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Albany County Recreation Department rebrands and refocuses

Albany County Executive Dan McCoy says the Recreation Department is focusing on inflation, which has many families struggling to cover costs.
Dave Lucas
/
WAMC
Albany County Executive Dan McCoy says the Recreation Department is focusing on inflation, which has many families struggling to cover costs.

The Albany County Recreation Department has a new name and additional offerings.

The new moniker, Albany County Parks & Recreation, was unveiled Wednesday in Watervliet by County Executive Dan McCoy, who says expanded programming includes comic book clubs, Dungeons & Dragons, pickle ball and e-sports.

He noted that generations of kids have grown up gravitating toward playing football, baseball, basketball.

"Parents, 99.99% of your children are not going to play NFL sports, or any NBA or hockey, whatever it may be," said McCoy. "But we can give a foundation to be good citizens. We can give a foundation show the services in the county, give the support and give the team building that you need."

McCoy says programs like Dungeons & Dragons and e-sports will not turn kids into couch potatoes:

“So people think we're encouraging kids to sit on the couch and play video games," McCoy said. "Look, that was our generation, right? And I don't mean it in a mean way. But in the new way that they're doing, this, the gaming, kids are actually going to college for gaming. Kids are actually making a lot of money who aren't going to college because they got a lot of followings. And there's people that follow people playing gaming, like you're watching a football game, you know. And it's crazy, the amount of money they make from advertising, watching the these kids play. In the esports like I said, the career path in the industry, the esports management, meeting in tourism, digital marketing, or careers in STEM fields, all come from this type of field, right?”

McCoy says the Recreation Department is also focusing on giving kids interested in pursuing traditional sports a boost, keeping in mind that inflation has many families struggling to cover costs.

“This partnership I have had with the sheriff's department and the Albany County Legislature is really to take the cost away from parents," McCoy said. "And they say ‘why don’t a lot of inner city kids play hockey?’ Well you’ve got to spend $1,000, for skates, and the equipment that's involved with it, which makes it mathematically impossible for these parents to sit there and do this.”

Sports programs will now be known as Albany County Club Athletics. McCoy says the department will also offer a lifeguard training and certification course, which usually costs around $400, for $50.

"If it comes down to you putting food on your table, we'll cover the $50," McCoy said. "So we're going to be looking at a variety stuff as we go forward. We also have a number of other programs that we're developing including performing arts...and more combat sports like boxing."

The Recreation Department is funded through the county budget. Albany County Parks and Recreation Commissioner Justin Atlas says $15,000 was earmarked for the Watervliet Civic Center.

“We're focused on being able to move into the future, where Parks and Recreation is leading to be able to help nurture and build and grow our community, so it's a great place to live, work and play," said Atlas. "When it comes down to our new logo, our new initiatives, were focused on being able to add in new programs. We have nine different subdivisions of programming that we're going to be looking into: performing arts aquatics, combat sports, e-sports, a lot of the things that county executive McCoy has already mentioned. But we anticipate in the next year and a half, being able to launch five new programs every season. So every three months, we hope to be able to initiate an average of five programs every season. That way we can build our services that we're providing for all of Albany County, to a comprehensive Parks and Recreation service that our county, our community deserves.”

New programs begin this week.

Dave Lucas is WAMC’s Capital Region Bureau Chief. Born and raised in Albany, he’s been involved in nearly every aspect of local radio since 1981. Before joining WAMC, Dave was a reporter and anchor at WGY in Schenectady. Prior to that he hosted talk shows on WYJB and WROW, including the 1999 series of overnight radio broadcasts tracking the JonBenet Ramsey murder case with a cast of callers and characters from all over the world via the internet. In 2012, Dave received a Communicator Award of Distinction for his WAMC news story "Fail: The NYS Flood Panel," which explores whether the damage from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee could have been prevented or at least curbed. Dave began his radio career as a “morning personality” at WABY in Albany.
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