OUTLOOK - With a lot of moving parts and some unpredictability from time to time, coupled with a steady stream of people looking to enjoy the facility, operating a community rink can take a lot of patience on top of the much-needed cooperation between staff.
'Team work makes the dream work', as the saying goes.
Brennan Hefner, who's been working at the Jim Kook Rec Plex in Outlook for three years now, is one of those key rink operators who you'll see taking on all manner of tasks that need to be addressed. If you don't see him sharpening the skates of people looking to get out on the ice, you might see him behind the wheel of the Olympia and smoothing the surface out there, or you might catch him serving drinks to thirsty patrons up in the curling club lounge.
It's work that more often than not finds him doing something different every day, but that's life at the Outlook rink.
"I started out working as a lifeguard at the pool here, so the town knew me already," said Brennan, sitting down with this reporter. "I applied here after working as a lifeguard for two years and they thought my work was good, so they hired me on as a recreational worker here. I've been in the same position, but I've been taking training programs with the town, so I've kind of increased my qualifications."
The number of jobs to take care of at the Rec Plex means Hefner will find himself busy with different tasks, but there are still standard operational procedures that he begins every work day with.
"There are usually some parts of it that are pretty typical," he explained. "For example, when I come in, I typically check the plants; both the curling and the hockey ice to make sure the ice is cooling properly. The next thing I'll do is check the schedule for the day beyond what people see on the board there. There are things like bowling, laser tag as of now, and curling. Sometimes, Civic Centre events will appear on that schedule as well. After I go and do that, I can kind of figure out what I'm going to do with my day, and often that includes opening up all the change rooms and first making sure that they're clean, and second of all that they're open and unlocked for any group that's coming in. After that, I'll check the Olympia to make sure that it's running properly. After all of that, it's really based off of what people might need; sharpening skates or cleaning, as I work outside of the janitor's working hours often; I work weekends and late shifts, so often that involves cleaning the bathrooms, the lobby, and the bleachers. We focus on the jobs that people are going to see first. If we've got a hockey game, we're going to clean the bleachers and the bathrooms as the first to go to things to clean. I'll also serve alcohol during games, and sometimes I'll have to work in the bowling alley as well. There are a lot of different jobs to do here."
One of the consistent challenges of Hefner's job is the stream of activity that the Rec Plex has, especially at this time of the year. With everything from hockey games and curling games to the needs in the main lobby, it can sometimes feel like he's being pulled in several directions at once.
"I guess that it can get really busy," said Brennan, on challenges that he faces. "Sometimes, some games are just so big that there is just people everywhere and it's all about taking care of their needs; anything from sharpening skates to even small things like the Pepsi machine running low or out. Meeting those needs while at the same time having as busy a day as we normally have. You're doing one job for one guy, and then another person is asking, 'Can you do this?', and it's really all about trying to manage them all."
That said, Hefner enjoys what he does for a living, finding joy in the tasks he has to carry out every day and also meeting the people that come into the rink for any number of activities and events.
"I would say the main jobs are kind of fun to do," he said. "I like sharpening skates, I like going on the Olympia and resurfacing the ice. Things like that, I don't want to say they're easy because they certainly weren't easy when I started, but now that I've been in the routine, they pass the time quickly. Having said that, they're still very important jobs to be done here in the rink. I also like serving drinks to the curling crew upstairs."
One of the key things that Brennan says much of the public might not understand is the process in which ice is created for the rink. No, it's not as simple as dumping thousands of gallons of water down and just cranking up the cold; it's a layer-by-layer process that takes time and precision to get the surface just right.
"I think a lot of people don't understand how ice is made, for example," he said. "A lot of people think that you just put the ice on like as if it can just be dumped on there with water and then it'll just freeze, right? But there would be a lot of air bubbles inside of it when you do that. If you picture ice cubes in the freezer, they're all white with little cracks here and there, so people might always wonder how we can get away with not having any of that in hockey or curling. It's because ice is stronger in layers. You put one layer on, let it freeze, another layer on, let it freeze, and that will avoid any ice bubbles. Ice takes a lot more work than I think people ever really knew about."
Hefner, 23 years old, moved to Outlook when he was much younger, and one of the biggest things about his job that opened his eyes was how the rink carries such a major focus for many people in and around the riverside community. It's a bonding place, a meeting place, a catch-up-and-joke-around place, and it's that kind of community pride that's left a mark on him over the years.
"Yeah, it has been because it's such a central part of the community," said Brennan, on if his job has been eye opening. "A lot of people bond over their kids playing hockey. Even the Mainline Ice Hawks, there is a town pride that goes beyond schools or anything like that. It's one of the big community bonding places we have in this town. I don't originally come from this town as I moved here when I was probably eight or nine, so I didn't really have an understanding of how the community works. I never realized just how much people bond over all the different events that go on in this rink."
In Hefner's view, what makes Outlook stand out as a community is the promise that lays ahead. With new development happening alongside Railway Avenue and new services coming to town, he believes that the town's most prosperous times may be in the coming years. That's something that he says not a lot of similar communities are enjoying today.
"I find Outlook to be a very promising town," he said. "It's a good size, and we've got all these small communities around it that may depend on a lot of our services. With a private school on top of a public school, that's kind of a benefit that not a lot of towns have, which is really nice. I was lucky to go to LCBI for free at that time. I think that with that irrigation project, I think there's a great future for this town. On top of how it's already going, I see that one section of the town behind the Co-op gas station starting to get a lot of business and starting to build over there. I think it's a flourishing town, and not a lot of towns can say that."
As a guy with a job that can be demanding of both his time and skill set, Brennan would like to ask rink users to be more understanding when things get busy at the Rec Plex. He'd love to help everyone to the best of his ability, but when ice has to be resurfaced and there's a lineup of people looking to have skates sharpened, or maybe the pop machine has to be refilled or one of the bathrooms could use a clean, people need to remember that there are only so many staff on-site to help with their needs.
"I would ask them to just be patient with some of the workers just because of how much one person can be asked to do in one day," said Hefner. "Like with sharpening skates, that's actually a big one because some people who are playing games on the ice will want to get their skates sharpened 10 or 15 minutes before the game, and yet that same employee also has to flood the ice, which takes about 10 or 15 minutes, so some people can sometimes get frustrated. I would recommend that people get here 30 minutes before or so, because we certainly want to help people get those skates sharpened before they get on the ice."
