Recreation rehab

rehab Recreation

Project will breathe new life and cool air into the Ayden Recreation Center

By Deborah Griffin

Apair of grants is funding longneeded renovations at the Ayden Recreation Center including a climate control system that will bring comfort for summertime activities at the old gym.

Built in 1929, the Ayden High School building at 435 Lee St. has been used as a recreation center for years with few upgrades. Many in town felt fortunate to have the facility, even without airconditioning in the gym.

“A lot of places don’t have a gym. If we didn’t have this, we wouldn’t be able to have basketball, volleyball and summer camps,” Recreation Director Tommy Duncan said. “It’s nice — it allows kids a place to have organized sports and keep them of the streets.”

He said it will be even nicer with the upgrades.

“Te restrooms and the concession stand at the front of the building are being redone,” he said.

“Te restrooms have been there since the early 1950s. All the pipes had to be replaced. When workers busted through a cinderblock wall, they found a water leak we otherwise would have never found,” he said.

Town Manager Matt Livingston said town ofcials were pleasantly surprised when bids came in lower than expected, allowing the town to use some of the $600,000 Community Development Block Grant neighborhood revitalization funds for additional work, such as fxing the gymnasium foor and sub fooring.

“Te gym is truly being totally updated,” Livingston said, adding the town uses it to host its youth sports programs and other activities including use by outside recreation leagues.

“It’s not just used for basketball. It is used for cheerleading practice and multitude of other things,” Livingston said.

One coach is especially happy about the HVAC system.

Urban Turnage, a facilities manger at Community Christian Church in Greenville,

SUMMER/FALL 2021 AYDEN MAGAZINE

Workers from the Berry Building Group get ready to cut into the roof to install HVAC. Also being rehabbed are the gymnasium, the bathrooms and consession stand area.

has coached youth basketball and football in Ayden for 14 years. He said AC will be a great thing.

“Tis season, a load will be lifed of coaches, ofcials, parents, grandparents and the kids. In the past, the gym has been like playing in a sauna. Heat builds up frustrations,” he said. “In that environment, fatigue sets in, and some kids struggle with asthma.”

Turnage said the sufocating heat can exacerbate tensions.

“Everything is just sitting on top of you and the stress really builds up. Coaches many times had to tell players too literally, ‘go outside and get some air,” he added.

He has witnessed grandparents leaving during games.

“Te elderly can’t take the heat,” he said.

“At the same time — you have a hot gym, full of boys running around — there is an odor you can’t miss. Even the ofcials get frustrated,” he added.

“It is great to know it is coming. Piping in fresh, clean air is going to make a big diference,” he said. “It’s really all about the kids — you want them to have very the best.”

Turnage feels that the gym is vital for children in Ayden.

He began coaching when his son Drew, now 25, was young. Turnage continues to coach.

“I see so many kids that don’t have … I remember from my childhood, the gym was the one place I could fnd men I respected. Tey would point me in the right direction and pour positivity into me. Tat’s what I want to do,” he added.

Te town also acquired grand funding for a nearly $400,000 project to renovate the frst foor of the center’s classroom building, which is currently used for community art programs and ftness classes.

“This building was built almost 100 years ago. They used plaster on the walls, which over the years has become damaged. No one I know knows how to repair plaster,” Duncan said. Hanging sheetrock was the solution.

In the past, the rec center has ofered art classes such as stained glass, holiday wreath making, pottery, scrapbooking and motherdaughter painting sessions. Fitness classes included yoga and adult exercise.

All classes were canceled last year due to COVID-19. Te renovations also will help the town combat the virus in the future as a testing, immunization and wellness center.

“Everything has been so dead. We are just now gearing up — trying to fnd some diferent programming,” Duncan said.

He hopes additional funds will come through government-funded relief programs, which would allow even more upgrades to the building.

“We are excited,” he added. “We will just be glad when things begin to truly open back up.”

Areas of replaced flooring are part of the rehab taking place at the Ayden Recreation Center’s gym.

SUMMER/FALL 2021 AYDEN MAGAZINE