REC ROOM.

Cities Score Grants from NFL Charities

The National Recreation and Park Association and NFL Charities recently announced the recipients of 25 $1,000 grants (right) to foster and stimulate youth football programs through parks and recreation.

Fun & Fit

A recent study conducted by the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition suggests that physical leisure activity you enjoy -- running, cycling, gardening -- provides greater cardiovascular benefit than physical activity that's just more work.

CALIFORNIA

[Check]   Lodi Parks and Recreation Department
[Check]   San Diego Park and Recreation Department
[Check]   City of Sanger
[Check]   West Sacramento Parks and Community Services

COLORADO

[Check]   Grand Junction Parks and Recreation Department
[Check]   South Suburban Park and Recreation Department

DELAWARE

[Check]   Kent County Parks and Recreation

FLORIDA

[Check]   Miami Beach Recreation, Culture & Parks

GEORGIA

[Check]   North Macon Flag Football

ILLINOIS

[Check]   Sterling Park District
[Check]   Waukegan Park  District

INDIANA

[Check]   Valparaiso Parks & Recreation Department

MINNESOTA

[Check]   City of Duluth

MISSISSIPPI

[Check]   Ridgeland Parks and Recreation Department

NORTH CAROLINA

[Check]   Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation Department

NEVADA

[Check]   City of Las Vegas

NEW YORK

[Check]   Greenburgh Parks and Recreation Department
[Check]   Riga Recreation Department
[Check]   Perinton Recreation & Parks Department
[Check]   Rye Recreation Department

OHIO

[Check]   Cincinnati Recreation Commission

PENNSYLVANIA

[Check]   Lancaster Recreation Commission

TENNESSEE

[Check]   Athens Department of Parks & Recreation

TEXAS

[Check]   Dallas Parks and Recreation Department

WISCONSIN

[Check]   Platteville Parks and Recreation Department

Ask the P&Rxpert

Dear P&Rxpert:

We are completely renovating two outdoor tennis courts. We are planning on dedicating one court to tennis and the other to inline skating and hockey. If possible, we would like one area (or both) to be convertible from tennis to hockey. Has anyone done anything like this?

Les Davis, Director Siloam Springs (Ark.) Parks & Recreation

Dear Les:

We had difficulty with this. The wheels were rough on the tennis court sealer, tennis-net posts were an obstacle, and removable posts were not acceptable because of a trip hazard presented by caps.

The main problem was the unwillingness of the inline skaters to stay off the courts when tennis season began. Nets would be taken down by skaters, and would sometimes disappear altogether.

What we did instead was to fit a double basketball-court enclosure for roller hockey. We built the basketball posts into the fence so the court area has no obstacles.

When basketball season starts, the basketball players (some of whom are inline skaters) enforce the seasonal change for us. The basketball court is not sealed and can take the punishment.

Gary Hardenbrook Shrewsbury (Mass.) Parks and Recreation Department

Got a parks and recreation question for one of our P&Rxperts? Send it to Editor, P&R, 22377 Belmont Ridge Rd., Ashburn, VA 20148, e-mail to [e-mail], or call [phone].

All the World's a Gym

Are the fluorescent lights in your workout facility starting to give you a bad case of cabin fever? Longing to get outside for a breath of fresh air? Fitness educator Angela Settle's got just the thing for you.

Settle, a former fitness expert for NBC's Weekend Today, CBS This Morning, and WGN-TV's morning news in Chicago, has created "Training in the Park," an exercise kit that offers a go-anywhere fitness routine and turns the outdoors into an exercise studio. The kit, appropriate for all ages and fitness levels, includes an illustrative video and booklet as well as SPRI Xertube, which provides the resistance for muscle toning.

"Invigorating fresh air and beautiful natural surroundings energize the body and the mind," says Settle. "The healing benefits of the outdoors are extremely powerful--and they can't be found in a gym." To order, call [phone].

Get Out

A recent Harris poll reports that reading is still Americans' No. 1 favorite leisure-time activity. No. 2? Watching TV.

Tune IN, Turn OFF

According to the A.C. Nielsen Co., the average American spends 3 hours and 46 minutes watching television each day. A statistic staggering enough on its own, it's positively frightening when you figure out that it boils down to 52 days of uninterrupted boob-tube viewing per year.

