions for the Newsletter

Please submit all news for the

Friday Letter to your Division

Director for review and routing.

Park Partners may contact

Kesha Meads at

Kesha.Meads@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov

for publication assistance.

The Friday Letter Issue 62 December 21, 2012

Mecklenburg County

Park and Recreation

Senior Leadership Team

Jim Garges, Director

Michael Kirschman, Deputy Director

James Alsop, Enterprise Services

Renea Barber, Human Resources

Mario Chang, Budget Administration

Lee Jones, Capital Planning

Lola Massad, Community Services and

Recreation Centers

Jeff Robinson, Park Operations

5841 Brookshire Blvd.

Charlotte, NC 28216

(704) 336-8840

Recreate All Year! As the weather changes, look forward to new and exciting way to continue recreating during the fall and winter months. Subscribe to the Park and Recreation E-Newsletter to stay up to date on activities that may be available to you.

www.parkandrec.com

National Gold Medal on Display at Recreation Centers The 2012 Gold Medal Grand Award will be making its rounds to all of the Recrea-tion Centers “Stanley Cup” style. Presently it is on display at Mallard Creek Recrea-tion Center. See it on display next at: Central Region: Arbor Glen Recreation Center (November 26—December 7) South Region: Southview Recreation Center (December 10—Decembler 21) North Region: West Charlotte Recreation Center (December 26—January 11)