Bend Into Balance: Alli Jorgensen, Fitness Supervisor at Bend Parks and Recreation

In this episode of Bend Into Balance, host Adriana Mariño sits down with Alli Jorgensen, Fitness Supervisor at Bend Parks and Recreation, to explore the vital role public fitness spaces play in individual wellbeing and community health. With more than 30 years of service at Bend Parks and Recreation, Alli shares her personal journey into fitness and how movement, connection, and accessibility have shaped both her life and her work.

Together, they discuss how parks, pools, fitness classes, and youth programs support physical health, mental health, and social connection across all ages. From water exercise and strength training to inclusive programming and community driven offerings, this conversation highlights how Bend Parks and Recreation serves as a hub for belonging, longevity, and everyday movement.

This episode is a celebration of public wellness, lifelong activity, and the power of shared spaces to bring people together in meaningful ways.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:16

Hello, my name is Adriana Marino, and I'm host and producer of Ben Into Balance, podcast powered by the source. Today I am with Ali Jorgensen, fitness supervisor for Ben Department's Park and Recreation. Did I say that right? Or Ben Parks and Recreation. Ben Parks Park and Recreation. Park and Recreation. We all know Juniper, Larkspur, the Pavilion. Um, I have to say that one of the best investments I've done for my health this year was buying an annual pass. And yeah, it was such a great investment. And I think I'm really getting use of it because I'm visiting Juniper, I think, easily four times a week. And I make use of the pool. I've taken a few yoga classes. I once did a strength training workout. Um, I love Juniper and the pavilion where I've ice skated many times with my kids. Oh, good see you. Yeah. Um, Larkspur's a little further out for me, but yeah, thank you so much for being here, Allie. It's my pleasure. Well, I did try and pawn this off on someone else, but um I am very happy to be here with you. Hi, thank you, Allie. Tell us a little bit about yourself and what, you know, how you came into the fitness world.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

Um, you know, I don't think my story is unique. Um, I'll start with kind of what brought me into fitness is um I had a lot of energy as a kid. And um there were nine kids in my family, and so a very large, chaotic household. And um my parents were looking for something for me to do to get my yah yas out. Uh-huh. And um, they started with baton twirling when I was in second grade, and they thought that would do it. Um but um and that lasted for a number of years till I was in middle school, but I I used my baton mostly as a weapon against my brothers. So uh yeah, my solidary grin. Yes. Um, so I I pretty much gave that up in seventh grade. I still had a lot of energy that my parents were looking to get out. And um, my dad was part of a group called uh the Hash House Harriers. I don't know if you've heard of them. No. Um tell me about that. They're they're a group of runners, and their tagline is um, I believe, a group of runners. No, a group of drinkers, beer drinkers with a running problem. So it's just a bunch of adults who like beer and they like to run. Yeah. And so um they would meet, they'd pick one night a week, usually after work, and um some person in the group would design a run, usually up to about six miles, four, six miles, and they would create a run somewhere in the city. And what they would do is they'd go out and they'd put these chalk marks on the ground. And the whole group would go out running. And let's say you'd come to an intersection or a fork in the road, and you wouldn't know which way to go. So you would send out these hares, these rabbits, and they'd go running and they would look for the arrow. And then when one of the runners found the arrow, they'd yell back to the group, on, on, and everybody would come running over and start going down that path until you came to another decision. Uh-huh. And then you'd send the people out. And so it was, it's just it, you know, it's something that's fun. Yeah. You know, especially if you're um, if you didn't really like to run, then um, you know, it just kind of took your mind off it was on group. And it always ended up at either someone's house or a park or a pub, and you drink beer. Okay. So, you know, it it was probably not the um smartest thing to take your, I don't know how old I was at the time in seventh grade, but take your 13 or 14-year-old with you. But um that's when I fell in love with running, although it wasn't purely running. I was a jogger, I must say that. Okay. Um, and um so I fell in love with it. And I just throughout um middle school and high school, I would do 5K's and 10K's. I was never competitive. I went to um an all-girls Catholic high school, and there were not a lot of sports available to us back then. I'm pretty old. And um, so I just I would run and it was it was my physical escape, it was my mental escape. So if if the house was in chaos, I would just bolt. I'd put my running shoes on and I would take off and I would go run. So um, you know, it it helped me physically, it helped me mentally, and um and then when I went to college, I um one of the first days I was there, the rowing um team, the crew team was out um looking for people and they said, No, you don't need to have any experience. This was in San Diego, so I grew up around water, but sure. I didn't really know about rowing. And they said, Well, just come on out. It was a great group of women. And so I went for that and um I fell in love with rowing. So um graduated, rode for four years in college, and then when I graduated, got on a master's uh competitive team and also coached at the collegiate level. Oh wow. And then, you know, it just kind of it just kind of grew from there, and then I moved to Ben pretty soon after. Okay. And you you were telling me you've been in Ben for 32 years.

SPEAKER_01 5:49

32 years, yeah. And with Yeah. And Ben Parks for 30 years.