But enough is enough, exclaims Mimi Noorani, program director of TV-Free America, a national nonprofit organization that, during its fifth annual National TV-Turnoff Week, April 22-28, will encourage Americans to turn off TV, and turn on life. "Life doesn't end when prime time begins. Instead of watching the Discovery Channel, people are out making their own discoveries," Noorani says.

During this week of observation, an estimated 7 million Americans will turn off their sets and "rediscover that life can be more constructive and rewarding with more time and less TV." The group's comprehensive "Organizer's Kit," a 48-page handbook complete with pledge cards, posters, and revealing facts and figures, provides motivation for even the most couch-ridden spud to click off the idiot box.

After all, there really isn't anything on, is there?

For more information, call TVFA at [phone], or e-mail [e-mail]

Finding Your Sea Legs

New York City's South Street Seaport Museum offers participants of virtually all ages and skill levels the opportunity to experience unique marine education programs that combine elements of marine biology, ecology, weather, physics of sail, piloting, and seamanship. The various hands-on programs, which range from the Elderhostel, a week-long adventure for seniors, to Urban Waters, a two-night trip in the New York/New Jersey estuary for inner-city kids, also provide activities and discussion on teamwork, environmental concerns, and maritime technology.

For more information, call [phone].

Here's Looking at

Annually, sports-related eye injuries account for more than 40,000 trips to the emergency room.

In the News ...

IU to Direct Indy Parks

Under a unique partnership, Indiana University's Department of Recreation and Park Administration recently assumed management of the Indianapolis Parks and Recreation Department. Dr. Joel Meier, chair of IU's Department of Recreation and Park Administration, announced that the responsibility for management of Indy parks will fall under the department's Eppley Institute for Parks and Public Lands.

Created in 1993 to provide expertise to parks and recreation systems throughout the state, the Eppley Institute is the outreach arm of IU's Department of Recreation and Park Administration. James Ridenour, director of the Eppley Institute, is a former director of the National Park Service and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.

Under the partnership, the Eppley Institute's Jim Parham will become director of the Indy parks system, running the department on a daily basis. Parham is a former director of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources public affairs division and assistant director for the Land and Water Conservation Fund and urban grants programs for the NPS.

Although the initial management contract is for six months, Indianapolis Mayor Steve Goldsmith anticipates extending the contract for an additional six, stating that the city's work with the institute on a comprehensive long-term plan led him to conclude that, together, the university and Eppley would be the best organization in the country to lead the department.

IU President Myles Brand called the arrangement a "public-public collaboration" and said the university as well as the city of Indianapolis will benefit from the association. "Indianapolis gets a proven, experienced park leadership team. Our faculty, students, and staff will have an opportunity for practical experience. There will be an opportunity for students to observe firsthand a university partnership dealing with real-world problems."

For more information, contact Dr. Joel Meier at [phone].

The International Association of Family Entertainment Centers, an international association supporting owners and managers of family entertainment centers, is releasing the first edition of its IAFEC Developers Handbook. Organized to provide developers and operators of family entertainment complexes with useful information, this publication is filled with input from specialty consultants involved in planning, developing, and operating these facilities.

For more information, call [phone].

NRPA Communicators Network Accepting Applications

The National Recreation and Park Association is proud to announce the re-formation of the NRPA Communicators Network, which consists of park and recreation communication professionals. This network will develop approaches that will encourage NRPA and park and recreation agencies to communicate strategies from the field as well as advance the benefits of park and recreation services to the public via the media. The network is about communication professionals sharing their expertise and knowledge.

The NRPA Communicators Network was developed as part of the NRPA Board of Trustees Vision 2000 Strategic Plan. NRPA Public Awareness Committee Chairman John Crompton and fellow board member Doug Washington, along with NRPA director of marketing and communications Michael Corwin, will oversee this new network. Plans had originally been made to start this network at the NRPA Congress & Exposition in Miami Beach.

Interested communications professionals may use the following fax-back form (or e-mail to [e-mail]) to join the NRPA Communicators Network.

We have retained most of the e-mails that individuals had sent before the cancellation of the 1998 NRPA Congress & Exposition. In order to maintain a consistent database, we ask that all of these individuals reapply. Also, as most of our primary communication will be performed using e-mail, it is preferable that network members have an e-mail address.

And finally, the network is a free service of NRPA. We look forward to advancing the communication goals of all park and recreation entities.