GREENFIELD — The Greenfield Parks and Recreation Department has hired its first assistant parks director — Skye Mackenzie, a native of Liverpool, England, with a former career working for professional soccer teams.
Mackenzie first came to the United States to coach soccer, he said, after playing at the college level and spending some time as a professional badminton player.
“That ended with basically working for various (Major League Soccer) franchises, and finally settling with the Chicago Fire,” Mackenzie said.
Mackenzie’s work with the Chicago Fire centered on leading the team’s youth development league and soccer camps, focusing on the recreational side of the sport.
“That led to working with Indy Parks in Indianapolis, and then when the opportunity came to work in Greenfield, it was a great opportunity,” Mackenzie said.
The Greenfield City Council approved the department’s request to add the position in its 2020 budget. Parks director Ellen Kuker said Mackenzie was chosen for the job after three rounds of interviews.
“As our community grows, we need to keep pace,” Kuker said. “We are offering so much more now than we did when I first came on staff in 2012. We have added parks, we have added amenities and we have added trails. So when looking at our current staffing, it became apparent that we needed to restructure.”
Mackenzie will be responsible for all aspects of parks programming, including overseeing the parks’ preschool program and summer Kid Kamp program. He will also be meeting with representatives from Hancock County schools to identify their needs and how the Parks Department might be able to help. His ultimate responsibility, he said, will be to support the director.
Mackenzie said his background as a coach has a lot in common with his role at Greenfield Parks.
“I ran 120 soccer camps in 12 teams, with 80 staff across seven states,” Mackenzie said. “So then you roll that into facility management, recreation, staff management, administration, organization, it all kind of exists under the same umbrella.”
His previous experience with the Indianapolis Department of Parks and Recreation, however, contrasts with his new role in Greenfield. Indianapolis operates 192 parks, ranging from small neighborhood parks to larger spaces totaling thousands of acres.
“For me, when you work in a big city, it’s very difficult to get things done. The wheels turn very, very slowly. It’s very difficult to do some very basic things, and that’s not because people aren’t passionate or there aren’t good people to work with, it’s just that there are financial constraints, there are staffing constraints,” Mackenzie said. “In Greenfield, there’s a lot more opportunity to make an impact on the community, and that’s huge.”
Kuker said Mackenzie is a good fit for the new position.
“Skye had a parks background, was heavily involved with soccer at a high level, and his passion for community was obvious during the interview process. He will be an asset to our department; his experience will help Greenfield Parks continue to grow as we have for the past almost 10 years,” Kuker said.