What Does a Recreation Coordinator Do?

Working as a recreation coordinator is an ideal career for individuals who enjoy planning and organizing athletic and community events. Typically, a person in this field will assist a recreation director with various activities within a parks and recreation department. In most cases, a recreation coordinator will be responsible for five main job duties. These include overseeing the maintenance of recreational facilities, hiring and scheduling staff members, setting up athletic teams, handling public inquiries and monitoring the department's budget.

Overseeing the maintenance of recreational facilities is perhaps one of the most important duties of a recreation coordinator. This means that he will be responsible for keeping facilities clean and safe for public use. For example, a recreation coordinator may occasionally check a public basketball court and make sure that the surface is safe and meets regulations. He may also check the restroom facilities for cleanliness. This practice is essential for keeping recreational facilities functional and up to code.

Another typical duty is hiring and scheduling staff members. In some parks and recreation departments, a recreation coordinator will assist the recreation director with this process. In others, he may be solely responsible for hiring and scheduling. This usually involves interviewing individuals for full-time, part-time, seasonal and volunteer work. Once he has hired staff, he will create schedules according to the needs of his department.

Setting up athletic teams and coordinating their schedules is also the responsibility of a recreation coordinator. Throughout the year, he must organize teams for various sports such as baseball, soccer and basketball. After individuals have been assigned to a team, the recreation coordinator is then responsible for creating schedules for different teams to compete. In order to do his job efficiently, he must ensure that schedules don't conflict and that facilities are available for games. Along with this, he may also coordinate other community events as well.

Another aspect of this job is handling public inquiries. This mainly involves responding to emails and taking phone calls. It's the recreation coordinator's role to answer questions from the public and maintain open communication. Consequently, he needs to have considerable interpersonal skills.

In addition, many coordinators are also responsible for monitoring the department's budget. Since it often takes significant funding to operate and maintain a parks and recreation department, it's essential for a recreation coordinator to be fiscally responsible and stay on top of the budget. As a result, he must prepare financial reports and be aware of the costs to operate sports programs and to purchase and maintain equipment.