Oxford Readies for Fitness Programming
With funding from the Department of Communities, Culture, Tourism and Heritage, the Town of Oxford has a plan to get you off your couch.
Former YMCA of Amherst fitness supervisor, Jimmy Ward, is hired to help residents of the town find ways to get the blood pumping.
A four-year resident of Oxford, Ward is raising his family—including his two preschool-age children—in the community, and is hoping to give them the opportunities he remembers from his youth growing up in Sackville, NB.
Designated the ‘Municipal Physical Activity Leader’ (MPAL), Ward is not filling the shoes of the former recreation director, who left at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic a couple of years ago. The goal is to find "less structured" ways of finding the community needs and desires for physical activity, and making those opportunities available.
His background at The ‘Y’ is well-suited for the role, having developed physical activity programming for people from the age of three years to ninety years of age.
That could mean some structured programming, but the emphasis is on facilitating access and coordinating volunteers in the community.
Ward notes there are folks doing interesting activities in town, including one person who offers hula hoop lessons, another who does morning Zumba classes, and with the coming winter season, many new plans for the renovated Oxford Lions Arena—hockey, skating, ringette and curling are all planned for this season.
He's already thinking ahead to next year, to see if something can be done during the summer months—perhaps floor hockey as one option.
As the Physical Activity Leader, Ward is particularly interested in enhancing awareness of and access to our local trails system. That could include signage, maps, group activities and any kind of initiative to address the sedentary lifestyle that many have fallen into. He's also on-task to work on funding applications for infrastructure, equipment, and other items needed to improve the physical activity options available to Oxford residents.
Ward is reaching out to community members now, looking for new ideas and volunteers who he can help to put their activity needs into action, as well as finding facilities where those activities can take place. He hopes to solidify the relationship between the Town and the Oxford Regional Educational Centre, coordinating activities in the gymnasium which is capable of hosting multiple activities, such as pickle ball and basketball, simultaneously.
The MPAL position will touch on some of the work done by the former recreation director, including the recreation plan that was adopted by the town in 2019, but had to be shelved under social distancing restrictions. Ward says he's going through that document, and will move forward with any plans that will fit under his job description.
Ward plans to survey community members to gauge their wants and needs. Keep an eye on the Town of Oxford website for news, and say hello to Jimmy Ward the next time you see him on your daily walk around the neighbourhood.
Interested in getting things moving in Oxford? Contact Jimmy Ward at mpal@oxfordns.ca.
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