The Americus-Sumter County Parks and Recreation Authority is more than halfway through the registration period for youth baseball and to this point, the response has been good.

The youth baseball program is for children ages 5-14 and registration ends this Friday. The cost to sign up is $55 if the player lives and/or attends school full time in Sumter County. Those who attend school and reside outside of Sumter County can register for double that fee.

There are some major changes happening at the department in 2008. In the programs division, the 12 & Under baseball program has joined the ranks of Little League, Inc. After evaluating the options, the ASCPRA board voted to affiliate with the national organization.

Currently, the staff at the ASCPRA is going through the process of setting up its volunteer board and getting the paperwork in order to become a full-fledged member of that organization.

In the area of staff, a reorganization of the department has taken place. In November, I was appointed as Executive Director after being the athletics director. I asked and received approval from the board to re-organize the staff, creating manager positions over each division.

Darius Harris was promoted to the position of Athletics Manager. Miller Rush and Patricia Crawley retained their managerial positions over the maintenance and office personnel respectively.

Most recently, Mr. Jeff Fussell has been hired as the Recreation Manager and will be responsible for the aquatic facilities and programs as well as supervisory duties coordinating the baseball and soccer programs. The new setup creates more accountability to the public and should provide each area of the departments with more oversight.

 The governance of the agency will also change in 2008. For as many years as anyone can remember, the department has been a jointly-funded agency, with funding coming from both the City of Americus and the Sumter County Board of Commissioners. The oversight of the employees has been handled by an appointed board.

This July, the department will become a full department of the Sumter County government. The tax base will be divided equally among all citizens in Sumter County and should create stable and ample funding of the department.

There are also many facility changes that are happening and even more that are being planned for the future. In 2007, a consulting firm was hired to do a comprehensive master study of the existing programs and facilities and to gauge the community interest in recreation. As a result, many of the suggested items are being put into place.

The major project is a new community center that will open in the fall of 2009. The location is the former Gertrude Davenport building on the corner of U.S. 19 North and Rucker Street. The facility will feature a fully-stocked gymnastics center, two basketball gyms, a professional office complex, locker rooms, meeting rooms, restrooms and a splash pad. Directly behind the building, a major renovation of Boone Walton Park will have an even larger playground area, an extended walking track that will be lighted and feature a rubberized surface.

Another suggestion in the master plan was to create a nature trail in the county. Thanks to the efforts of some Eagle Scout candidates, that project is underway as well at the regional park on U.S. 19 South. The trail will follow the perimeter of the 200-plus acre park and will be more than two miles in length.

The clearing of the nature trail is complete with leveling and seeding planned for this spring. Future Eagle Scouts may choose to add lighting, park benches, exercise stations, bridges, and other things. It’s a project that should be “walkable” by April but one that can be a model for trails in south Georgia in the coming years. There has even been talk of local area schools using the trail as a cross country course in the near future.

The face of recreation is changing in Sumter County. We’ve always had a strong youth sports program, and we want to continue that tradition, however we need to offer something to every segment of our community and we’re beginning that process now.

The word of a gymnastics center has already started spreading and the department is receiving calls weekly inquiring about it. There is currently very little offered for young females by the agency and the gymnastics center would most likely be heavily used by young girls.