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Offerings likely will rise with new centers
Youth basketball might be first up
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Forsyth County News

Other business

Also at its meeting Tuesday night, the Forsyth County Parks and Recreation board:

• Considered how best to incorporate department policies in a forthcoming consolidated general guide for facilities and athletics.

• Began generating ideas for naming the four south Forsyth green space parks expected to open in late June.

• Discussed the North Forsyth Rotary Club’s recycling project, which will begin with the addition of donated recycling receptacles at Coal Mountain Park.

— Alyssa LaRenzie

The addition of two recreation centers next year will give Forsyth County the ability to offer a youth basketball league.

The county’s recreation centers will increase from one to three in February with the opening of the Fowler Park and Old Atlanta Park facilities in south Forsyth.

With two gymnasiums in each center, the county will have enough space to offer a competitive league for children.

The "final tweaks" of the program are in the works, with the hopes of starting a season with the centers’ opening, said Wayne Maddox, the county’s athletic division manager.

Staff has been working on putting together the fees, practice schedule and competition rules, he said.

The county currently offers basketball league play for adults only at its Central Park Recreation Center north of Cumming.

"Back before [Central] was here, we used to only offer adult basketball one time a year, and that has evolved into three seasons," Maddox said. "Theoretically, we could do the same thing with the youth."

The city of Cumming has had a program for youth basketball since the mid-1980s.

In January, the city parks department instituted a cap on players as the popular program exceeded the capacity of Dobbs Creek Gym.

Maddox discussed the county’s work on its league during a recent meeting of the parks and recreation board.

With the municipal program maxed out, Maddox expects the county could see immediate interest in launching a league.

Board members discussed the possible ages and seasons for the program, as well as potential levels of competition.

Chris Stovall suggested also working with area high school coaches to see if there is enough interest to start a youth volleyball program.

Member Todd Holbrook agreed that exploring more offerings could be beneficial.

"I’d like for us to look at both youth volleyball and basketball," Holbrook said, "just try and generate as much revenue as we can."