Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

IQALUIT (Aug 09/99) - From Tulita to Iqaluit -- it's pretty much been all about sports for Simon Adams. That's probably why he's done such a good job in the various recreation departments he's worked for in his nine years in the North.

News/North caught up with Adams last week and he talked about the responsibilities community members have to volunteer for local recreation groups.

News/North Exactly what does your job entail?

Adams I'm responsible for helping groups in town be organized, like assisting minor hockey as much as possible, soccer, baseball for kids, looking after the facilities like the curling rink and the playgrounds and the day camp and also helping out with special events like Canada Day, Nunavut Day. We also look after elders' programs. That's pretty much it in a nutshell.

News/North How do you get involved in all of this? Do the groups and people contact you for your assistance?

Adams We'll help any group that's trying to get started or try to pass on information to new people coming to town

on who's doing what in town. It could be the Rotary Club, it could be the Elk's Club, the Karate Club. We're in the midst of trying to track down all of the new groups because the names have changed because it's been a bit of a transient town. Right now, I'm working on doing advertising for Mass Registration.

News/North When is that?

Adams Sept. 18. That's where we're going to set up a table for volunteers for soccer. In the past we've hired staff to do soccer, but we want to get away from that. The town should be running more on volunteers. For soccer, we're really looking heavily for people to come out as coaches and to help supervise with kids' soccer.

Also at Mass Registration, we'll be looking for volunteers because it's an Arctic Winter Games year. There will be sports for all age groups from 12 to 19. That'll be starting off hot and heavy when school starts in September. A lot of the qualifiers are coming up for regionals in November and December and then territorials and then the actual Arctic Winter Games in 2000 in Whitehorse. So we need a lot of volunteers this year particularly and Iqaluit's got a good chance of having a lot of our kids represent Nunavut at the Arctic Winter Games.

News/North Is it hard to get volunteers in this community?

Adams It has been lately because there are a lot of new faces and people are busy with work and with the new government in place, a lot of the positions aren't filled so a lot of people are doing double the work. That's a big problem -- people are just busy right now. Summers are always hard too because people are going on holidays so kids' baseball didn't get going this year like it has in the past. That's unfortunate, but hopefully next year we'll be ahead of the game.

We're starting to recruit volunteers, people who know they're going to be here for a little while to help out with the kids. The town is growing so much and we're going to be facing a lot of social problems and we've got to keep the kids busy. It would be nice for the parents to be involved with their kids and the kids can be with their friends doing sports or arts and crafts or music. Mass Registration is a good day where people can see what groups are in town and who's doing what.

News/North Do you usually try and recruit a lot of volunteers that day?

Adams Not in the past, but this year we're really going to make an effort. It would just make the town a lot better and it's the way things should be run.

News/North What's the incentive for people to volunteer?

Adams Personally, I do a lot of coaching and just seeing the kids develop and have fun and it's a healthier lifestyle for them. It keeps them out of trouble and the kids I know are good kids. Sure, we all get in a little trouble here and there, but generally all of the kids in this town are good, they just need a little direction and they can get that from the adults in town.

The problem with Iqaluit is that it is an adult- oriented town. It's a great place for adults and you could be busy every night of the week with the dart league or pool or ice hockey. There's so much the town could put back into the community.

Hopefully, the town will eventually develop facilities and gear them towards the kids and have a drop-in where kids can go and play pool or table tennis.

It just makes you feel good when you see kids excel and get into it and look forward to it.

News/North Do you think people have a responsibility to get involved and volunteer in the communities they live in?

Adams I do, especially in small communities. Everybody knows everybody and it shouldn't be all that hard. But it is a busy little town and I don't want to finger point at anybody, but there are people out there that do have time and hopefully they'll start thinking about it. There's nothing better than seeing kids laugh and have fun.

News/North What other communities have you lived in in the North?

Adams Gjoa Haven and Tulita and the Norman Wells area. It'll be my ninth year (in the North) coming up.

News/North What part of your job continues to thrill you after nine years?

Adams Seeing kids excel and also seeing kids that aren't great athletes enjoying themselves. And teaching themselves how to do their own recreation. I know when I was growing up, we never had a co-ordinator for recreation. We made our own recreation. Kids need to learn to do that and take charge. I've seen that come about in some of the communities I've been in. Let's face it, I like sports and you can't have a better job than when you're playing them.

News/North Where are you from?

Adams Originally from England, but St. Catharines, Ont. is where I grew up. It was a big change in cultures in how things are done there and up here.

News/North When you're not volunteering or working, how do you spend your time?

Adams I don't have much free time, but I guess I play hockey or coach soccer or hockey or other sports. I pick up a book once in a while or just relax and listen to music or watch TV -- like the NHL playoffs.

News/North So, it's pretty much about sports.

Adams Yes, I've played pretty much every sport you can think of.

News/North Do you have a favourite?

Adams Probably lacrosse, hockey and soccer, but I like them all. It would be nice to see lacrosse here and broomball and figure skating.

News/North If you had to leave all of this behind and find

something else in life, what area would you go into?

Adams I'd probably get out of recreation, but I would always coach in my free time. I used to work in hospitals back in Toronto and I miss doing that sort of care-giving with kids with muscular dystrophy.

I find when I work recreation and coach it at that same time, it's hard.

You take a lot of criticism...and I get frustrated at that. If I'm doing something at work, then I'll enjoy coaching.