SPEAKER_00 5:55

Yeah. So when we first moved here, at the time I just had two little kids, um, one-year-old and uh about a three-year-old, and I was looking for a gym to work out. And um I was checking out a few gyms, went to Parks and Rec. And um, if anybody has been with Parks and Rec for a long time, they know who Vicki Dolly is. She was one of our longtime receptionists, and she just had this spirit about her, and this um she was just so friendly. She just nobody was a stranger. And so she just welcomed me in that day and gave me a little tour. And I was like, okay, you have these classes and you have daycare. This sounds like it's for me.

SPEAKER_02 6:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:39

So I started taking classes, and um I um put the kids in daycare, and I met five women who had similarly similarly aged kids, and we became the best of friends. And to this day, we are still the best of friends. That's amazing. It's it's amazing. And I started um so I started volunteering in the daycare.

SPEAKER_01 7:04

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 7:05

And um uh Monica McLean Smith, who, you know, is basically responsible for all fitness parks and rec related, um, you know, for the last um, she was also at Parks and Rec for about 35 years. So um, she's retired now, she still teaches for us. But um, she must have seen something in me. I don't know. Um, or she was desperate, but she said, you know what, you know, you interested in in working for us. And I um, you know, I thought about it and I, you know, I can use a little bit extra money. She was just a couple hours a week. So I started teaching fit kids classes, which was just with the young, young kids. And um, and then it just developed over the years. I started um taking more classes and studying and got my group exercise and my personal training certifications and um went on to massage school. So everything just kind of came together um about the body for me. And um, so it all happened um very organically, I think. It just it just all fell together and it felt very right, and it felt very I I felt very much at home at Parks and Rec. And so um that's kind of what drew me to them. Um it's just a a phenomenal community organization and um yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:30

Yeah, so no, we're so grateful to have it here with us. Right. Um, and physically, was this at Juniper?

SPEAKER_00 8:37

Yeah. This was at Juniper because that was the only facility at the time. They had a gym, you know, that was basically the size of a large bathroom at and one um group exercise studio. But um Monica made it work. And you know, back then um the population was maybe 25,000 or so when I moved here and um and so it was enough. And um, and then Larksburg opened kind of over COVID. Um that facility opened. So um I think we do a pretty good job of of covering the town. Yeah, tiny two facilities. And then the Juniper gym expanded um close to 20 years ago. Um we added on a whole other section. So it had a uh an expanded fitness center and two extra um group exercise spaces. And yeah. When was the times? When was the master pool built? Um the the outdoor yeah, the living. It's been at least 20 years, I'd say. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good, that's a that's a good pool. It gets a lot of use.

SPEAKER_01 9:40

Yeah. It's always busy when I'm there. Yeah. Are you a swimmer? Yes. That's what I mostly do at dinner or is swim like four, yeah. I love it.

SPEAKER_00 9:47

Yeah. Those sides are coming off um soon, probably. Oh, really? So three or four weeks. So exciting. You appreciate the sun coming in.

SPEAKER_01 9:55

And a little bit of crisp, fresh air. Yeah, yeah, definitely. Yeah, that's coming. Oh, that's exciting. Okay. Um why is Ben Parks relevant to Ben? I mean, what role does parks, recreation, fitness have in a community?

SPEAKER_00 10:11

Um, I think it's important. I think it's I think it's important for um a lot of reasons for the community, obviously for the physical health of the community. Um, you know, we've got classes for adults, fitness classes for adults, we've got youth programs, whether it's swimming or or um soccer, baseball, basketball teams, um, uh swim programs. Um so um physically, um we're there to to help with your physical health. And and if you don't, if you're not a gym person, we've got I don't know how many parks, but we've got an enormous park system. Yeah. Uh most of them um will allow for bikes, not um Riley Ranch, but um, you can ride your bike, you can go for a walk, you can go for a hike, and um keeping physic you know, physically fit is so important for everybody. And that's part of your mental health. Um physical fitness is huge um as far as mental health goes. Um, I you know during COVID we had um a big shutdown, no one was going anywhere. Um, I'm gonna tell a little story about one of our patrons over at Larksburg. I won't um name her, but um, she's a wonderful woman who moved her over COVID. She had just lost um uh an adult daughter, had passed, and um and and COVID shut us all down, and it was a move for her, so she moved um, I think across the country, and um so not knowing anybody in a very delicate situation, and she found Larkspur and um she put herself out there and started meeting people in water exercise classes, talking them, talking to them up in the gym on the treadmill, and um and she is uh she's just a blessing to us all. She she makes the rounds and she's talking to everybody, checking in with them. And um uh so mentally, um that connection that you that you make, whether you're just kind of spinning your wheels on the bike, uh, you know, it's all good. You're there and you're interacting with people. And we know how important that is. Um, you know, there are studies out there these days that talk about that connectivity and um how you know how loneliness leads to um to early death for a lot of people. And um and we're hoping to, um, you know, at Parks and Rec to just to cover all those bases, your mental health, your your physical health. And I think that um, you know, most people who own homes here in Bend realize that Parks and Rec is um a separate taxing district. So, you know, we take a chunk of your change to provide these beautiful parks and these recreation facilities.

