PRESS RELEASE
For further information contact:
TREVOR "The Games Man"
413-247-3322 11:00 a.m - 9:00 p.m
trevor@trevorthegamesman.com
POB 463, Haydenville MA 01039
Yurt School coordinator:
Beth Moonstone
413-253-3100
37 Thayer St, Amherst MA 01002
For Release 3/2/7
AWARD-WINNING LOCAL ENTERTAINER REACHES 5,000th PERFORMANCE
Amherst MA — TREVOR "The Games Man" has reached a huge milestone in his 35-year career. This local entertainer did his 5,000th performance on March 2, 2007, presenting his On-the-Go High Octane Special for the Yurt School homeschoolers group's weekly gym class in Amherst.
A trained and certified New Games Leader & Cooperiative Play Specialist and professional stiltwalker, TREVOR has been performing throughout the Northeast for 35 years. His first professional career work was in 1972 in S Duxbury MA at Camp Blairhaven, a small two month, over-night summer camp on Kingston Bay. As the camp's Recreation Director, TREVOR's job was to lead active field games for the children in each camp unit throughout the day.
Traditionally, that meant sports, however, his older sister in her first year at UMass-Amherst had experenced the pioneering work of the New Games Foundation, a play movement promoting "everybody wins" games fdor children and adults. During Spring Break, she had shared the details with him as well as The New Games Book. The 16-year-old TREVOR was impressed with the cooperative and inclusive nature of the New Games philosophy and eagerly absorbed the material and readily applied it to his job at Camp Blairhaven that summer. He noticed that the children as well as the other staff members enthusiastically took to these games. In fact, everybody was having so much fun that absolutely no mention whatsoever was made about not playing baseball, kickball, soccer, etc.
And so began a career that has now spanned 3-½ decades. While in college in Philadelphia, he attended a New Games training, and then another and then another and then another. In a four year period he went to nearly every training in the Northeast, culminating in a week-long New Games Training Camp in New Hampshire where he completed the final requirement and received official "New Games Leader" certification.
When he moved back to Massachusetts in 1982, his new skills quickly landed him a position with the Town of Amherst's Leisure Services Dept., where he worked for the rest of the decade in the after school recreation program in all four Amherst elementary schools as well as running the town's aquatics program. In fact, it was at Crocker Farms Elementary School in Amherst that he was first called "The Games Man" be the children there, a name that he still proudly carries today.
TREVOR has been voted "The Best Children's Entertainer" in the Valley Advocate's annual Best of the Valley readers poll, "And," he says, "I'm pretty good with teens and adults, too!" To date he has entertained over 1,000,000 people throughout the Northeast including preschoolers, children, teens, college students, adults, and senior citizens. Locally, he's done 371 performances in Northampton, 259 in Amherst (plus 1500+ for the Amherst Leisure Services after school rec programs), 175 in Springfield, 164 in Hadley, 129 in Hatfield, 123 in Longmeadow, 110 in Holyoke, 88 in Greenfield, 72 in South Hadley, 67 in Westfield, 56 in Williamsburg, 56 in Deerfield, 50 in Chicopee, 46 in Agawam, 46 in Belchertown, 36 in Easthampton, 33 in East Longmeadow, and 33 in Pittsfield. In fact, he's performed in every Hampshire County town except Middlefield, every Hampden County town except Granville, and in all but three far northwestern Franklin County towns (Rowe, Heath, and Hawley), plus 53% of the towns in Berkshire County, 83% of Worcester County towns, 40% of metro Boston towns, and 90% of towns in Hartford County CT. He's also performed in Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Maine, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and California, as well as Ontario and Alberta Canada.
If you live in the Pioneer Valley, chances are your children have seen him: he'd done 443 school shows and 162 day care shows in Western Mass, as well as 878 birthday parties to date. He's also performed at 136 teen events, more than half of them right here in the Valley. Your whole family may have seen him stiltwalking the Northampton's 350th anniversary parage, Greenfield's 250th anniversary parade, or at any number of area fairs, festivals, and special events.
Plus, he's entertained adults audiences at 358 events including most recently: Berkshire Medical Center, Cummington Lions Club, Hampden Bank, Springfield College, Tower Square, Wilbraham Country Club, Womancraft Midwifery, River Valley Market, Green Field's Market, Smith College, and the Western Mass. Advertising Club's Creative Merit Awards banquet at the Hippodrome in Springfield.
"It's amazing that my local area has supported my work so much," sad the 50-year-old entertainer. "The other members of my performers guild regularly travel to Long Island, New Jersey and even further afield, but I've been able to stay close to home. I rarely drive further than two hours to a performance, in fact, my average travel time is only 45 minutes. I love the Valley, and I'm just thrilled that the Valley loves me!"
TREVOR went on to say, "Cooperative games as entertainment is unique in this industry, and encouragieng cooperation in all areas is my life's work. Study after study has shown than when people cooperate instead of compete — on the playground as well as in the workplace — that things get noticeably more peaceful. On the playground, children learn and practice getting along with others instead of getting ahead at the expense of others. And when adults cooperate at work, both productivity and profits noticeably rise. Mostly, though, cooperation is just plain a whole lot more fun! YAY!"
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