November 2012 - Parks & Recreation - 13

AGENCY SPOTLIGHT

The Life Aquatic
MUNICIPALITY: Prince George's
County, Maryland
POPULATION: 871,233
YEAR AGENCY FOUNDED: 1927
ANNUAL OPERATING BUDGET:

$267.2 million ($5.68 million for
aquatics)
AGENCY HEAD: Ronnie Gathers,
director

Essential Information:
27,528 acres of parkland, 11 aquatic facilities, three athletic complexes, 390
athletic ﬁelds, 43 community centers,
418 developed park properties, 90 miles
of hiking/biking trails, 27 historic sites/
landmarks, one minor league baseball
stadium, 225 playgrounds, one sports
and learning complex, 214 outdoor tennis courts, etc.

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNT Y DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION

Making a Splash:
As Washington, D.C.'s immediate
neighbor to the east, Prince George's
County, Maryland, is a largely urban
extension of the city, but thanks to
the county's park and recreation department, part of the larger MarylandNational Capital Park and Planning
Commission, its residents have plenty of places to play. And at the county's
dozens of parks and public facilities,
community members have a wide
range of options in terms of recreational programming, from youth baseball
leagues to adult Caribbean dance ﬁtness classes to the ancient Chinese
healing art of qigong.
But with 80 percent of its residents
classiﬁed as minorities, and a nationwide trend showing that people of
color are statistically less likely to have

learned how to swim (and are therefore more at-risk for water-related accidents), the county has taken a special
interest in teaching this important skill
to the community for fun, recreation,
and safety alike. Fortunately, a number of inviting facilities throughout the
county make swimming an appealing
activity for locals of all ages.
Of the county's 11 aquatic centers,
ﬁve offer year-round indoor swimming
pools, and most also provide waterbased ﬁtness classes, including HydroSpin, Rhythms of Zumba, Pi Yo Chi, and
Deep Water Intervals. Summer splash
parks introduce youngsters to the water with exciting features such as aqua
climbing walls, lilypad crossings, tipping-bucket waterfalls, and plenty of
waterslides.
At the county's Sports & Learning
Complex, a state-of-the-art indoor

leisure pool and an adjacent competition pool attract more than 50,000
swimmers and splashers each year. The
leisure pool offers a gradual beach-style
entry, several splash features, a water
slide, and a lazy river, plus a separate
hot tub that can accommodate up to 18
patrons at a time. The main pool isn't
only used for local learn-to-swim and
water aerobics classes; groups ranging
from local police and ﬁre departments
to military units to scuba organizations
have used the facility to train, and it has
also hosted a number of noteworthy
swim meets.
" We often see a large number of minorities participating in our aquatics
programs, and we continue to create
and offer low-cost and/or free opportunities to engage these communities via National Water Safety Month,
USA Swimming's Make a Splash Initiative, and the Consumer Product Safety
Commission's Pool Safely Campaign, "
says Bill Sheehan, the department's
assistant chief of sports, health, and
wellness.

WWW.NRPA.ORG | NOVEMBER 2012 |

Parks & Recreation

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