Let the good times roll

As a kid, Robby Yuskevich frequented the John A. Anderson Recreation Center in Rockville Centre. Now, he’s a marketing and management major at SUNY Albany. But the memories of the Rec Center bring him back, this time as a staff member.

“It’s just a lot of fun,” he said, overseeing a lunch table bustling with children. “You get to play with the kids. I went to camp here when I was a kid so it’s like going back to camp.”

Since its opening in 1960, the center has offered numerous activities to residents. Yet it’s not the programs that truly distinguish the center — it’s history.

Anthony Pena, 17, played in the center’s evening basketball events when he was younger, an experience that paid off on his first day at work in the Rec Center.

“I felt welcomed because it didn’t feel awkward that I didn’t know anybody,” said Pena. “I already knew who everyone was.”

Heather Knoch, the gymnastics coordinator, finds teaching gymnastics to her young students personally fulfilling. Yet, her first encounter with the sport was less than pleasant.

“I took gymnastics here as a child for a year and I hated it and I left,” said Knoch. “My sister had such a deep love for it. I was jealous. I wanted to be a part of something that made me feel special, made me feel like I was affecting something, changing something, impacting something … The kids fall in love with you the second you start working with them.”

In her 10 years of working at the building, Knoch has held Anthony Brunetta, better known as Mr. B by village residents, in high esteem.

“He is literally the grandfather of the Rec Center,” Knoch said. “He’s turned the building into a family.”

Brunetta has been the village’s Superintendent of Parks and Recreation for 35 years. He encourages a healthy lifestyle to the children who continue to motivate him.

“It’s never been so important as it is now with kids getting bored very, very easily,” he said, watching the children paint. “So you got to keep their minds and bodies working.”

Katelyn Bach, 9, practices gymnastics. She relishes the constant learning aspect of the sport and the center’s modern facilities.

“I like how you get to learn new moves and the gymnastics show where you can show all your parents all the moves you do,” Bach said. “When I was at the other center, it was a little bit harder because they had no bars. They didn’t really teach me as much as they’ve been teaching me here.”

She aspires to volunteer at the Rec Center when she reaches high school.

“I want to help sometimes when they stumble on something,” she said. “One time, my friend was trying to do a handstand. I helped her do it. I told her to squeeze her legs tighter.”

Victor Molinsky, one of the center’s elderly patrons, is a regular at the outdoor tennis courts, which have clay-based floors.

“It’s good for my knees,” he said. “I used to play on the hard court at the parks. It ruined my knees. We play five days a week here. It’s a nice game, a nice group of guys playing.”

With its summer activities underway, the Rec Center plans to renovate sections of its outdoor playground and continue to bring in — or bring back — the community.

“I think the biggest thing I hear is how widely accessible it is and what a safe haven it is for families,” said Julie Scully, spokesperson for the village. “The biggest compliment that could be paid to the village, and to the Rec Center specifically, is returning generations. Everybody is sending their children here, and they’re not just staying here, but they want to work here.”