SPEAKER_01 12:54

Um and where was I going with that train of thought I know it's okay? Just like we were talking about the role that, yes, Ben Parks plays for a community like Bend and you.

SPEAKER_00 13:05

And I think economically is I think it's such a draw. We hear that a lot in our facilities is um, you know, I I came to town and I saw your parks. I I went out and I experienced your parks, or I came to Juniper Larksprin. I realized, you know, this is not your typical parks and rec. I think a lot of parks and recs around the country um really kind of get the leftover dollars of yeah, a city's budget or a town's budget. And um we've really made it a priority to um, you know, to to um to make it an important feature um as far as our parks and rec go and for our community. So I think a lot of people move here for that reason. So economically, you know, I'd like to think that we help out. I know it takes money out of your pockets in in your taxes, but um but it really helps enhance an experience of living here in Bend.

SPEAKER_01 13:58

No, for sure. Yeah. Such a necessary investment.

SPEAKER_00 14:01

Yes, yeah. Yeah. And it is an investment, you know, and that's that's important. Your your mental mental health investment, your physical health investment. And if you if you've got any plans for longevity and a quality of life, those are those are two things that are so important. And and we hope we we hope we provide that for people. And most of the feedback we get is just is positive. And on that note is, you know, I I live for these classes or I I live for the connections I've made here. And I told you about um, you know, my best friend group now were the ones that I met the two years ago. Yeah. And I hear that still today as somebody will say, I met these friends, you know, here or there. And um, there's one thing, and and I know this is kind of an organic interview, so flow where, but um, we started um some classes at Larkspur in the warm water pool maybe three years ago or so, called warm water well-being. Okay. And these classes were um designed for people with neurologic conditions for the most part, Parkinson's and some other things, but also included um, you know, if you've had some surgeries, any kind of chronic conditions also. And um we typically don't get a lot of men, especially in our water exercise classes. But there were a couple of gentlemen in there, and they got to chat, and you know, they were a little shy. And yeah, then one other guy would come and he'd be kind of shy and they'd kind of welcome him in. And now there's this large group of men that all have these conditions, these diseases and things that, you know, they may be embarrassed about or they, you know, they don't want to talk about. Yeah. And um they're this phenomenal phenomenal group. They'll celebrate birthdays together, they check in on each other if, you know, if they don't show to class, and it just it warms my heart. It does my heart good to know that's beautiful. You know, especially from I I would say most men, it's harder to make connections, make friends for a lot of them. And um, and I I hope that we're that place that people, you know, make connections for a lot of reasons. Yeah. So I I went off I went off a script there into our warmth. Their well-being program. There is no script, Ali.

SPEAKER_01 16:19

This is wonderful. Um so tell me, you know, you told me Ben Parks has been around for 50 years. You have been part of it for 30 years. That's a lot. Yeah. How has a pro how have the programs evolved with the growing population of Ben? How have you been able to kind of know what to offer? I mean, if the amount the I saw the summer programming booklet. It's like a it's big. There's so, you know, there's arts and crafts, there's music, there's just so much that Ben Parks is offering. How you were telling me a little bit about the yoga, that your your your the yoga classes are almost always full. Right.

SPEAKER_00 17:01

Um we um we just try and keep our our finger on the pulse of what's going on, whether we're going to workshops or conferences or um, you know, looking at out there whatever everybody else is offering. Um we'll do surveys every couple of years and kind of see what the community is looking for from us, and that'll help drive our decisions. Um a lot of times, um, if we're talking in the fitness realm, our instructors will come to us and say, Hey, I experienced this class somewhere, or I came from New York, California, whatever, and we're doing this. Um, and I think it might work well here. And, you know, we we run the numbers, we see if we have space, and um, and we'll throw it in there and see how it how it works. And um yeah, so trends, you know, um we try and stay on top of the trends. I know there are some that we're probably missing. I think one that's coming back is stepaerobics. Oh, cool. And um it's something that we're pursuing. Uh-huh. Um, and I don't know how many gyms out there are doing actual steppe aerobics classes right now. They might incorporate it a little bit into some of their programs, but there's a lot of people out um around the world that are taking steppe aerobics to the next level, not the old 80s and 90s step aerobics. So um that's something. Interesting look into, yeah. Uh-huh. Yeah. It's um, yeah. It's a little bit for a younger population, some of the stuff we're seeing, it's very much um they call it functional step. Okay. So um, it's not just the old grapevine over the step and this kind of thing. It's um, it's a lot more kind of strength work involved with it, body work um on the on the floor and working with the step and um like weight-bearing exercise. Yeah, weight-bearing exercise. Oh, interesting. I'll I'll send you a link sometime on functional step. It looks like a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_01 18:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:52

Um, yeah. And then um as far as the other programs, you know, the youth sports are just, you know, you kind of have your traditional youth sports. I know that um we're we're leaning towards um a lot of flag football and things these days. Um, girls' flag football is coming out, um, girls' rugby. Yeah. So we just we see what what people are interested in, what starts to take off, and then just and go from there. And of course the pavilion. If anybody's been over to the pavilion, um those programs are always filled, whether um, whether kids are taking ice skating lessons or youth hockey is just exploding. I don't know if your son is into that. That's uh yeah, that's a a big one.

