The Coppell Parks and Recreation Board meeting on Monday evening at Town Center covered local annual updates surrounding the Coppell YMCA and DFW Wildlife organization and sustaining their growth within their respective programs.
The meeting started with Coppell YMCA sports director Nathaniel Robinson sharing its goal in increasing participation and the popularity within its sports program during the year.
“Overall, we grew our programs with 314 kids. Going into this year, our target goal would be an overall of 2,264 participants,” Robinson said.
Robinson addressed the drop in participation in flag football due to the increase of interest in other sport programs and stretching out those popular sports into camps.
“Flag football is usually a hit or miss for us. I know it’s going to drop off because kids here in Coppell play other programs,” Robinson said. “What I did was just provide more programs for our kids which was volleyball and basketball camps.”
In the second half of the meeting it transitioned to Coppell Biodiversity Education Center recreation supervisor Jonathon Ward recreation supervisor and education coordinator Joshua Carlos discussing its changes in activities and increased participation.
“We increased our program participation once again by 35%. So we finally hit that 4,000 number. We were chasing that this year. We just passed it by like the skin of our teeth, but we got it,” Ward said.
Carlos mentioned the change in field trips for the Coppell High School STEP program, which supports graduated students who are a part of the special education program.
“What we did is we kind of gave it a summer camp vibe, but it was more to help them develop skills and confidence in things like communication, independence and everything like that,” Carlos said.
Carlos shared the benefits of being in the Coppell Biodiversity Education Center and the long lasting lessons provided.
“You’re not just volunteering, you’re gaining experience in this. and then we do the same thing for our programs,” Carlos said. “I think one of the things that us as a staff and as a facility over at the back means that we strive and we’re proud of is that we make sure that our volunteers are able to bring something out of their experience, whether that’s something they want to do professionally, even if it has nothing to do with like conservation or nature.”
Alternate Amy Cole praised the passion and growth within the program
“Y’all’s passion and knowledge really shines through in the way you talk about it,” Cole said. “Kudos to that.”
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