Recreation

THE LEISURE INCIDENT
Chapter Nine - Yucca Recreation Center

February 15, 2026

By Kim Elliott, CLP
Recreation Director
City of Roswell

John Mansfield said, "The days that make us happy make us wise." Participation in programs and facilities provided by parks and recreation help to make each and every one of us ‘happy’, if we will allow it to happen. Aristotle in Ethics put it this way. "It is commonly believed that happiness depends on leisure because we occupy ourselves so that we may have leisure, just as we make war in order that we may live in peace."

Our Founding Fathers called the "pursuit of happiness" an inalienable right endowed by the Creator in the Declaration of Independence. Parks and Recreation - The Benefits are Endless!

In past articles, we have talked about these ‘endless’ benefits in fairly general terms. The "Leisure Incident" also requires us to be more specific.

How does the Roswell Recreation Department compare to these general benefits that we have been sharing?

The Roswell Recreation Department is made up of several divisions within the Department. These divisions are Administration, Cahoon Swimming Pool, Roswell Adult Center, Special Programs and Yucca Recreation Center. All of these divisions are important to the overall program and services provided to, and for the community.

We plan to look at all of these divisions in the future, but for now, we will begin our look with Yucca Recreation Center.

Yucca Recreation Center is located at 500 S. Richardson in Roswell. Gladie Guzman, CLP, is the Recreation Center Supervisor. The building was built in the early 1930’s as the original Roswell High School with a second gymnasium and classroom addition in the 1940’s.

When Roswell High was built, the facility became Yucca Junior High School before it was abandoned by the school district and given to the City of Roswell around 1975. Part of the building was demolished leaving the two gymnasiums and the adjoining classroom wings.

The City moved the youth recreation program from the Chaves County Memorial Youth Center (currently the Roswell Adult Center) and the Roswell Youth Basketball Program from the Poe Corn Recreation Center (currently the Roswell Boys and Girls Club) to the old school district facility around 1977 and renamed it the Yucca Recreation Center. The facility has housed mainly the City’s youth recreation programs since.

In 1984, plans were drawn up for a complete renovation of the facility which would cost approximately $1.1 million. Funds were not available at the time to accomplish this renovation, but work has been completed toward this overall goal ever since.

Yucca Recreation Center serviced approximately 8,100 different individuals during 1997 for a cost of $34/person. These individuals participated 90,000 times during the year in such programs as:

These activities and events are a good sampling of the many programs offered at Yucca Recreation Center.

The Recreation Department spends @$34/person on programs and services provided by Yucca Recreation Center. The average cost to incarcerate a juvenile for one year is $28,000 - $38,000 depending on what part of the nation you live. Maybe our priorities need to be evaluated.

"Of all the lessons we must learn, few are more important than those we learn from exercise and sport. They teach us to perfect and protect our health, to respect our own capabilities and those of others, and to accept excellence as our standard of performance." This is a statement from former President Gerald Ford.

Yucca Recreation Center is a place for our youth to learn these lessons, and, the cost is minimal.

Parks and Recreation - The Benefits are Endless...TM

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