Meet Steve Roberts, Dalton's New Parks And Rec Director
Thursday, October 17th, 2024
Dalton native Steve Roberts is back home at the Dalton Parks and Recreation Department. The new director of the department spent the first 16 years of his career at the DPRD, before leaving to become assistant director with the LaFayette Parks and Recreation Department and later the director of Parks and Recreation in Kennesaw and then Cartersville. All the while, Roberts kept his home in Dalton and planned to bring his career back home, too. That happened last month when he was recommended as the sole finalist for the DPRD director job and hired by the Dalton Mayor and Council.
This is Roberts' first week back on the job with the DPRD, and he's got a lot on his plate with construction projects like the rebuilding and renovation of the John Davis Recreation Center, a new pickleball complex, and upgrades to a number of different facilities on the to-do list. But he made time for a quick interview to re-introduce himself to the people of Dalton. The interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
Caption: Steve Roberts stands in one of the basketball gyms at the Mack Gaston Community Center
So, how does it feel to be back home at the Dalton Parks and Recreation Department?
It’s exciting. The reason I left was so that I could come back to this position. I wanted to get the experience, and come back – I feel like I am coming back a lot more knowledgeable and ready for this position... I’m excited to be back, but I’m really looking forward to being able to bring the experiences that I’ve had and hopefully get our department to a point where it’s looked at like it was 25 years ago.
And what is that place that you want to get the department back to?
I really want to strive to get back toward a very good community-based program that people feel like is here for them, that we offer enough and offer a different variety of programming - not just ball and bat, but just a wider range of programming – maybe even some events that we don’t currently do. Just trying to get a little bit more of a community outreach and start impacting people that know we’re here but don’t really use what we've got... I feel like our job in recreation is to impact as many lives as we can, and that is sometimes thinking outside the box with programming and even some events that may introduce people to certain parks or certain amenities that they didn’t even realize that we had.
Of course, you're just getting started, but have you identified what some of those programs or events might be?
Well, I’m in my fourth day. (But) I’m starting to look at programming and I think that’s the easiest place to really look. I feel like different places I’ve been, we’ve had some very extensive summer camps and maybe looking at how can we utilize some of the things I’ve seen in those other places and how can we reach a community that we’re not reaching very well right now. That can come from sports or it could come from just a really good summer camp. As we continue to get more of these buildings built, it gives us more opportunity to continue to have different things at different places. I know we have a really good summer camp here (at the Mack Gaston Community Center), but we may look at some opportunities (like) a cooking camp, or I know we had an acting camp in Kennesaw that was very successful. So it’s looking at things like that which are kind of outside of our norms... even if that brings in 20 kids, that’s 20 kids that are introduced to our Parks and Rec Department that might not have been, that have different interests and wants. (So), nothing that we’ve truly narrowed down yet, but as I get into those conversations with our programming people we'll see what that looks like.
A lot of people in Dalton probably know you already, but for the people who don't, what would you most like them to know about you?
What I want them to know most is how excited I am to be back. I worked here for 16 years and did our youth athletics for 15 of those, I did adult athletics for one. For me, Dalton is a special place. It’s where I grew up, it’s where I went to high school, I’ve lived here all of my life. And from the time I started in this business, I did my internship here, I worked here in high school, so everything I’ve done in recreation was to get me back to this point. I’m so excited to be back, and they truly have someone whose interest for serving the City of Dalton, that really is my number one interest. I’ve left a very good place to have this opportunity, and I’m really excited to be back.
You've spent your entire career in recreation and sports - why is it the job for you, and what do you love about this job?
Well, you know what I used to love is getting to see the faces on the kids, getting to see their excitement and getting to know that you’re creating those memories for them. As my career as gone along, though, the one thing that I’d never realized about being a director until I became one is how much satisfaction that you get from knowing that you’re shaping the whole future for the City, as far as recreation goes. As we build these buildings, as we make upgrades to our facilities, those are 15 to 50-year projects at the end of the day. Those buildings are going to be here long after I’m gone, they’re going to be what people are coming to and using and affecting the community. So you have a long term effect as a department head and you get to shape that. I never really realized how important that was or how much fun that was until I became a director, and it’s actually my favorite part is having that long-term effect on a community.
