Rec Complex staff trained and ready for summer programs BY MARIAH VIZI The 35 members of the day camp staff, facility staff and aquatic staff of the Essex Recreation Complex prepared for summer programs with an intensive training regimen last week. Community Recreation Manager for the Town of Essex, Cynthia Cakebread, said each person had already been certified in standard First Aid, CPR and defibrillator training. Aquatic staff members were also required to have lifeguard certification, Life Saving Society swim instructor certification and Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System certification. She said the four days of in-house training focused on First Aid, accident/incident prevention, rescues, physical fitness, communication and customer service. "These individuals are between 16 and 30 years old," she said. "They were hired in May and picked for the positions based on their performance in a scored interview, where they were tested on the elements directly related to their certification." She described the medley relay, one of the training exercises, as an international level event used at world championships. "The first swimmer swims 50 metres and the second swims 50 metres wearing fins. The third swimmer swims 50 metres with a rescue tube and then becomes a tow victim on the end of the tube for the Victim Services receives special funding Amy Augustine tows Krista Fields during the fourth lap of a medley relay at the Essex Recreation Complex on June 30. The relay is one of the training methods used to prepare the day camp staff, facility staff and aquatic staff for the summer programs. Victim Services of Windsor and Essex County has been awarded $150,000 by the Ontario Trillium Foundation to expand services to victims. Treatment groups for victims of assault, break and enter, motor vehicle accidents, fire, or traumatic incidents will be available for both adults and children. Victim Services of Windsor and Essex County provides crisis response at the request of police services. For further information, call 519-723-2711. fourth swimmer for the final 50-metre lap," Cakebread said. She said some of the other methods used to train the staff were meant to be fun and informative. A scavenger hunt familiarized the staff with everything in their workplace and policy and procedures were taught by playing Jeopardy. "We provide a fun experience for all by ensuring our staff maintains above average training," she said. "That training provides the highest level of safety for each of our swimmers, day campers and all the partici- pants in our programs." Programs are available to teach four-month-old infants to adults how to swim, she said. Being open on holidays makes planning easy for working parents. Cakebread said the spots are filling up quickly, but registrations are still being accepted at the Essex Recreation Complex in person or by phone with a credit card. Forms can also be picked up, filled out and dropped off or faxed in when the facility is not open. Cottam Clubs Mosquito Baseball The Cubs played two games against quality opposition this week and ended up with a tie and a loss. Cottam travelled first to Tecumseh to play a very good minor team and fell behind 8-3 in the third inning before rallying to tie the game at 8. Mitchell Taveirne led the comeback with a key steal of home in the fourth inning and Justin Orton went 3 for 3 scoring two runs. Jacob Taveirne kept Tecumseh off the board in relief, striking out 12 batters of the 18 he faced. Nice game boys! Next the Cubs took the trip to Walker Homesites and on picture day jumped to a 2-0 lead. But a very sloppy third inning spelled doom for our squad as Windsor scored five runs on five errors and beat us 10-3 spoiling a strong pitching effort from Jamie Ames. Nikolas Veigli and Brett Rickeard each had nice hits for Cottam. Our record is 11 wins and five losses with a tie for the season. Game sponsor was Kimball Lumber. Special thanks to coach Dave (Iron Foot) Moody for the awesome display of bullpen catching!