There have been mornings when I've arrived at a park before a youth soccer tournament and found conditions that were nowhere near what we wanted families to walk into. Before the first teams arrived, our job was to mitigate those conditions, clean and prepare the site, address hazards, and make sure the park was safe, functional, and welcoming. 

Then, a few hours later, I could stand back and watch the park completely transform. 

The fields were full of kids playing soccer. Families lined the sidelines. Coaches organized teams, kids competed and laughed, and the park did exactly what a public recreation space is supposed to do. Most people there would never know what the site looked like that morning or what went into getting it ready for them. 

I think there is something powerful about that. 

Much of parks and recreation work is intentionally invisible. If we do it well, a child does not have to think about whether the field is ready, whether the park is clean, or whether someone has taken care of the environment around them. They simply get to arrive, join their teammates, and play. 

Belonging does not happen by accident. We create the conditions for it. 

For me, getting more girls in the game starts long before anyone picks up a ball or steps onto a field. It begins by creating parks and recreation spaces where people feel safe, welcome, respected, and free to participate as themselves. 

My career has given me the privilege of helping care for places like the International Rose Test Garden, Waterfront Park, and many other public spaces throughout Portland, Oregon. These parks welcome people of every age, background, culture, ability, and life experience. Working in places that truly belong to the public has reinforced something I believe deeply: parks are far more than landscapes. They are places where people gather, heal, celebrate, play, reflect, connect, and build community. That kind of community does not happen by accident. It has to be cultivated. 

That belief has shaped how I approach stewardship and leadership. Whether developing standard operating procedures, coordinating volunteers, supporting coworkers, or caring for highly-visited public spaces, my goal has always been to create the conditions for other people to succeed. Clear systems are not just bureaucracy. At their best, they give employees and volunteers the same tools, the same expectations, and the same opportunity to contribute with confidence. Encouragement is one of the most powerful leadership tools we have. Sometimes the most important thing we can do is recognize someone's potential before they recognize it in themselves. Encouraging a coworker to pursue the ORPA Leadership Academy reminded me that leadership is not about creating followers. It is about helping other people discover their own capacity to lead. 

I've seen the same principle from several sides of parks and recreation. I've coached youth basketball and experienced firsthand how much an encouraging adult can affect a young athlete's confidence and willingness to participate. In park operations, I've also had opportunities to welcome and train women entering maintenance roles, helping new employees become comfortable, capable, and confident in an environment that may initially feel unfamiliar. 

Those experiences look different, but I think the underlying responsibility is the same: create an environment that tells people, through our actions, that we expected them, prepared for them, and want them there. 

That is especially meaningful to me in the context of getting more girls into sports. Inclusion is certainly about programming and opportunity, but it is also built through hundreds of less-visible decisions: the coach who encourages a young athlete, the employee who prepares a field, the staff member who makes a facility feel safe and welcoming, and the organization that removes barriers before a participant ever encounters them. 

When a girl arrives at a park for a game, I want everything about that experience to communicate something very simple: We expected you. We prepared this place for you. You belong here. Go play. 

That, to me, is part of the power of youth sports and part of the responsibility we carry as parks and recreation professionals. 

Stewardship is about more than caring for landscapes. It is about caring for people. If we build parks and recreation cultures rooted in empathy, encouragement, accessibility, respect, and opportunity, we will not simply get more girls in the game. We will cultivate stronger communities where every person has the opportunity to play, grow, lead, connect with others, discover what they are capable of, and be themselves to the fullest. That is the work I want to keep doing through parks and recreation: not only maintaining public spaces, but helping create communities where every person knows there is a place for them. 

Click here for NRPA's Get Her in the Game resources to expand access to youth sports in your community or to share your story highlighting the powerful role youth sports programs play in strengthening lives and communities.

Robert “Bob” Floyd  is President-Elect of ORPA Maintenance and Construction Section and a Public Administration Student at Portland State University.