Springhill Lake Recreation Center: Doorway of Champions

The Springhill Lake Recreation Center is undergoing a welcome renovation to make it fit for the champions that come through its doors — beginning with basketball and jump rope champions and ending with champions for life.

Walking through the Center on Saturday afternoon, recreation coordinator Brian Butler discussed the new pavement and sidewalk outside the center's entrance, the new bathrooms, the office renovations underway, and the cleaned ceiling tiles. He said that a new entranceway will be added, and soon the gym — the heart of the Center — will be renovated, with the floor re-waxed, walls painted and ceiling tiles cleaned.

The amount of effort the city is putting into the center excites Butler and the community, he said.

Champions All

That community includes not only basketball and jump rope champion teams, but champion parents like Valerie Overby, a Greenbriar Condominiums resident who serves as membership director of the Greenbelt Sity Stars, the internationally and nationally acclaimed award-winning double Dutch team that was finishing its 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. practice at the center.

The team practices eight hours a week. Overby was there as was Robyn Young, mother of "Jumper of the Year" and team captain Regyn Davis-Young. Overby's daughter, Jamoni, is also on the double Dutch team. Kim Bradshaw has been the head coach of the team for 20 years, and is herself has twice achieved Grand National Jump Rope Champion.

The Center is critical to concerned parents like Overby and Young. Overby says that, "We need to keep kids busy, off the street, engaged, with not too much idle time. People want to do things with their kids." She says that Butler is a good role model and encourages young people. Asked whether there are other improvements she'd like to see at the center, she suggested a wall that separates storage rooms from the gym be torn down and used for a fitness center, similar to those at Lake Arbor and College Park recreation centers.

Always Something Going On

There's always something going on at the Center, says a friend of Kassadi Lewis, 14. Kassadi and her friend were watching Kassadi's sister, Kennadi, 15, play basketball after the jump rope team was done. Kassadi's friend says that she comes to the center on days when she has nothing to do. She cites the basketball games, the game room, and the outdoor playground and basketball court as attractions.

The Greenbelt Boys and Girls Club basketball teams play at the center, including the Raiders, who are 7-0 this season — as Raider player Cashefee Peterson, 17, proudly told Patch, after playing basketball. The basketball session over, a sweaty center leader Byron Snowden said he really enjoys playing with the youth, one of his many duties.

Basketball and the jump rope practice are two of the most visible center activities, but there's more than meets the eye. As one example, Overby says, Darren Stephenson, a Greenbelt Cares family counselor, has a program at the center to help young people stay in school and find jobs.

Saturdays are busy, especially starting November 1, when basketball season begins. Then there is basketball practice every Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Overby says the jump rope team then moves to the Greenbelt Youth Center — if there is an opening in the gym schedule for them, because the Boys and Girls Club basketball teams play there as well.

That's why Snowden hopes the city acquires the current Greenbelt Middle School gym when the new Middle School is built. "That will mean more gym time," he says.

Angels and Stars

When January arrives, Herb Allen, who has coached basketball for 38 years, also begins to vie for gym time. He coaches a Greenbelt women’s basketball team that won its third championship at an annual Canadian tournament. Allen said he recruits the women at the center's ladies night basketball open gym on Thursdays, which he organizes. He said his team's three championship banners will soon be hanging in the gym, alongside the Raiders' 1999 AA Champions banner.

The Center also offers Saturday tutoring. Overby said that two young people and their parents stopped by earlier in the day to ask about tutoring. The champions keep coming through the door.