Smgt 399 Organizational Analysis Paper

SMGT 399-001

Organizational Analysis Paper

August 1, 2016

YMCA: Young Men Christian Association

The Downtown YMCA has been a source of light and hope for me while I have been working on my Sport Management degree at Liberty University. This organization has taught me and trained me in as a lifeguard, a swim instructor, how to handle life-threating situations, how to manage groups of people, and the YMCA has taught me time management skills. Before this internship, I had already been working at the Downtown YMCA of Central VA for three years as a Lifeguard and a Swim Instructor. The YMCA of Central Virginia’s main focus is on “developing the potential of kids, improving health and well-being, and giving back and supporting our neighbors” (YMCA).  

My time at the YMCA required no living arrangements from the YMCA and my transportation was covered through my vehicle throughout the summer.  My salary for the summer is $10.00 an hour when I am Lifeguarding and when I am teaching lessons, I make $17.00 an hour. I am the highest paid instructor at the Downtown YMCA because of my skill level and of how many years I have been teaching at the YMCA. This internship was set up with the idea that I already held this position at the YMCA but that I would use it as an internship to learn more about the ins and outs of the organization.

My job description includes lifeguarding the family and competition pool which includes: maintaining constant surveillance of both pools, checking chemicals, and supervising the newer lifeguards. My job as a lifeguard and a swim instructor is to know, understand, apply and enforce safety and pool rules, policies and guidelines. I am considered the lead swim instructor at the Downtown YMCA which means that when an instructor needs a sub or if the Aquatics Director needs special attention with a specific adult or child, I am the first one that gets called to take care of the situation. I have the ability to teach children from the ages of 6 months old all the way up to adults who are 70+ years of age.

Throughout this summer, I had the privilege of teaching children of all ages, backgrounds, and walks of life. I spent much of my time teaching children who are in a program that the YMCA offers every summer, which is called the Summer Learning Loss Prevention program. Most of these children’s parents work full-time jobs therefore the children’s maturity levels can range from that of a well-behaved child to the worst behavior that I have ever had to deal with. The children come from so many backgrounds and many of them do come from a stable home but in reality there are many who do not have that blessing.

Organizational Chart of YMCA Central VA:

[pic 1] 

        The Downtown YMCA is a not-for-profit community service organization and was founded in 1856. The YMCA that I did my internship at this summer, specializes in the Summer Learning Lose Prevention program, swim lessons, and getting people involved in the community. The Y actually started some 160 years ago whereas ever since the very start of the YMCA they have been trying to address the most crucial needs in the communities in which the Y’s are placed. The mission of the Downtown YMCA and all Y’s across the USA is, “To Put Christian principles into practice through programs that provide a healthy spirit, mind, and body for all.” (YMCA).

        I chose to interview the Aquatics Director Josh Gravette for this internship paper because he just recently rose to his position as the Aquatics Director about a year and a half ago. Josh said what brought him to the YMCA six years ago was the fact that he is a local from the Madison Heights area and he was just home from college with his Masters in Biology and he needed a job to start paying off school. He worked as a lifeguard for quite some time doing all the necessary job requirements during this time. Under the last Aquatics Director, he was offered the position as a Head Guard and he took his newly found passion very seriously. After being a head guard for about a year, the previous Aquatics Director put in her months’ notice and Josh decided to start the process of interviewing for the Aquatics Director position. He explained to me, while I was talking to him, that he has a real passion for what the YMCA stands for as an organization and that he enjoys getting in the water and teaching lessons with the kids.  Josh’s main duties now as the Aquatics Director are to supervise lifeguards, make schedules for swim instructors and lifeguards, make the yearly budget, buy necessary equipment, and he also deals with funding for our Summer Learning Loss Prevention program and our year-round swim lessons.         

As a lifeguard and a swim instructor this summer during my internship at the Y, I did not get to see much of the public relations and marketing that goes on at the Y. The Downtown Y is always running different types of specials like the one that is going on this month is for anyone over the age of 50, who is not a Y member, can come in and join the Y without having to pay a $50 joining fee. This summer they also ran a special which was called “Beat the Heat”, which ended on July 31 and if you joined before this date you could avoid the $50 joining fee that is required when you join the Y. The Y utilizes flyers, bulletin boards, promotions on the YMCA website and through the Downtown YMCA Facebook and Twitter pages.

Another aspect of the organization that I did not have a chance to fully be immersed in is that of the financial side of the organization. I am aware from what I have heard and from what I know about the Y is that they rely solely on grants, private donations and the support of patrons to meet its annual expenses (How is the YMCA funded? 2016). I am aware that Josh the Aquatics Director uses the website swimoutlet.com to purchase most of the equipment that is needed for the pool and his staff. Those are done through purchase orders and then are approved from Brian Landergan the Branch Director.

The Downtown YMCA is equipped with two pools the first being the family pool which is a 20 yard, 9 feet deep pool that is kept at around 85-90 degree. This pool is used for free swim, swim lessons, instructional training, water fitness classes, and an inflatable dog that is put out on Saturday’s called Puddles. The second pool is a 25 meter, competition pool that is equipped with 8 lanes and is used for lap swim, instructional training, Masters Swim Team, Lynchburg Y swim team, and for our Summer Learning Loss Prevention camps. This pool is kept at a low 80 degrees because of the nature of the people who are training in this pool and it requires the pool to be colder than the family pool.