THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, November 11, 1994 TAG: 9411100192
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY KRYS STEFANSKY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 200 lines
ALICE ROBBINS GOES out of her way to have fun.
Sixteen miles out of her way.
Robbins leaves home in Kempsville and drives her 2-year-old past two nearby city recreation centers to visit one she likes.
``I have friends in this area who come to the pre-school programs here,'' Robbins said, standing in the parking lot outside the Princess Anne Recreation Center with her daughter, Sara. ``And I wanted to go to the new center.''
On a recent sunny, breezy, fall day, red-headed Sara was waiting with dozens of other wide-eyed pre-schoolers to go on a hayride.
Mom and daughter regularly bypass recreation centers in Kempsville and Bow Creek to come here for trips, swim classes, parent-child play groups or, in this case, a visit to a pumpkin farm.
Robbins is not alone in searching out a favorite city recreation center. After they open, facilities just seem to develop their own personalities.
If surrounding neighborhoods have tons of toddlers, so will the centers, like Bayside or Princess Anne.
``We're accommodating parents and pre-schoolers much more so at this site than at any other,'' said Bob Leedom, the Princess Anne center coordinator. He's had to open additional recreation rooms for pre-schoolers, some that architects had penciled in for adults.
If neighborhoods are older, often a facility's patrons are, too. Seniors make up much of the population at Bow Creek, Kempsville and Bayside recreation centers and Seatack Community Center.
Some, like Bow Creek and Kempsville, get a lot of youngsters who drop in after school, while parents are still at work. At Great Neck, families come together and split up for activities inside.
Susan D. Walston, director of the Department of Parks and Recreation, described recreation center use as ``cyclical.'' As communities age and their makeup changes, recreation staff evaluates programs and their popularity with current clientele.
Pre-opening surveys hint at trends to come in new centers. But sometimes there's little warning about what will happen once the doors open.
Bow Creek, for example, let its preschool program die out for lack of interest several years ago. They started it back up in September with two participants. It's since grown to seven children.
It's a different story at Princess Anne.
``We had no idea we'd be inundated with pre-schoolers there,'' said Walston. And attendance keeps climbing. One week in October, figures showed 96 children in Munchkins and More, a weekly play group for pre-schoolers and their parents. The next week, attendance rose to 111.
The center is trying to attract even more. Mike Parkman, overseer of its preschool program, is surveying parents soon to ask what else they'd like for their youngsters.
Sure, Princess Anne gets its share of older patrons - teenagers and adults looking for a swim, a game or a workout. But the newness of surrounding neighborhoods is reflected in the center's clientele.
``The only population we haven't seen here in droves is our seniors,'' said Leedom, the coordinator.
The seniors, however, are busy at Bayside, Kempsville, Bow Creek or the Seatack Community Center. All four are near well-established neighborhoods with high populations of retirees.
Seatack sees a lot of use by teenagers and gets daily visits from seniors. Some seniors say they live alone, don't drive and riding the bus to the center keeps them in touch with friends. It's the only center that has senior activities planned every weekday. Some come for ceramics lessons or crafts, others socialize, play cards or compare knitting projects.
Nellie Waterfield, 66, lives in the Seatack area and has been a regular for about a month.
``I live alone and don't have a car so coming here means a lot to me,'' she said, talking above gospel music playing on a portable radio in the background. ``You look forward to laying out your clothes and coming here the next morning.''
Waterfield likes another aspect of the program - lunches provided by SEVAMP, a senior services agency. Diners pay what they can afford.
``The meals are delicious and it's wonderful to get a meal in the middle of the day that you don't have to fix,'' Waterfield said.
Ann Biggs, 73, agreed the lunches are tasty. She likes the special senior programs, like field trips to beauty schools, where she has gotten her hair done.
``They did a good job, put conditioner on it and everything,'' she told her table neighbor, Minnie S. Hughes, a 72-year-old Kempsville resident. She used to live in the neighborhood and drives herself to the Seatack center now to see old friends.
Sometimes an activity or club meeting that starts at one recreation center keeps members coming even though the location may not be convenient. That happened with the Senior Swingers club - square dancers who've met for years at Kempsville.
``Some of them come all the way from Norfolk and they have to buy non-resident memberships for $100,'' said Burgess Allison, 66. ``But some of them think it's worth it.''
``Our senior population has probably grown more over the years than anything else,'' said Alice Striffler, center coordinator. The Kempsville recreation center opened in 1977. Every time a new center opened nearby, there was some attrition.