SPEAKER_01 19:36

So um, my last our last guest, Dr. Matthew Ingaracia, he told me that he just picked up hockey again. Oh and so he he had Yeah, so he's doing adult hockey and he's loved it. And yeah, he was talking about I mean it's all connected. It's all connected.

SPEAKER_00 19:51

We uh we have a lot of staff at Parks and Rec that are also um on the hockey teams uh and they're just passionate about it. What whether they started, most of them started when they were younger, these either high school or college. Yeah. Um, but their excitement about it has worn off. And now we have other adult staff who I'd think, I don't know if I'd want to be out there uh skating around, you know, it's a rough and tumble sport, you know, at my age to be out there. But um, we have a lot of staff who are just learning to skate and want to get involved with with the ice skating uh or with the um with the hockey program, ice hockey, all of that stuff. It's it's really neat.

SPEAKER_01 20:30

One of the things that I love about Ben Parks is you know, and especially Junior Pro that I visit most, um not excluding the parks, but you know, in terms of the facilities, is the range of ages. You see from newborns getting into the water for the first time in their life. Yeah. And um, sometimes when I'm getting out of the pool and the master's program is beginning, I think the average age of the master the swimming masters is up there. It's up there. And um it's so impressive.

SPEAKER_00 20:59

Like there's just so many ages that it serves. It is. It's it's a wonderful thing. And that's one of the things I think that draws me to it. And and one of the things that um that draws a lot of people to it is that you can. You can come in as a as a family, and you know, you've got one kid here doing this, uh, you know, the adult, the grandparent is doing this or whatever it is. Um it's good to see those interactions between the age groups. Um we um I would say for our fitness classes, we probably hang out on the um older scale of of participants, probably 40 to 80 um is the age um age range. I think a lot of younger people are going to some of the um facilities, the gyms, the s private studios that just host one thing. It's either a kind of CrossFit or a private yoga studio, that kind of thing. And and and that works for a lot of people, and that's absolutely fabulous. But um If you've got a desire to have a more well-rounded approach to your fitness or cross-training, then there's not a better deal than parks and wreck. You know, yeah, you've got your swimming, which is which is great for any age, you know, especially being around a lot of water here. You get those kids in, you get them water safe. Um, it's it's great for the older adult population that maybe needs to get some weight off their uh aging joints or their aching joints. And um uh yeah, I don't know. There's it's just it's a it's a great, it's a great mix of people. And I know that's not for everybody. Um a lot of times um the population will shift a little bit in the summer because we've got such a robust rec swim program in the summer over at uh Juniper from basically one to four, and that's a lot of um young kids and families and middle schools, and there's just a lot of great energy. Yeah, that can be a little too much for people. And so we'll see a little bit of shift um of people coming over to Larkspur, which is a little calmer in the summers. Yeah. But um but it's a good mix. I I I'm I love that we can serve everybody. Everybody.

SPEAKER_01 23:17

Completely agree. Yeah, yeah. It definitely feels like a family. Yeah. A big, big family. Yeah. You were mentioning before trends, and one of the I've noticed um at Juna Prairie, you have just renovated an important space. Can you tell us a little bit about that? Yeah. Why that came to be, you know, what how is that is reflecting, you know, recent trends and need community?

SPEAKER_00 23:41

Um well, I think um I don't know if it's a recent trend, but we certainly are seeing more reports coming about out about the importance of strength training, especially as you age. I mean, it's it's never, you know, really too young to start, but as we age um, especially um bone density is huge. And also keeping keeping yourself strong, that you can just do your activities of daily living. You can go out and enjoy everything that Bend has to offer. So whether you've got you know brittle bones or not, or aching joints, um, you want to be strong to be able to enjoy what what you're doing. Um so well, the the Juniper Um Fitness Center, um, like I said, is probably about 20 years old, the the one that we expanded on the original Juniper. And um it was time for that equipment to go. It was um a free motion line, which has been phenomenal for us. Um, not a lot of maintenance needed, but um things were starting to age out over 20 years. It was hard to source parts. Um yeah, and it was just it was it was time to make a switch. Um we went looking out um at a variety of um fitness lines to bring back in and um and found that um that free motion was still one of the top-of-the-line um uh pieces of equipment. Bang for good bang for your buck, yeah, we that we wanted. So most of the equipment that we brought back in is of that free motion line. We have a couple pre-core pieces. Um and a lot of the a lot of the machines we just brought in the new piece of the same old equipment. But we do have a few new pieces in there that um that I really like. There's three specific new pieces that are um primarily for the lower body, um, for glutes, for hip um glute building and hips. And I know that a lot of people are into that these days. Yeah. I mean, it's important. It's important for your mobility and get up. Yeah, the grandfag health, everything. Yeah. Yeah. So um, so those pieces have gotten a lot of um a lot of buzz over in the new fitness center. Um it just looks good. The way, the way we've got it arranged just feels um, it just feels good. Um it um it feels like the patrons are noticing that there's more space in the free weight area. Um uh and and I don't know, it just feels like that. I don't I don't know if necessarily there's much more. I mean, there's maybe a few more square feet, but um it just feels very fluid. And as one um patron said recently, it looks very sexy. So I don't know how parks and rec being a family organization ever really wants to be thought of like that, but um but it does. It looks really nice over there. And it um yeah. So yeah, so trends, you know, I think I think strength is is a big one. Um we're our our classes, you know, we've got water exercise, we've got our mind body classes, we've got strength and cardio spinning, um, but our strength classes are incredibly popular, incredibly popular. Um and um our mind body classes, yoga mindfulness classes, that's another big one, um, that, you know, is is nothing really new. But I think uh since COVID, kind of like you were saying, is that I think people got um uh got into some online um yoga programs and mindfulness, and there was a lot of stress and angst and anxiety around that time. Yeah. And people were looking for um, you know, mindful meditation and sound bathing and that kind of thing. And um yeah, those classes, those classes do very well.

