Program Highlights
Garner Recreation Center
Athletics
The Garner Recreation Center continues to maintain its membership model and welcomes more than 100,000 people who visit the facility for leagues, classes, open gym, and other programming throughout the year.
The department’ s signature summer programming, Camp Kaleidoscope Jr. and Sr., once again reached its maximum capacity. During the summer of 2024, the camps recorded a total of 960 enrollments. Jamari Prim, the new lead for this program, leverages his experience to connect with the campers and counselors, infusing a new energy to the group.
The GRC team developed new programming serving home school parents with the Garner Kids Connection, providing dedicated time for children to socialize, work on their physical fitness, and create art, STEM and other projects. Journey League, the department ' s partnership for adaptive basketball programming, has continued to thrive and offers two seasonal sessions as well as a two-day camp during the summer.
Honoring Mark Massey
The youth sports leagues experienced sustained growth, consistently exceeding expectations. Interest in the basketball and volleyball leagues remained exceptionally high, resulting in over 1,200 youth participants this year. Jonathan Jackson and Kevin McClaine joined the Athletics team. Their passion and dedication provide a fresh perspective as the department looks to innovate existing programming.
The department continued its successful recreational partnerships with key community organizations, including Garner Baseball Inc.( GBI), Garner Civitan, Garner Elite, Garner Sports League( GSL), and the North Carolina Football Club( NCFC) for youth recreational baseball, softball, and Pop Warner Football. Furthermore, the department launched a new process to maximize the utilization of diamond sports fields. This system promotes equitable field usage opportunities among the various baseball and softball clubs.
Town Council approved the naming of the South Garner Park Field 1 as the Mark Massey Field, honoring the memory of the late youth sports advocate. Garner Sports League made the nomination, which was unanimously endorsed by the PRCR Advisory Committee.
Mr. Massey was an active volunteer in Garner, dedicating more than 30 years of service to developing youth sports leagues with Garner Sports League, the Garner Pop Warner Program, and the Garner High School Trojan Club.