YOU AND your family decide to get out and enjoy an excellent summer weekend camping, boating, and fishing at Winchester Parks and Recreation. Upon entering the building, the skilled aquatics director, Lisa Clark, welcomes you with warmth.
Having spent more than a decade educating people on aquatic safety, Lisa has managed to maintain her enthusiasm and vigor throughout the years. She seamlessly integrates the fun and thrill of water activities with life-saving skills and knowledge.
Lisa is a strong advocate for swimming as a life skill. As a resident who understands the risks of water accidents, she emphasizes the importance of water safety for everyone, especially as thousands of children lose their lives to water accidents each year. This is why she believes that swimming should be included in school curriculums.
Besides her passion for aquatic safety, Lisa prides herself on teaching children and adults about water safety while helping them explore their love for nature and outdoor activities.
Beginning as a desk clerk, Lisa worked her way up to become the aquatics manager, overseeing all aquatic recreational activities in the department.
Her favorite part of the job is interacting with children and witnessing their growth throughout the swim program.
“Just hanging out with the kids, watching them grow, you get somebody that doesn’t know how to swim, and you see the pride in themselves when they figure it out, and they can put bubbles in the water, and the simplest of things just makes a difference.”
Winchester Parks and Recreation offers much more than just water activities, with various sports equipment available for rent, such as tennis, soccer, basketball, and volleyball.
They also rent sea pavilions for events and have a staging area for outdoor performances. The park is famous for hosting various events that attract visitors from all over the county, such as the High on the Hog cook-off and steak-off, Fourth of July fireworks, and fishing competitions.
In 2021, Lisa and her department organized a kids triathlon camp for ages 5 to 12, which has had tremendous success. Despite being outside her comfort zone, Lisa was inspired by her faith and the desire to help children improve their physical abilities.
She said, “You see a lot of kids out there just learning how to throw the disc in Disc Golf and just learning how to start, but they’re going national with some players. So the whole City Park is exploding, and it all filters through this office.”
The program has been so successful that people from all over the Middle Tennessee area are inquiring about the camp. Winchester Parks and Recreation’s growth and success are evident through the enthusiasm of its visitors, especially the children who enjoy themselves while learning essential skills.
