2022 Gulf Shores Recreation Department Annual Report

RECREATION DIVISION ANNUAL REPORT 2022 CITY OF GULF SHORES RECREATION AND CULTURAL AFFAIRS Presented by: Nicole Ard, Recreation Division Manager

INTRODUCTION

note from Nicole

As with most public service agencies, our employees are our greatest resource. In 2022, we continued recovering from the impacts of COVID. At times, we had over 20% of our full-time positions vacant while at the same time our program participation and facility visitations increased. Zero programs were eliminated this year and our recreation division staff once again stepped up and worked additional hours to ensure that all services continued. I want to thank our team for their creative ideas, teamwork, encouragement and support they gave to each other as our Recreation Division continued to meet the needs of the community.

Community demand and service growth is a theme throughout this report. It is evident in many ways, most notably in our 40% cost recovery of budgeted expenses including the cost of personnel. This and other noted accomplishments represent only a small percentage of what our team accomplished this year.

I would like to thank all of our Gulf Shores Recreation Division staff, Grant Brown - Director of Recreation and Cultural Affairs, the Gulf Shores City Council, and Mayor Craft for all they do.

We would not have accomplished so much without their unwavering support.

Finally, I want to say thank you to every member, facility and park visitor, program and event participant. I meet people every day who are passionate about these beautiful places, facilities and programs. We appreciate your commitment to us, and in return we look forward to providing you with another great year filled with programming and adventures.

Nicole Ard

Recreation Division Manager City of Gulf Shores

MISSION STATEMENT

"Gulf Shores Recreation & Cultural Affairs enriches lives and fosters harmony within the community through area-wide leisure services targeted to improve healthy lifestyles, educational and recreational opportunities, public participation, and environmental and economical stewardship."

RESPONSIBILITIES & SERVICES The Recreation & Cultural Affairs Department provides top quality recreation and leisure activities for the community while striving to be the best stewards of the public resources that fall within the department's care, adapting as necessary to meet the varied needs of the residents and visitors.

RECREATION DIVISION CORE VALUES Community Enrichment Enabling lives through education and programs

Civic Responsibility As public servants, striving to better the world around us

Fun Delivering fun to patrons and community

Exceptional Customer Experiences Providing service that is responsive, professional, courteous, and accountable

Health and Wellness Providing and promoting healthy lifestyle opportunities

Diversity and Inclusion Creating programs and services that reflect the diversity of our community

Safety Ensuring safe and secure environments

Building a Legacy Maintaining a vision for the future while sustaining a healthy recreation system

Participation numbers for all youth sport programs increased

athletic programs Athletic programs made leaps and bounds in 2022.

Participation numbers for all youth sport programs increased from 2021, with basketball showing the largest increase at 28%. Not only did our participation increase, but the majority of our sports showed better competitive seasons than they did in 2021.

Our baseball, softball, and soccer all-star teams did exceptionally well, and two of our three football teams had season records that reflected great improvement from the previous season. This is a huge credit to our volunteer coaches in 2022.

Fall Sports Football: 75 participants, 3 teams, 18 volunteer coaches 13 week season, 182 program hours Cheer: 45 participants, 3 teams, 6 volunteer coaches 13 week season, 156 program hours Soccer: 245 participants, 26 teams, 52 volunteer coaches 9 week season, 180 program hours Winter Sports Football (Flag): 172 participants, 22 teams, 50 volunteer coaches 5 week season, 24 program hours Basketball: 200 participants, 25 teams, 50 volunteer coaches 10 week season, 220 program hours

RECREATION DIVISION

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ANNUAL REPORT 2022

RECeivers: 1130

participants

112

teams

250

volunteers

1,487

program hours

16%

average growth per youth sport from 2021

Spring Sports Baseball: 230 participants, 19 teams, 40 volunteer coaches 11 week season, 275 program hours Softball: 67 participants, 6 teams, 18 volunteer coaches 11 week season, 275 program hours T-Ball: 96 participants, 8 teams, 16 volunteer coaches 11 week season, 275 program hours

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ANNUAL REPORT 2022

Programs team was busy creating and implementing four new series of programs

community programs The programs team was busy in 2022 creating and implementing four new series of programs, making adult activity area facility upgrades, and building new outdoor SPARC youth play areas. To help reach our goal of increasing community outreach, improvements were made to the branding of each program to include images and logos for consistency and recognition. Efforts were also made to expand services by adding evening program timeslots onto programs that were previously offered only in the morning and afternoon.