SPEAKER_01 27:25

Among all ages as well? Or do you find that um pretty much you mean that parks and rest? Yeah, or in general, in in yeah, in particular.

SPEAKER_00 27:33

Yeah, and in your experience. Um yeah, I think it's across all ages. Yeah. Again, I I feel like we do miss a chunk of the population that um that goes to the yoga studios, private yoga studios in town. Um and we're not sure what you know what that is. If um they tend to be a little more expensive, but maybe if people are just really looking for a yoga community and that's all they want, that's maybe why they should choose that. We've got we've got phenomenal classes. And um of the younger people coming into our classes, certainly our mind-body classes are ones that draw that, you know, as compared to maybe our water exercise classes. Most people say, that's just for old people. Yeah. Um, you know, and and they don't understand that water exercise, whether you're horizontal, you're swimming, or you're vertical doing water exercise, it is a phenomenal workout. Um, it's not only a phenomenal workout, but um uh what it does, the hydrostatic pressure and and your circulation. So all sorts of conditions like I was talking about, whether they're chronic or not, you've just got some inflammation somewhere, um, is is great for that.

SPEAKER_01 28:46

Yeah, you don't have to convince me I love the water. And yeah, I mean, I feel so good after I get out of the pool. And uh for me, it's like meditation and movement. I just lose myself, I can swim 90 minutes just drinking my water from time to time without stopping. And it just, oh wow. It's a beautiful ready to go. I gotta get out of here.

SPEAKER_00 29:04

Oh, it's just great. Yeah. I wish more young people would come and take it. It's interesting. We'll collaborate sometimes with the high schools and they'll bring in their like cross-country running team and stuff, and we'll run them through a deep water running class. And you know, there are these like studly young kids, and they're like, Yeah, we got this, and they get in the water and you know, halfway through, what? We're still going? Yeah. Um, yeah. So um it's just it's it's it's good stuff.

SPEAKER_01 29:33

Yeah, for sure. Um in terms of youth, which is such a big part of the Ben population, you know, all these families, how does Ben Parks try to serve this group particularly?

SPEAKER_00 29:49

Um you know, if if um if we're talking fitness, um, we've got um we've got the swim lesson program, basically a learn to swim program. So we want everyone to be safe. And from there, we've got um a novice swim team program um through Juniper, which is a phenomenal program. My kids grew up going through that. They they didn't have a real burning desire to compete, but they wanted to learn more about the strokes. And so that that novice swim program is a phenomenal one to um get them um water safe, to get them um knowledgeable of all the different strokes, and a little bit of competition, like they have one friendly competition at the end of the term, whatever it is. And um, and some of those kids say, Okay, you know what, I I really like this. Or the coach says, you know what, you're pretty good. You could you could move up and you know, they maybe graduate to the um Ben's swim club team, which is um our com local competitive um swim team.

SPEAKER_01 30:49

Um, it's okay. The youth, you know, and how is the youth sports recreation changing? I mean, yeah, and there's such a role for this too, because kids are so much on their screens. I mean, there's never at now to get them active, you know, right.

SPEAKER_00 31:06

Right. We have yeah, we have a robust program. I think I was saying, you know, the whether it's the soccer, the flag, football, um, tennis programs in the summer, golf programs. Um, and it's important, you know, to get them off those screens and get them active. Um, so whether it's through one of our programs or it's just getting out into the park, you know, we all know this. Um, those habits are set young. So, you know, make it a family event. And if it's not signing them up, registering them for our program, getting them out in the parks, take them out on the um, you know, with their bike in the park, or get them out to a Riley ranch or um Chevlin Park where they can, you know, they're basically bathing in nature. You know, we all know about that these days, forest bathing or nature bathing and how important it is to get off that screen, to get outside, get in the fresh air. And um, yeah, so um we have, you know, a lot of those youth programs. Um, I know that in town we've got probably upwards of 10 competitive travel sports teams these days. Oh, wow. Um, you know, the the kids that don't want just the parks and rec experience. They want to take it up a notch. It's kind of like that novice swim program. They they learn about the sport maybe in parks and rec and they find that they've got an affinity for it. And um, you know, or their parent was a football player and they're like, okay, yeah, I know this sport. So um, kid, this is, you know, this is maybe the track I'm gonna take you down and let's see, let's see what you think. So um, yeah, so um we have a pretty healthy um uh competitive travel program here in town. That you know, I don't I don't think we compete with them. I think we're more of a feeder program for them, for them. We're we're still we still have a very robust uh youth sports wreck program.

