Smoky Mountain Roller Derby player Alana Booth speaks to the commissioners, while teammate Alyce Kozma waits to speak.
Jessica Webb
editor@thesmokymountaintimes.com
Swain County Recreation Center on Deep Creek Road, still referred to as the old Pepsi plant by many locals, has seen a few improvements over the past few years, and will soon get new flooring.
The old building with a concrete floor is a hub for sports activity, including county-run youth basketball league practices, as well as indoor pickle ball games and youth baseball practices. One user group, however, a local roller derby adult and youth league, has been told they will no longer be able to use the rec center.
Previous improvements include air conditioning, funded through a direct state grant secured by Rep. Mike Clampitt, and insulation to coincide with it. Swain County Board of Commissioners included the $93,000 for the new floors in this year’s fiscal budget with installation to be done by South Recreational LLC. Future improvement plans include upgrading the weight room equipment, but that wasn’t budgeted for this year.
Taylor Woodard, recreation supervisor, explained the new flooring will be a snap court flooring system, also referred to as sport court.
“The flooring will serve with two pickleball courts, a full high school regulation basketball court and volleyball court. There will also be a shuffleboard area on the new floor,” she shared by email.
More specifically, she explained the flooring for the basketball/volleyball/shuffleboard will be “VersaCourt Wood-Grain Tile indoor court tile, which was designed and developed for indoor multi-sports applications. The innovative tile design and the unique six-point locking system creates a seamless playing surface that allows for consistent ball bounce and response and unmatched playability,” Woodard said, sharing descriptions from the manufacturer.
The pickleball court will be Pickleball Performance by VersaCourt, designed for better ball bounce.
Woodard said the installation date has been stalled due to manufacturing delays but that contractors estimate it will take 3-5 days for installation, during that time the gym will be closed. A recent multi-day closure of the building was for the removal of a ramp that was on part of the basketball court area.
“We are all very excited about the new addition to the Swain County Recreation Department and the improvements that are being done for the community!” Woodard said.
Roller derby
The skaters, whose group has been practicing and hosting games at the recreation center since 2012, is less thrilled about losing access to the space.
Two members of Smoky Mountain Roller Derby were before the Swain County Board of Commissioners last Tuesday, Jan. 21, saying the news that they would no longer be able to use the facility effective immediately came as a shock and countering that skates don’t damage sport court floors.
Alana Booth, a Swain High graduate, and skater with Smoky Mountain Roller Derby, said the team has “loved being a part of this community,” and has taken part in community events and makes regular donations to local nonprofits. Many locals attend their games and visiting teams bring in revenue, she added.
She said the team has always swept and mopped the floors and were good stewards of the space. The team had come to an agreement a year ago with the county and started paying $200 a month at the rec department’s request to use the facility.
“To my knowledge, there have never been any issues with us using that facility, which is why it came as such a shock to us when we were recently told that we will no longer be able to use it because of new floors being put in,” Booth said.
The team was notified by email earlier this month they could no longer use the space by Woodard, who said the flooring company has not recommended that rolling skating be an activity on the new floor.
Booth said the team would “love to continue working with Swain in the future.”
Woodard did suggest she has plans to apply for a grant and hopes to create a skating facility in the future.
Alyce Kozma, who also skates with Smoky Mountain Roller Girls and has a son who skates on the juniors roller derby team, said she has never seen a floor damaged by roller derby and that many teams play on sport court, for example, Greenville, S.C. and Denver, CO. She said the team would be willing to pay for any repairs if damage did occur.
She asked the commissioners to think of the impact on the young skaters.
“We also have a junior league, which is really good for giving kids a place to come and be athletic and keep them off the streets and out of trouble,” she said. “I would hate for the Swain County kids to lose that. Since we give back to the community, we are teaching them the importance of that and to give back.”
She added she was hopeful the county would reconsider.
The team has cleared its equipment from the recreation facility and continues practices on Wednesdays at the Smoky Mountain Sk8way in Waynesville, but is still looking for a practice space on Sundays and a location they can host games, according to Booth.
Editor’s note: Jessica Webb is also a member of the Smoky Mountain Roller Derby team.