Joel's Story

In the life of operations and maintenance, you have to be able to stay on your feet for long hours and be ready for physical labor at all times. But that doesn’t mean the physical work has to interfere with the physical play, and for Joel Norgaard he is able to get his fix of both at OU.

Norgaard is a regular for the employee wellness programs, his main thing lately being pickleball. What started only a couple of years ago has turned into part of his regular routine, playing it during his breaks over the summer whenever he gets the chance.

In the past, he didn’t need to worry about his balance or coordination. He is used to walking up roofs and walls all the time, but as he has gotten older, he has noticed a shift. Luckily for him, pickleball has helped him stay light on his feet.

“I truly have noticed that my agility and coordination has come back a bit, because you're running, you’re stopping, you’re hitting,” he says.

Norgaard doesn’t play alone, citing other facilities management members as reasons he is so involved. For him it’s a social thing, to be able to play a sport with your friends, but also to be known and recognized by people on campus so they know who is fixing things around OU and that he is available to reach out to.

The people he works with help him feel great at work, and the things they all do together contribute to the cause. Things like lunches, barbecues and retirement parties, Norgaard takes it all in and sees it as a family.

“It's kind of a family thing. Like once you get to know everybody, it would be heartbreaking to take another job,” he says. “And our shops are very tight. There’s 35 of us and we have cookouts and different things like that. So that would be hard.”

He tries to stay involved with everything that Rec Well has going on like the cornhole tournament and the Poker Walk, despite challenges with schedules. He even hopes to see more things added like bigger team sports such as volleyball to try and get more people involved.

With all these, Norgaard has his motivators, with his biggest being his new granddaughter a year ago that inspires him to stay healthy and eat well. So whether it be walking to his job site or playing pickleball with friends, there’s no doubt you will see him staying active.