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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us June 23, 2005 Surrounded by children New Ashland YMCA sports director loves his new gig By Amanda Bolsinger Tidings Correspondent ASHLAND YMCA SPORTS DIRECTOR TED DALLAS blows his whistle during a soccer camp at the Y on Wednesday. Dallas took over for Matt Devig on June 1 and has been a busy man. Orville Hector | Ashland Daily Tidings Ninety elementary school kids swarm around, whistles ring across the field and in a situation that would have many adults running in the opposite direction, new YMCA sports director Ted Dallas has a calm smile. Dallas is in the middle of soccer camp, a YMCA summer sports camp. Last week he was at fishing camp, next week will be sports camp. With Dallas’ new position his job changed from being evening supervisor and working with an older crowd to organizing and running all of the YMCA’s summer activities and spending time with a much younger group. Potty breaks, piles of backpacks, and tying countless pairs of cleats have all become part of Dallas’s daily routine. “I really enjoy kids,” Dallas said. “This is a chance to be a kid again.” Starting fresh Dallas began at the new position of sports director June 1, replacing previous director Matt Devig. Dallas has been at the Ashland YMCA for just over a year and graduated from Southern Oregon University this spring with a master’s degree in psychology. “He was picked for his interpersonal skills like conflict resolution, organization and leadership,” Community Programs Director John Souza said. “He had excellent marks in all of the categories, had some sports organization at SOU and was already an employee here.” As Dallas finished his graduate studies he was simultaneously training with Devig to move into his new position. Dallas had to learn his new job, hire coaches for the camps, select volunteers and organize the schedules to fit more than 200 kids each week into different YMCA programs. “I couldn’t do this without all of the help around me,” Dallas said. “Without the community support it’s not possible.” Dallas’ immediate schedule is booked with numerous sports camps such as soccer, basketball, flag football, karate and volleyball, swim and scuba camps and overnight camps like fishing camp and the week long overnight camp at Box R ranch. He is responsible for coordinating all of the scheduling for the many sports camps, resident camps and continuing activities like gymnastics and swim lessons. A calendar hangs in his office with different colored lines representing the many different camps. The many colored lines overlap and fill each week of the summer but Dallas is prepared and excited for all of the upcoming events. He will be taking 72 third through eight grade students to the Box R Ranch overnight camp and is already planning a day off to go explore the ranch for himself before the camp begins so he can better plan events for the kids who are going with him. The fishing camp overnight was rained out so Dallas brought the campers back to the YMCA to camp in the gym and head out the next morning for more fishing. “The best fishing spot was up at Applegate,” Dallas said. “It was such a fun camp; everyone caught a lot of fish.” Despite his already hectic schedule Dallas is looking ahead to the upcoming school year to find a way to help provide PE activities to schools in the area. “I am looking at a PE curriculum for home school programs,” Dallas said. He wants to create a service to home school and private school programs that might otherwise only be able to offer recess or limited PE activities. “We have the facility and the resources to offer these programs,” Souza added. As well as working with home and private school programs Souza and Dallas are interested in working with public schools in the Ashland area to fill in gaps where funding has had to cut programs such as PE. “With budget cuts, PE goes first,” Souza said. “We have areas of support and see ourselves in a big role.” Creating programs Building off of past experience from his job as evening supervisor Dallas is working to create programs and events for adult YMCA members and community members. A large portion of Dallas’ vision for the YMCA involves planning and creating more sporting events for the older crowd at the YMCA. He has plans for flag football leagues, basketball tournaments, competitive archery, ultimate Frisbee and more. “We did archery as a youth program and had parents asking if they could do it,” Dallas said. “We are going to do Olympic style archery and hopefully make a tournament or a league out of it. Right now there aren’t a whole lot of sporting events for the older group.” Dallas and Souza are creating new programs and working to expand the reach of the YMCA to serve more community members in new ways. This summer more than 1,400 kids will participate in youth activities, during the school year the YMCA has pre-school and after school care, yet despite all of the services offered the pair wants to expand. “We see ourselves as the center for youth and adult activities in Ashland,” Souza said. “Now we want to get beyond these four walls and do even more in the community.” Amanda Bolsinger is a correspondent for the Ashland Daily Tidings. To comment on this article, contact Sports Editor Joe Zavala at 482-3456 ext. 3020 or [email protected] DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Deep Muscle Stimulator Ceramic Piggy Banks FREE Entertainment Guide Women's & Men's Slippers Accelerate Weightloss Products Backpacks Generic Viagra Vegas Travel Guide Search Engine Optimization Sportsbook Absinthe Supply Student Loans Hotel & Airline Reservations African Safari Hammocks Helzberg Diamonds Online Casinos Community Bonus Casino King of Spirits ink cartridges Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Mailing Lists Click Here Advertisement .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams