Rec Sports club embraces new mockumentary show

To the new show on NBC, "Parks and Recreation," committees, meetings and management may be another punch line, but to the ISU Recreation Management and Youth Leadership Club,

these are serious aspects of their profession. Thursday evening the club hosted a party to welcome, with some hesitation, the premier of "Parks and Recreation," by the same producer of

"The Office" and featuring Saturday Night Live's Amy Poehler. "It could hurt us or it could help us," said Adam Tempel, junior recreation and sport management major. "It depends on how people see it."

Tempel said the show could bring to life a profession that is often overlooked or underestimated. It could also do the opposite, and make a farce out of a serious profession, he said.

Nathan Schaumleffel, assistant professor of recreation and sport management and coordinator of the recreation management and youth leadership concentration, said the show provided a new opportunity for the profession.

"I really think we need to embrace it," Schaumleffel said.

The mockumentary dives into the world of local government, using humor to address the comical, sometimes unnecessary, obstacles that exist. The show follows ambitious Deputy Director of Parks and Recreation Leslie Knope (played by Poehler), a bureaucrat in the Parks and Recreation Department of the fictitious town of Pawnee, Ind., as she tries to better her community one committee at a time.

"The show is very funny," said Rodney Dedeaux, a junior recreation and sport management major. "I don't know if it is offending us in the major, but we can definitely learn from this."

Since the show hits so close to home, literally, with ISU students, it reflects not just the major, but also the Midwest.

"I enjoyed the show," said James Williams, a junior recreation and sport management major. "I think it has the potential to be a positive thing for the Parks and Recreation Department-especially in the state of Indiana. It brings a new light and excitement to the whole park and recreation community, and the attention from the show is well needed."

The only worry is that the show will make light of a profession that students in the recreation and sport management major are passionate about.

"I love the overall idea," Tempel said. "I love recreation. I love getting out and doing things, and I love to work with kids. This is a great way…to enhance the lives of children."

Tempel's interest in recreation and sport management orginated from his interest in teaching.

"I decided I didn't want to be stuck indoors all day," Tempel said.

Instead, recreation and sport management allows Tempel to actively help and educate kids while still doing what he loves to do, he said.

Williams also has passion for recreation and sport management, something he hopes is not undermined in "Parks and Recreation."

"I chose to get into youth work and youth leadership work because I just love to help kids, be around kids and see them grow and mature," Williams said. "Parks and recreation is an important part of a community and a kid's life."

Schaumleffel said that with a sense of humor, the show can help to promote the department.

"I think it is treating us very kindly, and the humor is tasteful," Schaumleffel said. "It is highlighting a lot of the things we do. They make jokes about committees…but park and recreation is often the first place we deal with a lot of social problems."

NBC does give a link on its Web site for the City Kids Foundation, a nonprofit organization that helps people 13 to 19 through music, dance and dramatic material to "use their voices for positive change."

"As a student in this major we have to stand up for what we believe in," Dedeaux said.