I.  Facilities

Dothan Leisure Services has some of the best facilities in the state and in some cases the nation.

• Westgate Park, is one of the most comprehensive recreation parks in the Southeast with ball fields, tennis courts, indoor swimming pool and water park
• Westgate Softball Complex is well known nationally having been awarded 26 national tournaments in its 17 years of operation.  Westgate Softball Complex was the 2nd complex statewide to be inducted into the Alabama ASA Hall of Fame.
• Westgate Softball Complex was named 2003 Park of the Year
• Westgate Tennis Center has won all three national awards for outstanding facilities:

USTA
US Tennis Court and Track Builders Association
Tennis Industry Association

• The Dixie Youth Baseball complexes at Eastgate and Westgate Parks are among the finest in the Southeast having been host to quality events to include the Dixie Youth World Series

II.   Events

Dothan Leisure Services hosts some of the largest and most acclaimed events and programs in the state:  According to the Dothan Area Convention and Visitor' Bureau, Dothan Leisure Services provides Dothan's largest source of tourism.  Additionally, businesses and professionals relocating to Dothan, Alabama repeatedly cite the outstanding recreation program as being important to their decision.

• Softball:
  Westgate Softball Complex has won the national award for excellence for its national tournaments 11 of the last 13 years.

In 2005, Westgate Softball Complex and the Marvin Lewis Baseball Complex will host an unprecedented four Dixie Softball  World Series Tournaments within Westgate Park in the same week

• Baseball:
  Yearly Dothan Leisure Services hosts the Wiregrass Baseball Classic bringing top quality Division I baseball to Dothan at Westgate's Northcutt Field

We are past hosts (1996) for the prestigious Dixie Youth World Series at Marvin Lewis Baseball Complex

We look forward to being the Host City as well for the 2004 American Legion State Championship

• Tennis:
  In 2001, Dothan was recognized by the National Recreation and Parks Association and the United States Tennis Association as the nation's most outstanding public tennis program "The Excellence in Tennis Programming Gold Award".  The award came with a $5,000 check.

Dothan runs 2 national tennis tournaments yearly:  one, which was named the "Southern Tournament of the Year".

Dothan hosts a $75,000 women's professional tennis tournament -- one of the top 4 USTA professional circuit events in the nation

Dothan's State Mixed Doubles event brings over 500 players to Dothan annually

• Total Organized Athletics for youth and adults numbers over 9,000 people annually who put on jerseys to play organized sports.  This amount to almost 1 out of 6 citizens who play organized sports in Dothan, Alabama.
   
• Karate
  Dothan annually hosts the Southern Regional Karate Championships bringing 800 or more people to Dothan from the tri-state region
   
• Seniors programming:
  Dothan is the host annually of the SARCOA Older Americans Picnic and Fun Day with over 3,000 in attendance.
   
• Youth Day Camping:
  Each simmer Dothan Leisure Services cares for over 500 youth in our summer camps.  Through a federally funded summer feeding program Dothan Leisure Services provides 23,000 meals for children at 6 locations
• Aquatics:
  Each year 1,250 swim lessons are taught at 4 locations.  Annually there are an astounding 60,000 visitors to Water World.  There are annually 35,000 casual swim visits to our city pools!

III.  Heritage:

Dothan's elected officials have always recognized that quality recreation facilitates and programs in Dothan were absolutely imperative for quality of life, economic impact, and crime prevention.  When few Alabama cities understood the concept of economic impact from recreational events Dothan was leading the way in its sports programs.

Dothan has perhaps the richest history of recreational leadership in the state. Dothan staff wrote the first competitive sports manual for statewide competition and for many years hosted almost all of the state sporting events.

IV.  Leisure Services Leadership Heritage:

The 22-year contributions of Jim Oates as director set the tone for many of our services today.  His time of leadership was a time of growth and expansion.  Under visionary commission leadership was a time of growth and expansion.  Under visionary commission leadership like Mayor James Grant (James W. Grant Recreation Center) dreams for recreational excellence began to be realized.  On all Jim Oates' projects, function dictated design, and long term maintenance considerations were given great importance.
EXAMPLE:  None of the recreation center buildings had exterior windows except for entryways.  (They remain stylish yet vandal resistant.)

Besides an incredibly practical view to recreational design, Jim made two more indelible marks on our department that will never change regardless of leadership changes.

1.  A commitment to the utmost quality in turf management and outdoor recreational facilities.  Dothan became the undisputed leader in outdoor care under his leadership.  The department grass became hybrid T if 419 Bermuda grass.

2.  There was, and is, an insistence that every Leisure Services project must be thoroughly organized leaving nothing to chance.  Many of us will never forget the 3 years of regular meetings spent on preparing for 1 event - the Dixie Youth World Series.  For organized quality programs and events under Jim Oates leadership, Dothan wrote the book literally.  Meetings before and after programs and events are always ample, and manuals and charts are generated so there is not a need to re-invent.

The diamond of Dothan Leisure Services was polished as Wayne Gay came to Leisure Services with a commitment to empowering our employees to succeed under the high standards set by his predecessor.  Wayne modernized our department bringing technology to every center and getting us the very best outdoor equipment for our manicured lawns.  Wayne housed all the equipment in new storage sheds at every center.  Jim had given us pride in a top-flight organization with the highest standards.  Wayne, in cooperation with a supportive City Commission, gave us the wherewithal to succeed into the 21st century.

The mantel has been passed to Anne Rumble who has her own set of challenges and opportunities,  Under her leadership we have already advanced our training and consistency through manuals, such as our rental policies and procedures.  We have begun under her tenure, to "pick up some of the pieces" where our quality needed improvement.

V.  The Current Management Team:

All of Dothan Leisure Services' management staff hold college degrees.  Staff expertise consistently keeps us in the forefront statewide for softball, baseball, tennis, aquatics, senior programming and therapeutics.  Our staff also keeps us at the forefront of ADECA grant projects statewide.  Between 5 professional staff who share responsibilities for the park administration and programming, we have more than 100 years of combined experience.

VI.  The Big Difference!

The differences that have been made in Dothan Leisure Services, however, cannot be credited to any of these leaders.  The difference was made by the whole employee team who organized, who maintained, who modernized, and who picked up the pieces, and who met the public with enthusiasm.

The difference is US:  the employees.  We are proud and powerful links in a chain.

We have made a tremendous difference in Dothan and will continue to do so.  We are proud because we serve a great city, because we have a great team, because we have great recreational facilities, because we have a proud tradition of leadership, and because the future is whatever we make it together!