SPEAKER_01 32:57

Yeah, my son has participated two years in the soccer program in the fall. Yeah. And we're you know, our only complaint is that it doesn't last longer, you know, because it's it's those seven weeks go by so quickly, but they have you know two weekly practices, the Saturday game, and the amount of teams they play against, you know, like it's great.

SPEAKER_00 33:16

Huge and it's a big, yeah. If you don't want me uh mind me uh interjecting because April is volunteer appreciation month. Okay. So on that note, what I had to say, Adrian, is that um Parks and Rec relies on hundreds, if not thousands, of volunteers and their hours that they put in. I'm getting goosebumps, you know, coaching our kids because I relied on it as well. And um they're just phenomenal to give up their time, rearrange their days, whatever it is. And and some of them may not even know about the sport, but um, they learn about that sport and they've got a passion for kids. And again, getting their kids out and getting other kids out and away from the screens and doing something that's healthy and physical and social, yeah. Um, which is huge. So thank you to all of our Ben Park and Rec volunteers. That's um that's in all realms. We've got them in basically all of our facilities have volunteers in them and they enhance our programs tremendously. Yeah, wow tremendously. Yeah. It takes a village, right? It takes a village. Yeah. I do.

SPEAKER_01 34:21

I tell my volunteers that all the time. Yeah. Um, yeah. No, I remember from the the soccer season, uh, my son's coach, they were doing volleyball too, basketball. I mean, it was soccer was just one of the three sports they were coaching. They had two or three kids. They, you know, they were going from field to field, you know. I was like, wow.

SPEAKER_00 34:40

Yeah, and dividing all for all uh for so you hear about that a lot. You know, one one parent is off coaching this kid in this sport, the other parent is off here and tag teaming dinner and all that. And it's I don't know. It's just great to see. It just leads to such a healthier community, healthier families, leading to healthier communities, and um, it's wonderful.

SPEAKER_01 35:03

Yeah. How has this work, you know, 30 years served you personally? How has it how has it enhanced your own health and wellness alley? Oh gosh.

SPEAKER_00 35:16

Um, well, I want to say mentally, because um my physical outlet, obviously, uh if you didn't pick it up early on in this conversation, I have ADHD and a little extra energy. So that may be too much information for all you out there. But um it's um that uh the physical um being physical is huge to my mental health. Yeah. And um so um uh not only that, but the interactions every day that I'm in one of our facilities and our parks and hearing stories and the connections people are making. Like um, this one woman that I told you about moved here after the death of her daughter and during COVID and and the friendships that have been made and these men in this um warm water well-being class, um, the connections that lead to happiness, to mental health, and all that goes along with that. Um I feed off that. So not only am I getting it because my friends, they are my community. I mean, um yeah, they're they're they're part of my community. My friends are working out there. And even if you're just part of my class, I mean, you're you're I still consider you my friend. I, you know, I go by that saying as, you know, a um a stranger is a friend I haven't met yet. Right. It's just um it's making that connection. And for my physical health, um, they still allow me to teach a few classes a week. So I'm uh, you know, some of those classes on coaching more than actually teaching. But I teach mostly strength classes. I I sub a lot of different um areas, but um mostly total body strength type classes, circuit classes. Cool. And um, that's kind of where my passion lies, that and the water. Um and um so that that keeps me going and and then everything I do outside of um outside of the the brick and mortar is uh a lot of it is in our parks. It's hiking in our parks, it's walking in our parks, it's riding my bike in the parks.

SPEAKER_01 37:26

Um yeah. Yeah. That brings me to my you know question I had in mind. How does Ben's outdoor culture kind of also shape and define a little bit of what Ben Parks and Rec is about?

