Sports brave stormy weather.

Greenville (population 63,000) boasts not only the usual attributes of a noteworthy American sports community, but a ferocious resilience to boot. In 1999, Hurricane Floyd nearly destroyed Greenville's pre-eminent recreation facilities; in time storm's aftermath, time city's golf course, Bradford Creek Golf Club, and Elm Street Little League Park were underwater. The rebuilding and restoration of these and other facilities symbolize both Greenville's overall pride and its well-earned status as a 2004 Sportstown.

With a climate that Favors a wide variety of recreation endeavors in all four seasons, Greenville is the home of the East Carolina University Pirates as well as a thriving center for increasingly popular extreme sports such as bicycle motocross (BMX) and skateboarding. Baseball, tennis and even cricket all enjoy enormous popularity in the best imaginable facilities, some of them historically significant.

Since its inception a half century ago, the Greenville Recreation and Parks Department (GRPD) has emphasized diversity; the organization was one of North Carolina's first to commit to programs such as the Special Olympics, which Greenville hosts every spring, and the Senior Games, celebrating its 20th year. Both as a community and in terms of providing recreation opportunities, Greenville embraces the philosophy of Booker T. Washington, who wrote: "I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which one has overcome by trying to succeed." GRPD participants may exhibit less polished skills, respond in different ways, of exhibit "unusual" behaviors as compared to other participants, none of these differences need preclude their valuing freedom of their experiencing enjoyment; everyone can respond to a challenge.

Operating on the principle that one type of sports program cannot be all things to all people, GRPD offers both competitive and recreational sport opportunities in every sport, with the emphasis shifting in accordance with participants' age and experience level. For example, at the T-ball level for 5- to 7-year-olds, fun and fundamentals are stressed--there are no scoreboards and having fun, not winning, is the goal. A minor league program for 8- to 12-year-olds involves keeping score, but still emphasizes recreation over winning. Finally, GRPD offers a very competitive Little League and Babe Ruth Baseball program for older kids. The same pattern holds with regard to GRPD's offerings in other sports.

GRPD has a clear view of its top priorities in the years to come: increasing available opportunities, expanding program access, and demonstrating innovativeness. GRPD seeks to provide facilities and programming in developing and underserved parts of the city through aggressive marketing, the granting of scholarships to financially disadvantaged residents, and appropriate programming across the full spectrum of age groups. GRPD feels that remaining innovative is a key to addressing the wants an d needs of its consumers. Planned examples include an Extreme Skate/BMX Park, an inline hockey rink, a greenway (walking trail), the addition of a masters division in adult softball and soccer leagues, a 35,000-square-foot aquatics and fitness center, a tennis center and a public golf course.

In addition to weathering Floyd, Greenville has made tremendous capital improvements over the past five years. Highlights include the purchase of 25 acres of land and the construction of the first phase of a new Bradford Creek Soccer Complex, the purchase of 90 acres of land and the construction of the first phase of H. Boyd Lee Park (to include a gym, athletic offices, an arcade, meeting rooms, a scores tower/concession stand, three lighted ball fields, a cricket pitch and an outside exercise station), the addition of walking, jogging and biking trails, the building of six new tennis courts at Elm Street Park, a new "lawn games" area for seniors, the construction of a baseball field, a press box and a concession stand at the Thomas Foreman Park facility for the Jackie Robinson Baseball League, and the construction of an archery range for senior programs at Evans Park.

Since 1967, GRPD programs have increased from 25 to 500, participation is up from 32,000 to more than 596,000, and recreation floor space has increased from 16,000 square feet to 165,000 square feet. Impressive indeed, but these are just numbers; it is clearly the people behind them that serve as Greenville's true power and its boisterous spirit of resilience and inclusion.

For more information, log on to GRPD's Web site, www.eteamz.com/grpd.