Pictured: These are the regular coaches for Edgerton Summer Rec. Picture are (l to r) Addison Fleischmann, Joshua Van Dam, Max Zwart, Jacob Van Dam, Skip Hunter, and Miriam Okenga. Not pictured is Paris Van Dyke.  Other coaches include parents who help with the traveling baseball and softball teams. Gay Lynn Drooger also teaches Fun and Fit. 

Summer recreation in Edgerton has been underway for the past few weeks. This year the community welcomed a new director, Max Zwart. Gay Lynn Drooger, who was the director for 18 years retired at the end of last year’s summer rec season. 

Max is now the Director of Community Education for Edgerton Public School and the summer recreation program falls under that. Max is also a special education teacher at EPS and a baseball coach.  He graduated from EPS in 2006 and went on to Southwest Minnesota State University (SMSU) in Marshall where he earned a degree in Sports Management. 

“I had originally gone to college with the hopes of getting a position like this, but after graduating, I had some trouble finding a job and ended up working at the school and really enjoyed teaching,” Max said. He would return to college – this time Bemidji State University to earn his teaching certification. He has been teaching at the school for ten years.

Gay Lynn Drooger approached him about the Community Education position. He had been helping with summer recreation already. He helped coach pee wee and minor league baseball a couple of years ago and loved that work. “It seemed like a perfect opportunity since she had done such a great job growing our summer programs. I’ve worked construction with my dad and grandpa for the last 17 years, so it was really hard to walk away from that, but I didn’t feel like I could pass it up since Mrs. Drooger and Mr. Ondrush were the only 2 people to hold the position in the last 40+ years,” Max said. 

Steve Ondrush was the Summer Rec director when Max was a child. He ran the program for 29 years, beginning in 1975. 

“It’s impossible to think of him without hearing his big booming voice,” Max said. “He was always enthusiastic and made playing fun! We had Midgets baseball back then, which is our minor league baseball now, and he would always ask at the end of the day who hit well, maybe had a home run or a double, so he could write up a little article for the paper. You could tell he loved baseball and being around the kids.” 

Baseball and softball are a big part of the summer recreation program. From tee ball, to machine pitch baseball, to pee week, to minor league baseball for boys and softball for girls – children in the community can learn the fundamentals from the time they are 5 years old, up into their teen years. Other newer summer activities include 3-on-3 basketball, Fun and Fit activities, and a Triathlon.