Dear GreatLIFE Members, Team Members & Support Team,
Well, with the vaccine being available, I was hoping January would be a little more normal than the past 10 months. I wish we could all pull together and find common ground to benefit everyone. At least our kids are in school and I think all of our schools have done a great job in adjusting to the new normal.
For GreatLIFE, we have been very busy upgrading our fitness center downtown with our partnership with the Sioux Falls YMCA. We were able to be operational by mid January at the Y with upgraded facilities, racquetball, saunas, steam rooms and state of the art locker rooms. We have also partnered with the Sioux Falls Boys & Girls Club in providing PLAYEverything clinics and personal training for after school programs. We are developing life and leadership trainings there as well. We were also able to continue our relationship with EmBe for our Members to utilize their pool.
We have begun the GreatLIFE Golf Academy out at Willow Run with the acquisition of the building located on the driving range. Our VP of Golf, Jason Sudenga and Director of Player Development Drew Trautman, are building it out for lessons, club fittings and clinics. One of our exceptional Trainers, Nate Christensen, has become a certified Titleist Performance Instructor, who can evaluate your body composition and movement related to your golf swing. He will develop training and exercises to get you ready for your golf game this season and is available at now for assessment and training. We are planning on have it fully operational by mid March out at our Willow Run Golf Course. In the meantime, our Golf Professionals are available for lessons with our four simulators at our Suburban Lanes Family Fun Center.
With Valentine’s Day around the corner, a GreatLIFE Massage gift certificate will certainly be something special for your spouse or significant other! Last year with the mild weather, we were able to start golfing in late February – hopefully we will be blessed again this year!
In 2020, our GreatLIFE Cares Foundation sponsored Tom Osborn’s TeamMates Mentoring program with the Sioux Falls School District. Since it is a school based program, we were unable to start mentoring relationships in 2020. Beginning mid January we began our first ever “virtual” mentoring program with 19 3rd graders from Laura Wilder Elementary School with several of our GreatLIFE Team Members, Support Team and even me mentoring! With this virtual mentoring, several of us “snowbirds” can mentor all year around. Also, last week Mayor Ten Haken sponsored a Sioux52 Mentoring Initiative symposium with several local leaders including Dr. Stavem from the Sioux Falls School District, other community leaders and me representing TeamMates. The goal is to have 5200 mentoring relationships by 2026. Along with a goal of 200 businesses signing up to encourage their people to become mentors.
We continue to provide PLAYEverything clinics focusing on different sports and showing their connectivity. We just held a Lacrosse clinic with over 30 kids participating.
I would like to congratulate Brent Eddy for becoming our new Head Grounds and Maintenance Superintendent at our Rocky Run Golf Course in Dell Rapids. Brent is originally from Dell Rapids and worked for a number of years at Rocky Run. Brent joins us from the Minnehaha Country Club. Please welcome Brent to our GreatLIFE Team!
Even as the vaccine is becoming more available, our number one focus at GreatLIFE is on your and our Team Members health and safety. We still utilize masks, practice social distancing, frequent hand washing and have sanitation stations throughout our facilities. We continue to expand our GreatLIFE Member Benefit Program to provide you with even more incentive to be a GreatLIFE Member. Thanks so much for being a GreatLIFE Member! Be safe and Happy Valentine’s Day!
Tom Sr.