Global Grub *NEW* 173 participants - 8 program hours - 5 sessions/days Ramble On *NEW* 39 participants - 9 program hours - 1 session/day BYOBoy *NEW* 153 participants - 2 program hours - 1 session/day Awful Crafty *NEW* 57 participants - 5 program hours - 4 sessions/days Purely Paddle 28 participants - 2 program hours - 1 session/day Take Time Tuesday 146 participants - 6 program hrs - 4 sessions/days Bingo 122 participants - 8 program hours - 7 sessions/days Safe Sitters 19 participants - 11 program hours - 4 sessions/days Daddy Daughter Dance 336 participants - 5 prog hrs - 2 sessions/days

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ANNUAL REPORT 2022

RECreative: 1478

participants

853

program hours

137

program days /sessions

163

average attendance of parent/child unique programs SPARC Youth Camps 328 Total Participants - 600 program hours - 60 sessions/days Summer 209 participants - 440 program hours - 44 sessions/days Spring 43 participants - 50 program hours - 5 sessions/days Thanksgiving 38 participants - 30 program hours - 3 sessions/days Christmas 38 participants - 80 program hours - 8 sessions/days

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ANNUAL REPORT 2022

Record setting participation numbers as well as record setting swimmers

aquatic programs SMALL POOL, BIG PROGRAMS – that is the continuing theme for our aquatic programs at the Bodenhamer Recreation Center. 2022 was filled with activity at the pool with record setting participation numbers, as well as record setting swimmers. Like everyone else, staffing was challenging at times. The team was up for the challenge and worked hard to meet day-to-day operational demands and maintain high quality aquatic programs for the entire community throughout the year.

This couldn’t have been accomplished without the hard work of a highly specialized aquatic professionals with years of experience in the field of aquatics.

Individual Swim Lessons 3,105 participants - 3,105 sessions - 776 program hours Group Swim Lessons 174 participants - 44 days - 44 program hours Water Aerobics 7,148 participants - 1,075 classes - 1,075 program hours Phinman Youth Triathlon 124 participants, 2 days Swim Meets 13 home meets at the Bodenhamer Recreation Center

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ANNUAL REPORT 2022

RECords: 10,915

participants

4,554

sessions

2,622

program hours

10,603 Swim Team individual visits in 2022

Gulf Shores Swim Team 396 participants - 364 sessions - 728 program hours Spring 125 participants, 123 sessions, 246 program hours Summer 117 participants, 114 sessions, 228 program hours Fall 154 participants, 127 sessions, 254 program hours

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ANNUAL REPORT 2022

tennis/pickleball Addition of a teaching professional and twelve lighted pickleball courts

programs

The Tennis & Pickleball programs were completely transformed in 2022. The tennis program experienced the most changes with the addition of a tennis teaching professional in May. This was quickly followed by a large array of programs, lessons, and clinics for all ages. These programs were received with open arms by our tennis community as you will see with our programs and participation report. The pickleball program was given a permanent home with the construction of 12 lighted outdoor pickleball courts at the Sportsplex. This highly anticipated facility opened in December and is expected to flourish and be fully utilized by our local pickleball community and visitors in the year ahead.

