Adams brings his passion to Sampson’s Y

A new, yet veteran, face is coming to Clinton as the new executive director of the Sampson County YMCA branch, with John Adams selected to fill the role.

The Y’s announcement of Adams’ appointment to the role was revealed in a recent press release, concluding the search for an executive director that had been ongoing since late February. It was a position that Adams was more than eager to accept.

“Two years ago, I actually applied for this position and didn’t get the job, but there was something about this area that called to me, so to speak,” he said. “I am a faith-filled man and I truly felt that energy when I came up here. About two and a half years ago, I helped set up the weight room and there was a gentleman that worked for me, Tanner, I sent him up here.

“He would report back to me about him buying a house and how he was so excited, because there was so much potential in this community, and it was. It was so very fresh and green, plus it gives me an opportunity to bring in my culture and just energy to the area to keep that momentum going.”

Prior to his naming, Adams spent the past three years serving as the healthy living engagement director for the association’s Nir Family YMCA branch in Wilmington, overseeing the budget and staff for the Healthy Living Department.

“As healthy living engagement director, my goal was to listen to our members and tailor our classes and programs to best meet the community’s needs,” Adams said in the Y’s release. “This role encompassed healthy living, social responsibility, and youth development, our three areas of focus at the Y, and it gave me a solid foundation of fiscal management and interpersonal skills.”

Now as the new executive director of Sampson’s YMCA, Adams is more than ready for the opportunity to bring in those skills and his passion to help build up the county. He aims to further building relationships with organizations and leaders in the community and bolstering healthy living.

“Those that live here, especially when you think about your workers, laborers and the people who are doing our day to day jobs, they know how important healthy living is,” he said. “They’ve got to stay healthy, they’ve got to be strong, they’ve got to have a good heart and they’ve got to be able to show up.

“And in turn, a lot of these businesses — which was another fantastic opportunity for coming here — these people, they can appreciate the fact that their employees are staying healthy and happy. It can lower their their risk of injuries, which can lead to lowering insurance. So again, I see that potential and I felt that energy, plus there’s that small-town family feel here, which is kind of what my roots are. I’m a grassroots guy and I believe in growing small-town communities.”

In their release, the Y detailed Adams background in health and fitness which started and remained a part of his life since his youth. A native of Akron, Ohio, he played for the Ohio North Youth Soccer Association and served as goalie in the NCAA Division 1 program at the University of Cincinnati, where he held the record for the second lowest goals against average.

After graduating from the University of Cincinnati with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, Adams held several soccer coaching and training positions, with stints at Houston Baptist University, Rice University, and the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Adams also used his marketing skills and passion for fitness to benefit many youth programs.

At Rice University, he was the camp assistant director of the Owlet Camps, a soccer program for 3-7-year-olds, and was responsible for a 40% increase in attendance of the program. He also led the Wilmington Hammerheads Youth FC as the director of coaching, developing marketing strategies that increased player involvement by 15%.

He’d join the YMCA of Southeastern North Carolina staff team as the director of soccer in August 2019. As director, he created new programs for the athletics department and coordinated coaching education for all levels of coaches. He also developed the curriculum for player development and co-managed the budget for the soccer program. Two years later, Adams was promoted to healthy living engagement director and became responsible for hiring and managing group exercise instructors and personal trainers.

Adams has been a part of the Y ever since and hasn’t looked back. As his passion for healthy living engagement grows, so to does his excitement to expand those features in Sampson. A place, he says, is a seed of potential just waiting to be nurtured, like the many fields across the county.

“As I’m driving up Highway 421, a commute I’ve made my third week, I was watching the crops, the cornfields in particular,” Adams said. “I’ve had my son with me and I said to him ‘we’re gonna watch this field and I want you to watch how the corn stalks grow.’ He says to me, ‘Dad, what are you talking about? That’s so cheesy.’

“I didn’t travel 421 this weekend but I’ll be darned, when I came up on Monday that corn had grown and I showed that to him. I said, ‘John, that corn comes up to your kneecaps now.’ It’s just in the simplicity of that analogy of seeing growth here that makes me excited to come. This place 100% has been a seed that is constantly growing. I think that’s been a part of this community for a long time, but the YMCA mission and brand has not. I feel like I can embody that and bring that mission up here without disrupting that sort of organic family feel that is Sampson County.”

Adams said the people of Clinton and Sampson County have welcomed him with open arms.

“The acceptance of the Clinton folks, the locals, the transplants, has been amazing, they’ve all welcomed me,” he said. “I think they’ve kind of really gotten behind some of these early initiatives and these early program ideas that I’m coming in here with. I think they’ve embraced it and that right there — a strong operations, a strong team, a strong community and a grassroots feel — are what brought me here.”

Learn more about the Sampson County YMCA at www.ymcasenc.org/sampson.