SPEAKER_00 37:40

Oh, I would say, you know, I I feel like, well, we all know, I mean, a lot of people move here for the outdoor recreation. And again, whether it's, you know, you're going hardcore skiing or you're a hardcore biker or this or that, because we know there's a lot of that intensity here in Bend, is that people just want to be outdoors. And I feel like we support them, not just with the structure of parks and stuff, but as far as maybe our fitness programs, um, whether it's in an organized group exercise class or in our gyms, is I feel like people are in there doing it to support what they do. So, you know, you see a lot of people who have an annual ski pass to Mount Bachelor, and they're they're in there and they're like, I gotta work on my hip strength, I gotta work on my leg strength because the season's coming up. And um, a lot of what they're doing supports what they're gonna do in their everyday life. And, you know, whether that's hiking in the Alps or playing with the grandkids. Um yeah, that movement is so important. And I think, I think that's one of one of the one of the reasons they come to us and and um yeah, is to look to get stronger. So I'm I hope we help with that. And you do, you hear those great stories, they'll come back and they'll say, like, yeah, whatever. I hiked the dolomites or whatever, and I just I felt so much stronger than I had before, or whatever it is. And um, I've got a a great group of um master swimmers who've started taking my strength classes over the last couple years, and they report back, you know, they used to just kind of swim and they report back that you know my times have improved. Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01 39:20

Right on, man. I love that. I love that. So I'm gonna have to sign up for one of your classes because I haven't done a lot of strength training. I have a a weight at home that I do sometimes, but yeah, yeah, it's important. I know it is, and especially, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:35

I'm gonna whether you do when it started doing that, it doesn't have to be, you know, in our classes. I I think that's part of um my passion is whatever, because I've had I've run into people outside and and I'll say, Where have you been? I haven't seen you in a while. And they're like very sheepish. And they'll be like, Oh, I go to a different gym now or I'm working out at home. And I'm like, ah, so what? Great. I mean, yes, I'd love to see you here, but you're doing something. You know, if you told me you were just sitting in bed and uh, you know, on your computer all day, uh, you know, I'd be a little sad for you. But um, you're moving, you're moving. And that just that just means the world to me. Is that and whatever it takes to get you moving. And part of that is um, you know, um people will say, you know, I I I don't know what to do, or I don't know. What floats your boat, what makes you happy, what fills your cup, you'll find it. And part of that is when when people come into one of our facilities and they're I don't know where to start. I give them our um class, you know, our class schedule, and I say, your homework for the next month is just maybe pick one, maybe two new classes a week and try them out. Because you're gonna find the time that works for you. You're gonna find the instructor that really you bond with, and you're gonna find the class format that just makes you smile.

SPEAKER_02 40:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:55

And um, I'll tell you, I don't take this class often, but we've got a class called cardio drumming that if I'm having a bad day and that class is going down, I've I go in, I walk into the back, I pick up a couple of drumsticks, and I stay for a song or two. You don't leave that place without grinning to earn. And everybody in that class is smiling because you're banging on that stability ball, which is your drum, you're banging on that ball and you're dancing, and uh, it just I had no idea that this class existed.

SPEAKER_01 41:28

It is, it is, it is phenomenal.

SPEAKER_00 41:30

So that's one of the classes that I want to take that, you know, kind of floats my boat. So find that class that you're like, you know what? I can't do without that class. I'm gonna miss it. If I go out of town for the week or whatever, I'm gonna miss those people. I'm gonna miss the structure of it and the the format and instructor, whatever. Um, yeah. So what is that for you? Is it Zuba? Is it your yoga class, your favorite yoga instructor who just takes you to that next level, then you can just leave floating on air, basically. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 42:04

That is so cool. I'm surprised too by like I had no idea about this drumming class. I'm gonna look it up. Yeah. Um, I would love that. Um, I love music, and I think that that would be such a great release of energy, and just that sounds fantastic. It's also just like how many flavored special offerings you have. I was filling up my water bottle today at Junior Purple, and I saw that to celebrate El Cinco de Mayo, the well-known Mexican celebration, there's gonna be Zumba in Espanol. And then um, I met you through the Heart Health Week during Valentine's Week, when you that's you know, this is um took my measure of my body composition, um, mass, like what was that? Weight, my water composition, you chica you, yeah, the fat and the muscle. And so, I mean, you guys offer so many little things, like just beside the core programming. Right.

SPEAKER_00 42:56

Um, I would love to talk about our um the like the Cinco de Mayo Zumba class we have coming up. So maybe uh three years ago we started, we we kind of partnered with our um our Latino outreach coordinator. Um, Katia is um a phenomenal asset to Parks and Rec. Yeah. And we started talking about, you know, how do we get that community more involved, more involved with classes, more physically fit. And um, we hired um a couple bilingual instructors. So Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday nights we've got um uh Zumba in Espanol, Thursday nights we have uh yoga in espanol, and those classes are phenomenal. Um, you know, and English speakers are welcome. Yeah, you know, you'll horse, you'll get it. Um, but this is um, you know, really tailored to that community, and they've been really well received. Um we also um have um swim lessons in Spanish now, and that is another phenomenal program that Katya's worked hard to get off the ground. And um uh just a phenomenal program.

SPEAKER_01 44:03

Yeah. Um but what was the other thing, Yusuf? Um no, just the body composition. Yeah, just like the heart health week that you guys that there's just it's besides the regular programming, there's special events. I think throughout the year we come out of the box.