Lessons/Clinics/Drills Participants (May-December) 173 Private Lessons 1 hour 17 Private Lessons 30 minutes 154 Private Lessons 2 People 136 Private Lessons 3+ People 492 GS Ladies League Team Drills 100 Cardio Tennis 23 Adults Skills & Drills 235 Youth Programs & Lessons

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ANNUAL REPORT 2022

RECharged: TENNIS 1,320 program

participants

9 special events 5,275 attendess PICKLEBALL 2218 participants 78 program days 312 program hours

28

average pickleball players per session Tennis/Pickleball Events/Tournaments Gulf Shores Tennis Club Annual Social Tournament Sweet Heart Social Tennis Mixer CBU vs Spring Hill College D2 College Matches USTA State Tournament 65+ Combo/55+ Mixed USTA Mixed Doubles Weekend Tournament USTA Tri-Level State Tournament USTA Combo 40+/55+ State Tournament USTA Combo 18+ State Tournament Pickleball Sportsplex Grand Opening Total estimated attendance - 5,275

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ANNUAL REPORT 2022

Offered more free fitness opportunities than ever before

fitness programs Our Fitness Programs are so much more than a “fitness center” and this was never more evident than in 2022. In addition to the daily grind of busy operations, we offered more free fitness opportunities than ever before. These programs had an outreach that was highly sought after by our residents.

As a result, we offered an alternative way to stay healthy by using our beautiful natural resources as a backdrop for these organized programs.

Floor fitness classes, special events, free community fitness classes, two fully equipped fitness centers, health challenges and more – this strong foundation will be used to build the future of wellness programming for the citizens of Gulf Shores.

Fitness Programs Qi Gong - 30 participants - 3 sessions Sore on the Shore - 11 participants - 1 session Wake N Shake - 60 participants - 2 sessions Sunset Yoga - 25 participants - 1 session Couch to 5K - 8 participants - 8 weeks Circuit Saturday - 5 participants - 1 session Camp Inside Out - 10 participants - 5 days Fall Sunset Yoga - 43 participants - 2 sessions

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ANNUAL REPORT 2022

REChallenge: CLASSES 4,152 floor classes 37,547 participants CHALLENGES 3 programs 324 participants PROGRAMS 19 sessions 192 participants

108 average participation per challenge Fitness Classes Floor - 37,547 participants - 4,152 classes Fitness Challenges Iron Man Challenge - 110 participants - 60 days Choose Your Challenge - 159 participants - 60 days Do the Ride Thing - 55 participants - 30 days

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ANNUAL REPORT 2022

More than just customer service, but providing a ‘customer experience’

recreationmembership & customerservices We brought the fun back into Customer Service in 2022 by fostering a warm, fun, comfortable, and welcoming environment for all. The newly renovated lobby of the Bodenhamer Center gave our CSR team the unique opportunity to have a “new beginning” and shifted into offering more than just customer service, but providing a ‘customer experience’ atmosphere. This also spilled over into the Cultural Center – Studio Fit operations and beyond. Member engagement and outreach was better than ever before through new programs like Rec Pursuit scavenger hunt, social media Member Spotlight, and fun theme days at the facilities. A new member handbook was also created to streamline policies and disseminate information to facility users. This momentum will continue to grow as we look ahead at 2023.

Customer Service 31,265 register transactions 215,000 center visits 7,777 open operational hours Memberships 5771 active members 8,857 daily passes sold

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ANNUAL REPORT 2022

RECeption:

31,265

customer service register transactions

215,000

visits at the Bodenhamer Center

7,777 Open Operational Hours

Aerobic Classes 44,695 participants attending 5,227 classes held

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ANNUAL REPORT 2022

program spotlight 252

5k Run/Walk

105

1 mile Fun Run

100

Witches on Wheels Bike Parade

457 participants

1,000+ attendees

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ANNUAL REPORT 2022

recreation

team

Nicole Ard

Recreation Division Manager

Randall Carlson

Recreation Division Supervisor

Megann Steege

Molly Mahtani

Laura Davis

Holly Howell

Brook Hopkins

Bernie Gilliam

Athletic Coordinator

Customer Service Supervisor

Athletic Coordinator

Fitness Coordinator

Aquatic Coordinator

Tennis & Pickleball Coordinator

Jamie Robertson Programs Coordinator

Suzy Maher

Administrative Assistant II

Charles Phipps

Facility Maintenance Worker Sr

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RECREATION DIVISION ANNUAL REPORT 2022