EAST LONGMEADOW – The Recreation Department recently hired its first ever assistant recreation director, Tim Larocca, who has worked as a recreation assistant for the department since 2013.

The Town Council voted unanimously to hire Larocca at its July 12 meeting.

Larocca told Reminder Publications he’s excited to be in the position and to give back to the community that he grew up in.

“I grew up involved in a lot of the programs that we currently host now – baseball, basketball, soccer – I stuck with soccer through high school and college,” he noted.

He added his job as assistant recreation director entails scheduling youth sports and other activities, ordering equipment, and coordinating programs.

Director of Recreation Colin Drury said Larocca would play a role in managing and supervising staff as well as developing the department’s budget.

“Having someone that works for the office that really holistically understands the entire program that we do [is great],” he noted. “It’s just been me … sometimes I feel like a quarterback without a lineman. It’s nice to have a second person that’s there to take over if I’m in an important meeting down at the town hall. A lot of times I need to be at three places at once.”

Larocca said he believes the department has been somewhat limited to youth sports, but hopes it would expand to include more adult programs and other activities such as arts and nature programs.

“Recreation isn’t just sports,” he explained. “There’s a lot of different interests and I think the more that we can reach different the different interests of our residents the better off our department will be.”

Drury said he would like the department to include programs such as photography, hiking, and snowshoeing,

“It looks like we’re starting to create a good connection with our community outside of sports, which I think is exciting,” he noted. “I came from the adventure education world and I think finally I get to go back and dream now for the town.”

Last year, the department added drama and music to its list of youth summer programs and also introduced new sports programs last fall such as NFL flag football for first and second graders.

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