September 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 90

NRPA Update

NRPA Career Center, Online and In-Person

vailable 24/7 online at
www.nrpa.org/careers, the
NRPA Career Center is the
best resource for job seekers and employers in the park and recreation
field. On the website, job seekers can
post resumes, search job postings
and apply online, while employers
can post job descriptions, search resumes, set up resume alerts and manage applications.

For an in-person experience, however, you won't want to miss the Career
Center at the 2013 NRPA Congress
and Exposition. Located in booth
120, this opportunity will bring together active employers with the 7,000
professionals expected at this year's
event. Congress attendees will be able
to review jobs, submit resumes and
schedule interviews. Employers may
sign up to use the interview room.

As an added benefit, all jobs posted
through October 10 in the online NRPA
Career Center will also be posted at the
Congress Career Center at no additional
cost. Whether you are pursuing a career,
furthering your profession or searching
for the perfect candidate, the NRPA
Career Center is your go-to resource.
Contact Eric Hamp, senior manager of
member relations, at ehamp@nrpa.org
or 703.858.2164 with questions.

Paralympic Potential

RPA is a proud partner of
U.S. Paralympics, a division
of the U.S. Olympic Committee. The two organizations have
been working together for years in an
effort to expand adaptive sport opportunities for youth, adults and veterans, and together, they have impacted thousands of lives by expanding
sport opportunities for people with
physical disabilities. Now, they're
shifting focus as part of a new initiative to identify prospective Paralympic athletes for future Games.
The Paralympic movement grew
out of rehabilitation sport post-World
War II. The first organized Paralympic Games took place in 1960 and
featured 400 athletes with physical or
visual disabilities from 23 countries.
The most recent competition, the
2012 London Paralympic Games,
featured more than 4,200 athletes
from 165 countries. The U.S. team
finished fourth overall in the medal
standings with a total of 98.
U.S. Paralympics' goal moving forward is to go from fourth to first. But
U.S. Paralympics can't achieve that
without increasing the number of athletes competing in Paralympic sports.

Parks & Recreation

By growing that number at all levels
- developmental, intermediate and
elite - the organization can ensure
sustained performance into the future.
One way to do that is to host talent identification events: specific
sport events for youth and adults
with physical disabilities to put their
skills to the test. Because park communities serve as the entry point, and
many times, the first introduction to
physical activity, organized play and
team sports for thousands of kids and
adults, this partnership is a natural fit.
NRPA will host four of these future athlete identification events over

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the next year, all of which will take
place at existing NRPA events in key
markets and targeted sports. Park
and recreation staff will evaluate
participants' abilities and skills, and
those who meet certain standards
will be invited to future competitions,
camps and clinics where they will receive coaching support and expertise.
Find out more about this great
partnership at the NRPA Congress in
Houston, Texas, from October 8-10.
U.S. Paralympics will be at the NRPA
Partnership booth and the closing party for you to check out some sport talent identification demos firsthand.

September 2013 - Parks & Recreation

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