Kimberly Sager to supervise Sedona’s athletics, aquatics

Kimberly Sager, 31, has taken over as the Sedona Parks and Recreation department’s Athletics and Aquatics Supervisor from Carmen Brashier.

“We [had] 22 different applicants for the position, ended up interviewing eight of those, and, throughout [Sager] stood out,” Parks and Recreation Manager Josh Frewin said. “She’s just so passionate about the community and works with the library and has a lot of connections around that and was already working with the pool and our sports programs, and you could just see the passion and excitement that she is going to continue to bring to the community.”

Sager started working for the department two summers ago teaching youth yoga classes and has worked at the Sedona Community Pool as a life­guard and cashier.

Additionally, she spent this spring working as a recreation aid with the youth basketball and other sports programs. Currently she has her lifeguard and aquatic facility operator certifications and is in the process of securing her lifeguard instructor certification.

Additionally in May 2026 she will be earning her master’s degree in public administration along with certificates in leadership and nonprofit budgeting from Rutgers University where she also received her bachelor’s with that major this year.

“I was born in New York City, and then I grew up kind of bouncing around between there and New Jersey for most of my life. In northwest New Jersey, around the Morris County area,” Sager said. “I grew up in a very big family. I’m a first-generation college graduate [and] one of eight kids, and most of my family is still out on the East Coast.”

Sager and her husband Evan relocated to Sedona in 2022 after spending the prior two years travel­ling National Park sites throughout the Southwest.

“We met through mutual friends who were also planning on traveling, and we just kind of hit it off,” Sager said. “I did the thing people tell you not to do — ‘Don’t get into a van with a stranger.’ … When you’re with someone in a small space for 24 hours a day, you find out real quick if you’re going to like them or not. That was five years ago, and here we are. We still actually have the van. … We met in 2020 and married at Posse Grounds in 2023.

We found a community here in Sedona … and something that is important to me: Being able to live in a place where I could foster just a familial connec­tion with community and engage with community,” she said.

Also, in the summer of 2023, Sager mentioned her academic work to Parks and Recreation Special Events Coordinator Jason Vargo and asked him to keep her in mind for any internship opportunities, as she would eventually need one for her capstone and she reached out again in December to learn their was an intern­ship coming up that she started in January.

“Any events, any programs I could help with, any aquatics, anything I could learn. I was jumping in headfirst, and I was really excited to let the community know about it,” Sager said. “It’s funny, because I remember being at Sunset Park with all these families [doing yoga programs] that I would talk to all the time, and I said, ‘I’m going to work for the Parks and Rec Department one day. It’s going to happen.’

“So it’s cool that that’s what’s come to fruition.”

Starting on Thursday, Oct. 2, Sager said she’s excited to start offering a new weekly Yoga Class geared toward all skill levels in the Rec Room at Posse Ground Park every Thursday year-round at 9:15 a.m.

While exercise mats are provided participants may elect to bring their own.

Yoga for Your Health is $5 a class and to register in advance for Parks and Recreation’s sports programs visit sedonarec­reation.activityreg.com.

“I just unboxed all of our yoga mats and straps and blocks, and I’m really excited to bridge the gap between something that I love doing and bringing it to the city, making it accessible,” Sager said. “That’s exciting. We’re also bringing back Pee Wee sports, because there are more and more little toddlers running around. Creating more programs that are accessible for the younger ones is a goal.”

Registration opens on Wednesday, Oct. 1 for PeeWee Multi-Sport Clinics for ages 2 to 4 which will take place Tuesdays in November from 10:15 to 11 a.m. — this class is also $5 a sessio