The Garden City Telegram

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Lakin Rec. has big time plans ahead

Published 9/5/2009 in Sports : Hometown Sports

By KEVIN THOMPSON

sports@gctelegram.com

If kids in Lakin complain about being bored in the summer, don't blame the town's recreation department.

In fact, they had so many things going on this summer, it's almost mind-boggling. But that's just the way director Chuck Reinert wants it to be.

The numbers tell the story. At the ball fields this summer, he had 43 in t-ball, 44 in Coachpitch, 69 in Cal Ripken, 32 in baseball, and 34 in softball.

He ran clinics, hosted tournaments, trained officials and kept kids busy.

A youth golf program traveled to other area towns for Thursday morning competitions.

One program had 47 kids involved in all kinds of activities, from games to hiking along the river, to swimming at pools around the area to the water park in Great Bend.

It's obvious that for a small-town program, Lakin's recreation philosophy has big-time plans.

"We are pretty athletic friendly over here. People like to come over and play on our nine-hole course. They like to come over and play on our ball fields. For a small community, we offer quite a lot when it comes to those types of activities. When you come over here, you will be amazed," Reinert said.

Volunteers play a vital role in a small-town program.

"Because we are so involved, if it wasn't for volunteers, my programs wouldn't run," Reinert said. "So I need all these volunteer coaches and all these people involved with these kids. They do every one of their kids' sports. In a small community, everybody knows where they're playing and what they're doing. It's what makes us gel and pull together."

The Lakin Rec got to showcase its assets this summer when they hosted the state 9-and-under Babe Ruth baseball tournament.

"It's a chance to show off this part of the state," Reinert said. "For example, the team from Paola in northeast Kansas was amazed at how far it was out to this part of the state. But after they won, the coach said, 'I would love to come back. This is great. Your community is great.'"

Hosting such an event also helped Garden City.

"I got all the restaurants, all the motels in the Garden City with 18-20 kids coaches on the team, even the grandmothers and grandfathers, everybody comes to watch 'Johnny' play. Since we're only 20 miles apart we have kind of that sharing," Reinert explained.

"And even though it's Garden City, it's southwest Kansas and we're community. That's something that we get to display to the rest of the state," he added.

Reinert, who lives in Garden City, has no qualms about his two-town status because he works closely with both.

"I'm big into this community thing. In Lakin, I'm the Garden City guy; in Garden City, I'm the Lakin guy. So I don't really belong to anybody. But I'm all about kids' programs and all about promoting Lakin and doing what I can here," he said.

Living in Garden City allows Reinert to appear weekly on local radio, where he promotes not only the Rec program but other events happening in Lakin.

Reinert spent 11 years at the community college. He was hired to fix Lakin's fields and facilities, but he had more in mind. That involved teaching sportsmanship to younger kids.

"I was getting to the point where I saw so many kids on the college level that struggle with sportsmanship and fitting in. I thought it would be a great opportunity to start when they were eight years old instead of 18 years old. Some of them at 18 are really hard to change. So that's one of the reasons I came over to Lakin," he said, and that has been high on his mission list since.

"It's all about Lakin Rec and getting our name recognition," Reinert said. "We kind of feel we're a cut above the rest. Luckily we've had the budget and the willingness of our board to do some things that were a little bit different for a small community. Like hosting this last tournament, we know we're not going to make a ton of money, but we just want the chance to get those guys out here to realize there are good things out here."

The Rec held a passing league for area football programs the first two weeks of August with Leoti, Scott City, Lakin, Syracuse, and Holcomb. Reinert also brought in certified and new officials to get them ready for the upcoming football season. It was an instant hit with everybody.

"The kids get some conditioning during those two weeks off. The coaches were all here watching but they couldn't coach them, so they're evaluating their team and their kids and who's going to be a leader. This is something I can do to help other small communities," Reinert said.

The Lakin Rec has brought in a professional football person to speak to the community the past few years. This year it was Neil Smith, who played for both the Denver Broncos and the Kansas City Chiefs.

"We invited anybody," Reinert said. "We invited all the other communities. You didn't even have to purchase a ticket to come listen to him, only if you wanted to eat, because I want that open to everybody."

Gary Spani of the Chiefs and Karl Mecklenburg of the Broncos before him have also spoken.

"We kind of walk that line between Chiefs and Broncos, which is a fine line around here. Luckily Neil Smith played for both," Reinert laughed. "It was a great thing."

Reinert also trains young people to be officials. In the summer they learn how hard it is to get behind the plate. The board lets him buy uniforms and equipment for the officials because they need to be in full uniform and dress the part. A couple years ago Todd Tichenor, a Major League baseball umpire, came out and did a clinic and he sold all of his extra gear.

Reinert is also trying to get adult soccer working. He has two teams right now and is working on getting them into a Garden City league because Garden City is better suited for that type of sport. For youth programs, Lakin has pretty good fields, but not for adults. He calls these "growing pains," things they want to start. Kids programs get set up and he gets adults on Sundays helping and watching who would like to play, so he wants to find a niche for them.

Besides all the programs, the Lakin Rec has a fitness center that runs on another unique factor: During business hours from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. it's free to anybody in the county who belongs to USD 215. The Rec is part of the school district's mill levy, not a city entity. Everybody who is in the USD 215 area is part of that.

Donations and the mill levy help fund a lot of city facilities like the pool, the golf course and parks.

"It spreads that burden out not just on the city people or the county. It's community," Reinert said.

"I always try to tell my board we want to be a cut above the rest. I feel that half the other Recs in southwest Kansas want to be us, want to do it like Lakin. They want their facilities to be like Lakin. When I hear that, I'm like, 'Yes! I'm getting my job done.'"

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