Sally understands the importance of having a variety of recreational opportunities accessible to everyone. She supports:
- Continuing to create and expand our parks facilities.
- Prioritizing recreational facilities in the development area.
- Soccer fields and Basketball courts
- Playgrounds
- Splash Pads
- Skate Parks
- Community Gardens
- Increasing access to outdoor recreation, including preservation of dirt roads for runners, mountain biking options, and having a network of connected trails for walking, biking, and running.
When my 3 youngest kids were in 8th grade at what was then Jack Jouett Middle School, they participated in a really cool sports program. They got to play a sport for 6 weeks and have a couple of games or a meet, and then the season ended and they could try a different sport. It is an easy way to experience a sport without a huge investment in time, money, or effort. My kids were able to try tennis, volleyball, basketball, soccer, and cross-country, and that is the one that stuck. Because of my son’s experience running a 5k in 8th grade with this sports program, he is now a back-to-back state champion with the Albemarle High School Cross Country team, and is going to college for running. His two younger siblings have followed his lead, and all 3 of them are on the cross-country and track teams, which has made attending sporting events as a family very convenient!
Access to recreational opportunities shouldn’t depend on having private memberships.
This experience was all made possible because of the Albemarle County Parks and Recs. They are the department that runs the Middle School Sports program, partnering with our public middle schools to do so. I love that our community has so many people who work hard to provide access to recreational opportunities. There are so many community members who have donated countless hours to improving our parks, building disc golf courses, clearing trails and paths, and creating events like the Thanksgiving Turkey Trot for community members to participate in.
We need to continue this investment in our recreational experiences, and also increase them. Albemarle County has done a great job of creating parks throughout the rural areas for residents to access, but what about in our urban areas? We are creating a dense development area, without also providing the same access to recreational activities. We should invest in urban parks in the Rt. 29 growth area – and parks that are more than simply trails. Access to recreational opportunities shouldn’t depend on having private memberships, or even a car. The county shouldn’t be relying on the Y, ACAC, or SOCA for people to access sports facilities, especially people who live in the parts of the county that have the lowest incomes. The urban growth areas need basketball and volleyball courts, fields to play soccer in, tables for chess, pavilions for the shade, playgrounds, and maybe even a water feature. Investing in our recreational facilities is yet one more way we can invest in each other, build community at the same time, and maybe even change a teenager’s life.