You mentioned some of the challenges ahead with creating new programming to attract more people to the parks, but what are some of the things that have you excited about where the department is and where it's going?
My first day here - actually it was before my first day, (assistant director) Will (Chappell) put together some numbers and I started looking at how many people we’re already affecting. Our numbers in our youth athletics are enormous, and it’s just really good to see. I didn’t really realize we had that many programs with that many kids in them. So we already have a really good base, especially in our athletics. And I think, again, recreation has changed a lot in the last 25 to 30 years, too. It’s become a lot more individualized, and you see that in some of our parks with the walking trails, and the biking trails, and Raisin Woods, those kinds of places that are more individualized and intrinsic. People do what they want to do how they want to do it and it’s not so much about the programming, it’s about the facilities. I think that Dalton, when you look around, the Mayor and Council of Dalton have for a long time been very pro-recreation and it was one of the things that was easy to come back to, knowing how pro-recreation they are, seeing the value that the Recreation Department brings and that quality of life really matters. And as we kind of move forward with our buildings and everything, it’s how do we plan for those interactions that mean as much as any of our programs – or more. We probably have more people use our parks where we don’t program for them, but they’re programming for themselves - whether that’s Haig Mill or whether that’s any of our trails, Raisin Woods or down at Lakeshore. They’re kind of doing their own programming and we make sure that our facilities are there for them to use, they’re in really top shape, and they’re there for them to use for a long, long time.
You grew up playing in our parks, and you grew up playing youth sports. How valuable is that experience for a kid, and what does it give a kid as they grow up?
I would say that the number one thing is that all of our sports, and really everything else we do in general, it's about team work. Everything we do is team-oriented. You learn how to work with other people. You know, that’s one of the reasons why we do drafted leagues, so they get introduced to different people. They’re not all going to stay on a team with the same 14 kids for every sport. Here, they get introduced to a lot of different kids. They get a introduced to a lot of experiences. You know, for me (it's) teaching teamwork and also leadership qualities in there and also just the confidence that athletics brings people – I think you see a lot of people come out of their shell over the course of a season. They may come in not knowing anything about baseball, they’re 7 years old and then by the end of that year they’re very confident in what they’re doing, and you just see that maturity and that growth in that year. It’s part of the reason I never really wanted to get out of youth athletics for so long, was that part of it and just getting to see the growth of those kids. (You see them grow) over not just that one year, but from the time when they were 7 to the time when they were 12 or 14 and out of our programs and into middle school. Those were some of my favorite parts of this job, getting to see those kids and how they mature and how they start handling pressure, how they handle relationships, how they handle failure, how they handle success. To me, that is the essence of youth sports. It’s not about winning and losing, it’s about how those kids grow. How they develop mentally. It’s just my favorite part of parks and rec.
Of course, a lot of people might be just as interested in hearing about your career playing football for the University of Georgia as they might be in hearing about your new job. What years did you play at UGA?
I was there from 1990 to '94.
So that means you were on that Citrus Bowl team that beat Ohio State and Kirk Herbstreit (of ESPN College Gameday fame).
I was, yes. I redshirted in '90 and started the next four years. I played mostly offensive guard. I started one game at offensive tackle, I was kind of our backup split tackle and starting guard, so if anything happened to our tackle I moved out to tackle and they brought in a guard to take my position.
With you coming back to the DPRD, does that mean Georgia fans can count on the best athletes in Dalton being steered towards the red and black?
(laughs) Well, if I could do that, I would have already done that. (laughs) But no, I’ll be honest, I’m an SEC fan. Obviously, my heart lies with Georgia. The reason I chose Georgia was that it’s my home state, and I think I never really realized - when I was getting recruited, Auburn was big on my list. I had a friend, her brother was a big All-American lineman at Auburn and she was kind of my Auburn girl and one time she said, "every time I cross that Georgia line I just feel like I’m home" and I was like, “boy, you just killed their recruiting of me here.” Because that stuck with me after she said that - you know, this is my home. I could have gone basically anywhere I wanted to go, and I’ve never regretted going to Georgia and I enjoyed every moment I was there and I wouldn’t change a thing.
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For news on Dalton Parks and Recreation sports leagues, events, and other programming make sure to like and follow the DPRD on Facebook for announcements and updates. You can also visit the department's website daltonparks.org for more information and to register for winter sports leagues and other events.
