April 2014 - Parks & Recreation - 17

to its location, size, history and the
variety of things to do there. It's just a
very, very special spot. "
Once the site selection and visioning
process for the KidZone was finalized,
Lehman and his partners at Cunningham Recreation began to " drill down "
on the necessary design and manufacturing aspects of the project. Lehman
says that undertaking is a lot more
complicated than simply placing prefabricated equipment here or there. " We
had to study the anthropometrics of
a child, " he says. " How fast they run,
how long their strides are.... But we're
not just building for kids - we also have
to think about a parent or a 250-pound
lineman who might run across some of
these things. "
Nothing about the Play 60 KidZone
is " off the shelf, " Garges says. The area
includes a 40-yard dash with built-in
automatic stopwatch capabilities and a
scoreboard where runners can see their
times in digital display. There's a " peptalk station, " where prerecorded messages from Panthers players encourage
kids to exercise hard and do their best.
" How cool is it if you're 9 years old
and [Panthers middle linebacker] Luke
Kuechly is telling you that you're the
GOAT, because you're the Greatest of
All Time? " Fields asks.
Several bright blue tackling dummies, huge climbing structures that
resemble polyhedrons stacked atop
one another, three specialized running ramps, a rope walk and still other amenities make up the KidZone.
The ramps in particular were a big
hit with Lehman and his team. " It's
so cool and physical - kind of like
skateboarding or parkour - so much
design time went into that, " he says.
As the KidZone project intensified in
scope and design, its cost increased as
well. Quickly Clemmer realized, " You
can't do a lot " with the initial $25,000

grant, but, he says, " As the budget
grew, [Panthers owner Jerry] Richardson said 'We're going to do this right,'
so they raised more money through the
NFL Foundation. At end of the day,
the facility cost $280,000, but everything in there is Grade-A awesome. "
The Panthers, NFL Foundation
and Mecklenburg County also inked
a maintenance contract for upkeep
and improvements at the Play 60
KidZone, which is good for the lifetime of the park.
In The End Zone
Community response to the Play 60
KidZone has been overwhelmingly
positive, according to Clemmer. " Kids
and people come from all different areas - this is a place where you can be
like a football player, but also use your

imagination to do anything you want
to do, " he says.
Plans for KidZones at other parks
are being tossed around, but so far no
ideas have been put into action. " At
this point, this project is a one-off
thing, but we have had conversations
with a couple different NFL teams
,and they're very interested, " Lehman says.
" The team will host special Play 60
events at the KidZone... that will provide kids and families the opportunity
to 'play 60' with Panthers players and
staff, " says Fields. " Knowing the Play
60 KidZone is serving children and
families every day is a great feeling. "
Samantha Bartram is the Associate Editor
of Parks & Recreation Magazine (sbartram@
nrpa.org).

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