MARCH 2002

With fitness centers ever evolving, here's a peak at what's working for—and what's coming to—the workout world to keep facilities current and to help expand membership bases.

From simple cosmetic touches to large-scale additions and sharper service and staff to more meticulous maintenance, find some answers to freshen up your own facility.

There's always something new on the horizon when it comes to landscaping and grounds maintenance. We'll take a gander at tough problems like repelling Canada geese, switching to more eco-friendly practices and retaining skilled employees.

Sure, climbing walls were all the rage a few years back, but what's the next step in climbing-wall facilities?

Find out how to give your climbing gym a distinct personality that will keep the climbers coming.

More and more rec facilities are taking cues from minor-league baseball stadiums, which are targeting—and delivering—fun for the whole family. Pick up some new programming ideas from the facilities that have hit home runs with patrons.

While more people join a health club in January than in any other month of the year, so far 2002 appears to be little different, except that club professionals have noticed a shift in their new members' motivations to join and start exercising. Find out more.

There are still 400 deaths and four times as many near deaths in public, lifeguarded swimming pools in the United States every year. And every second counts in a drowning incident.

How can you make your pool safer?

Waiting in line and having fun are not usually mutually exclusive—especially at amusement parks. So if you're looking for a place to up the fun and skip the lines, you might want to head to the southernmost point of Texas.

To be more exact, the place is Schlitterbahn Beach Waterpark in South Padre Island.

What happens when a skate park is near the top of your Wish List, but you just don't have room for one?

This was the case for the Timber-Lee Christian Center, a year-round youth camp in East Troy, Wis., which serves about 4,000 campers in the summer, 18,000 Outdoor Ed students during the school year and about 3,500 junior- and senior-high church youth group members on winter weekends. Find out how the camp made room for skaters.

It all started when some local pet owners in Virginia Beach, Va., wanted a place where their pooches could play off leashes—legally.

So, the Virginia Beach Dog Owners Group (VBDOG) formed to advocate off-leash recreational areas, submitting a proposal to the City of Virginia Beach in the summer of 1999 to establish a dog park.

Because the bark park idea seemed to be backed by the community in general, it really didn't take much hounding, and the City agreed. But it did take some research and planning.