SPEAKER_00 44:17

Throughout the year we try and do that um for things maybe that we don't normally offer. So um we typically do offer two big ones each year. One is our heart health week. Yeah, and we'll bring in cardiologists or um nurse practitioners or dietitians, and uh we'll do all sorts of lectures and presentations about heart health, and um, and we'll typically do some body compositions because it's very important to know all your numbers. I always yeah, so we'll we partner with Deschutes County or with um partners in care, and they'll come in and do um uh blood pressure transforce. We'll do the body composition testing. And then usually in October, which is um uh physical therapy appreciation month or national physical therapy month, we'll do a week where we bring in uh physical therapists and they will do assessments, free complimentary um assessments on people. They'll do lectures for us, little presentations, and always just really good stuff. We've we've got a really wonderful um um Central Oregon health community here that um is is always willing to partner with us and um and help us out. Just a really great group.

SPEAKER_01 45:30

So this is amazing because and it's public. It's a I mean public, yes. That's what's the most impressive right, everything you're talking about. That this is yeah, for the entire community.

SPEAKER_00 45:40

And those two weeks are entirely free as far as those presentations and those body composition tests, yeah. Um, everything. So we and we do offer the body composition tests as well. It's a $12 test. Um, you just need to contact me. Oh, okay. Good to know. And Parkson Rack and um you can do those. But um, we do offer them twice a year. So if anybody's ever interested in um getting that, getting those numbers again. I was interested by getting that.

SPEAKER_01 46:04

And was that our first one? It was my first one. So you'll have to come back. I will. I'll see how they have changed. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, as a last note, I mean, I feel like we can go on and on because we're both so passionate about the subject. But um, I think one thing that is really worth mentioning is just how people can be involved. Like I got the annual pass, which gives me unlimited entries. Right. I can do yoga, I can do strength training, I can swim as many times as I want. I mean, can you talk about like the different um packages, options that you know the citizens have as residents?

SPEAKER_00 46:40

We have a few. I I probably should have gotten some better information on this and brought it with me, but um one of the main things we typically will recommend to people is buy our 10 punch pass. Okay. Um, because that's good forever. And um, and you get to try us out without a big commitment. When you don't have a big commitment as far as um, you know, um uh starter fees or anything. But this 10-punch pass will allow you to go try a class here and then maybe you leave town for a month and then you can use a show. And if you decide, you know what, Parks and Rick is not for me, you can use that pass to come in and swim. You can give it to your neighbor, you can show it to a friend coming into town. Um, you can buy a one-month pass. And our um receptionists will work with you and they really say, Okay, how many times do you think you'll be coming in during the month? Yeah. And you say, Oh, I'll come in this many times, or I think it'll be this. And they say, Okay, this is the best deal for you. You should buy a one-month, you should buy a three-month, you should probably buy an annual. You don't have any like big trips or surgeries planned this year before you plan on being out. This is gonna be your best deal. And you can pay obviously by the day a little drop-in fee, but um but I tell people to get started, get that 10-punch card. That's how I started. Come in, yeah, yeah. Um, we have fitness center orientations. So if you're not sure about the equipment, you can come in, get a free orientation on the machines. So that'll kind of be a little intro to that part of the program. And then we usually tell people, just like I said before, is come in and just take one class. You know, take one water class and one land-based class in what you think might interest you. And then you got to go from there. And you can you can talk to the instructors, you can talk to someone on my fitness team and um say, okay, this is kind of what I like, this is what I don't like, this is the time of day I need, and we can, you know, help guide you. But a lot of it is gonna be um a lot of legwork on your part is just a smorgish board. Go out there and say, Okay, well, you know, or walk by a classroom and say, Oh, oh, look at those. What are they, what are they beating on those balls for? Yeah. And you'll be like, yeah, it looks like fun, and and try it out. Um yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:51

And just to clarify on there, yeah, for sure. And and just to clarify, Ali. So if one buys that 10-punch card with one punch, if I get to Juniper, for example, early that morning, yes, I could do yoga at nine, meditation at 10, weight training at 11, I get in the pool after lunch. Is that correct? I mean still in my heart. Yes, you're you speak my language. That's the beauty of it.

SPEAKER_00 49:12

Isn't it? Yeah. I mean, and then yes. You go, you take a strength class, maybe you stretch it out in a swim, you go hit the hot tub, and then maybe you finish with a yoga class. It's it's phenomenal. If if you leave and that's one punch, that's one punch. I mean, if you come back later in the day, they do uh take another punch. Right. But once you're in there, take advantage. If you've got the time, obviously everybody doesn't have that time.

SPEAKER_01 49:35

Of course. But um but it's a great way to try a little bit of the offerings on a Saturday Sunday. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:42

If you've got a free afternoon, yeah, go in and hop from this to that, the other. No, for sure. Yeah, yeah. That's yeah. That's one thing I love about Parkson Rack and Juniper and Larkspur, is just so much is going on. And and um, hopefully we can help you for anything that floats your boat, you know, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 50:04

Fills your cup. So well, Allie, thank you so much. Bend is so lucky to have you. Your passion and enthusiasm is contagious. I can just imagine, you know, you know, the way your team must, you know, vibrate with your yeah, high energy. It's a great, it's a great team of energy.

SPEAKER_00 50:23

I appreciate you having me here. No, thank you so much. Sharing a little bit about my passion.