Matthew Scott, recreation director at Faison’s Anne Stroud Taylor Recreation and Wellness Center, stands in a quiet gym that will soon be bustling with activity; youth basketball starts on Jan. 7.(Kathy Grant Westbrook|mountolivetribune.com)
Her name may be on the door, but Anne Stroud Taylor insists she is only one of many citizens responsible for the town’s impressive recreation and wellness center.(Kathy Grant Westbrook|mountolivetribune.com)
Calypso resident Chad Kornegay regularly works out in the center’s fitness room.(Kathy Grant Westbrook|mountolivetribune.com)
The center’s fitness room is outfitted with all the equipment one needs for a good workout.(Kathy Grant Westbrook|mountolivetribune.com)
Beginning Jan. 7, kids from Faison and nearby towns and communities will pour into the recreation center’s gym, as youth basketball gets underway.(Kathy Grant Westbrook|mountolivetribune.com)
FAISON — The Anne Stroud Taylor Recreation and Wellness Center is a big deal in a small town. Located at 184 Park Circle in Faison, it has amenities and programs that draw people from several neighboring communities.
The center has a full-size gym, a classroom, a spacious lobby and a full kitchen. It has a fitness room complete with treadmills, stairstep machines, weights and multi-function machines. Because it’s designated as Faison’s Red Cross shelter, it has showers and a generator.
But the big draw — what brings in so many people from surrounding towns, like Kenansville and Albertson — is the list of activities offered for children, ages 3 ½ to 15. “It’s not just kids from Faison,” says recreation director Matthew Scott. “Anyone that wants to play in Faison can play in Faison.”
Winter is basketball season. It kicks off on Jan. 7, with 30 teams (approximately 230 kids) set to play. For ages 9 and below, the teams are co-ed; at age 10, the kids are separated into girls’ and boys’ teams.
“Our games will be held on Saturdays, starting at 9 in the morning till 7 at night,” says Scott. “Then on Sunday, we’re gonna play from 3 to 7. I had to add Sunday, because we’ve got so many kids and so many teams.”
In spring, and again in fall, both soccer and girls’ volleyball are offered. “Girls’ volleyball has exploded,” says Scott. “It’s something that wasn’t really offered in our county, except maybe down on the other end, Wallace might have offered it. But we’ve got teams at the middle school and high school, and it’s something there’s a need for, so we started it.”
Forty-five girls participated during the first season, that number had doubled to 90 by the second season, and by the third, it topped 100. “And I expect this spring to do well over that,” Scott says.
Volleyball starts for girls at age 7, “so once they hit middle school, they’ve got a few years under their belt,” says Scott.
He attributes the success of the center’s volleyball program to the working relationship he enjoys with the coaches at North Duplin Junior/Senior High School. “I’m in constant contact with, and work with, the middle school and high school coaches,” he says. “The girls’ volleyball coaches, middle school and high school, have been involved with this from day one, because it’s gonna do nothing but help build their program.”
Similarly, he adds, the basketball program benefits from the fact that “the girls’ basketball coach is heavily involved. The participation from the coaches and the teachers at the school is really strong.”
Scott strictly enforces a “no drama” policy at the center. “Everyone knows when they come in here that they’re gonna have a good time and they don’t have to worry about…parents getting rude or kids fighting or anything. This is a place where they can come and be safe.”
No organized sports are played during the summer, but the facility remains a hub of activity, hosting a wide variety of three-day camps. Last year’s offerings included basketball, football, soccer, volleyball, art, tennis, archery, and a strength and wellness class, to name just a few.
The center is constantly evolving in response to community needs, the most recent example being a move to make the fitness room (not the entire recreation center) available for use 24/7. The new, round-the-clock hours are scheduled to go into effect on Jan. 1. (Membership is required to use the fitness room.)
The wellness center first opened in September 2010, and Scott joined as recreation director just a year and a half ago. “He’s doing a wonderful job,” says Anne Stroud Taylor, the woman for whom the center is named.
Scott, who had no formal training in the field of recreation, brought plenty of practical experience: as a single, fulltime father of two — Levi, 12, and Gabriel, 9 he’d spent years coaching his sons in T-ball, basketball, baseball and soccer. He’s a self-described people person who has lived in the area for 20 years and has worked with Faison Fire and Rescue for 16. “I just love the town and I love the people…I’m all about Faison,” he says.
Scott notes that Jimmy Tyndall, the town’s public works director, has provided him with invaluable guidance. “He’s been instrumental in helping me learn budget and the way the town works,” says Scott. “He’s been a huge help and a big part of me being successful.”
While Taylor was quick to offer words of praise for Scott, she is very reluctant to take any credit herself. When asked how the center came to be named for her, she seems genuinely puzzled and modestly replies, “I don’t know,” before going on to insist that many, many people are responsible for the wellness center. When pressed, she finally says, “I think what I did was kinda push it, write grants, work with everybody on it.”
“She was the driving force behind it,” Scott clarifies. “There were lots involved, but she was driving the truck.”
The “truck” that is the Anne Stroud Taylor Recreation and Wellness Center is clearly headed in the right direction — and it’s going full speed ahead.
For more information, call 910-267-0115.
