Agenda - 05-05-1997 - 10a - Laserfiche WebLink

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5 L Overview of the SportsPlex today What is the Triangle SportsPlex? The Triangle SportsPlex is a 25-month old sports and recreation facility fully open to the entire public, located off US 70 Business in Hillsborough. At 80,000 sq. ft, it is the largest such facility in Orange County. It contains the following: • Indoor aquatics complex with three pools (recreational, competition/lap, and wading). Competition area has a sophisticated timing system and seating for 300 people • Official-size ice skating/hockey rink with seating for 600 people • Fitness center featuring high quality cardiovascular and weight training equipment • Snack bar/restaurant • Meeting room for classes, meetings, parties, and receptions • Lobby suitable for receptions and dances • Game room with video games and air hockey • Nursery providing child care for parents using the building • Outdoor facility for in-line skating/roller blading The entire facility is open to the public on a walk-in or subscription basis. The informal name "membership" is often applied to the various subscription options, but the SportsPlex is in no way a club or exclusive facility. In addition to being open for routine recreation, the SportsPlex offers a rich selection of programs and organized activities on an on-going basis. These are shown in broad outline in Table 2. Along with the regular program offerings, special events and instruction play an increasingly important part in the SportsPlex programming. There are several examples on the swim side. The SportsPlex offers swimming instruction for area fourth graders arranged through the Orange County schools, plus swimming safety courses for children, sometimes in collaboration with the UNC Safe Kids Program. The swim teams of all three Orange County high schools use the SportsPlex for both practice and meets. The days of swim meets are among the most exciting of the year, with swimmers, coaches, parents, and volunteers filling the building. And no less than 10 areas summer camps have contracted with the SportsPlex to provide swimming services to their campers this summer(see New Programs below). On the ice side, the facility has hosted two recent skating seminars, the Jill Shipstead Seminar and the Doug Leigh Figure Skating Clinic (Doug Leigh has coached international champion Elvis Stojko). With these two events, the SportsPlex instructed more than a hundred skaters drawn from 6 states including Florida and Illinois. Similarly, the exhibition hockey game between the Carolina Monarchs and the Baltimore Bandits of the American Hockey League allowed area residents to see high level hockey (the AHL is just one level below the NHL)up close, and close to home, for a very reasonable ticket price. Such events bring people and recreational income to the SportsPlex and to area hotels and restaurants, and expand our customer base well into neighboring states. More down to earth, the figure skating classes at the SportsPlex serviced 225 skaters (i. e., individuals, many enrolled in multiple classes)during its January- February session in 1997. The Board is proud of these numbers, and of course hopes they will grow further. The Board of Directors is drawn from the community The Board of Directors of the SportsPlex is made up of 5 individuals who are dedicated to the facility's successful and profitable operation. The members are listed in Table 1. They are strictly volunteers; they receive no compensation and pay full fare for their use of the facility. They are motivated by many factors, including a sense of community responsibility, appreciation for a unique facility in this part of Orange County, enthusiasm for Hillsborough as a great community made even better by the SportsPlex, a desire to increase recreational opportunities for all the county's citizens and particularly its minority population, enthusiasm for ice or water sports, etc. At present, the Executive Committee of the Board(see Table 1) meets in the first week of each month and the whole Board meets in the third week. Because of its financial commitment to the SportsPlex(see below), Orange County names one less than a majority of the Board members. Those members named by the County are indicated in Table 1 Report to the Orange County Commissioners 5 May, 1997 page 3