``Over the years Kempsville's activity cards have dropped some,'' Striffler said. ``Some of our lap swimmers have gone and the weight room as well. Other centers are newer and have more up-to-date equipment so some of our users who live between the two will choose the newer location.''
Striffler said the center's spot near two big neighborhoods, Bellamy Manor and Larkspur Downs, is why many teens and pre-teens use it.
Others come to get away from their kids. Lucille Foard fanned herself and watched as partners twirled through a polka.
``They've got six children,'' she said, nodding toward one couple. ``I think they come here to get wild.''
The ``wild'' couple, Colleen and Robert Dickerson, are Norfolk residents who pay the non-resident fee.
``It's worth it,'' said Colleen Dickerson, laughing.
Square dancers are regulars. But youngsters are a more fickle group.
``You don't know when the kids are coming in here. It just depends on what mood they're in,'' said Ruth Barrett, overseer of senior, adult and youth programs at Bow Creek. Kids come for video game tournaments, pre-teen dances, crafts and a coveted youth volunteer program.
School has something to do with attendance at both the pool and pool table.
``You can always tell when report cards come in,'' Barrett said. ``It's real quiet here for two or three days while the parents come down on them for their grades.''
Then, there's the honor roll party. Children who've made honor roll at their school are invited for a pizza party, games and prizes.
``It's a motivator,'' said Barrett with a knowing smile. ``You should see the other kids trying to look in the locked door to see what's going on in there.''
In summer, Bow Creek's game room will fill to capacity. Lines twist down the hall as kids wait their turns to get in.
Knowing that many households in the surrounding communities have two working parents, the staff selects easy recipes for Kids are Kookin' classes.
``We try to focus on the latchkey children and try to prepare a dish they could do themselves at home,'' Barrett said.
Kids and seniors find plenty to do at Bow Creek. But amenities present at other centers keeps certain groups away. There is no weight room.
``We only have a one-court gym. We have no bowling lanes or racquetball courts, so we don't attract the adult population that uses the other centers primarily as a fitness site,'' said Mary Cole, center coordinator.
That same group is easy to find at Bayside. Older teens through adults in their mid-40s are big users of the facility's weight rooms said Jack D. Dowdy, Bayside coordinator. The same is true at Great Neck Recreation Center. It has a well-used weight room and a bowling alley popular with families.
In fact, whole families are Great Neck regulars, says the staff. Before the building opened four years ago, recreation department meetings with civic leagues predicted that trend.
``Often you'll see three generations coming here together,'' said Elaine Hill, Great Neck center supervisor. Seniors head for the pool, working parents for the weight room or aerobics classes and children for ballet or other classes such as crafts. This time of year most come between 4 and 6 p.m.
Ann Rossi, a Hilltop area resident, said she sometimes works out when she picks up her daughter, Jessica, from the center's after school program. The whole Rossi family might come to swim or play in the game room.
``But the bowling alley is so busy on the weekends that it's hard to get in,'' Ann Rossi said.
It could get harder. Because of its location close to Shore Drive and tourists who visit there, Parks and Recreation began a program late in the summer called ``Your Key to Fun,'' offering a daily pass at two for the price of one for hotel/motel guests. Visitors could visit any city recreation center, but Great Neck was featured in 10,000 promotional fliers. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by MORT FRYMAN
Color on the Cover
In step with fun
Carl Swindle ends a dance with Marian Geitz. The Senior Swingers
club, some of whom come from Norfolk, have been square dancing at
Kempsville Recreation Center for years.
Alice Robbins and her 2-year-old, Sara, regularly bypass two
neighborhood centers to visit Princess Anne Rec, which she says
caters more to young children.
Jessica Rossi, left, and her mother, Ann, engage in a fast game of
foosball at the Great Neck Recreation Center.
Nicholas Moore, 6, lines up the cue ball as he goes for the win in a
game of billiards at Bow Creek Recreation Center.
At the Seatack Community Center, Romona Pritchard, right, helps
Nellie Waterfield with a section of what will become a purse.
RIGHT: Courtney Birr, 12, enjoys a late afternoon swim at the Bow
Creek center. At report card time, attendance falls off at both the
pool and pool tables.
ON THE COVER: Brittany Wanstreet and the rest of her preschool mates
enjoy a dance class at Princess Anne Rec center.
Staff color photo
RECREATION CENTERS
Bayside: 4420 First Court Road
Bow Creek: 3427 Clubhouse Road
Great Neck: 2521 Shorehaven Drive
Kempsville: 800 Monmouth Lane
Princess Anne: 1400 Ferrell Parkway
Seatack: 141 S. Birdneck Road
by CNB