Greeneville receives Municipal League award for Excellence in Parks and Recreation
Leveraging growing local interest in a sport and the opportunity to redevelop an area of the town’s largest park, officials with the town of Greeneville were able to develop a new volleyball complex that is both encouraging youth sports and attracting sports tourism revenue.
In recognition of city officials’ efforts to find new opportunities to bring sports tourism and outdoor activity on both the local and national levels to their community, TML is proud to present the town of Greeneville with an award for Excellence in Parks and Recreation. The award will be presented Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025, at the 85th Annual Conference of the Tennessee Municipal League (TML) held at the Chattanooga Convention Center.
Greeneville’s 55-acre Hardin Park is the largest of the town's parks and already featured an Olympic-size outdoor swimming pool, picnic areas, six pavilions, a large fishing pond, five ball fields, a skatepark, basketball courts, tennis courts, and two playgrounds.
Volleyball has become one of the fastest growing sports in the country, with Greeneville officials noticing more interest in the sport locally. The town saw a surge in participation in youth volleyball leagues in the past four years with more than 300 participants in fall leagues, 350 in spring leagues, and 250 in the summer beach league, the only such program in Northeast Tennessee. Participants come from five surrounding counties to participate in Greeneville’s volleyball programs.
With a softball field at Hardin Park needing repurposing, Greeneville leaders opted to turn the field into six volleyball fields – four of which are NCCA regulation beach volleyball courts – with netting, fencing, windscreens, and drainage systems. The town secured a $42,000 Tennessee Tourism Enhancement Grant (TEG) with a $4,200 local match.
The town’s parks and recreation department worked hand-in-hand with contractors to repurpose the field into the new courts. The resulting six-court facility includes LED lighting, an electric scoreboard, pavilions, restrooms, and concession stands. The new facility caters both to town-sponsored leagues as well as residents who want to try out a new sport or play a pick-up game.
The new volleyball complex has helped build on the strength of the town’s recreational volleyball programs and brought in a new element of sports tourism to the region. The town recently hosted the NAIA Women's National Beach Volleyball Championship with teams from Oregon, California, Arizona, Alabama, Missouri and Florida coming to Greeneville to compete. Family and supporters of tournament players also came to stay in the town for the tournament’s duration. The event also gave local volleyball fans a chance to enjoy championship play, which included 20 matches on the first day of play.
Greeneville is also working with nearby Tusculum University to host their volleyball tournament and other volleyball related events. Ongoing efforts between the town, Greeneville Sports Council, Greeneville Tourism Department, Greeneville Parks and Recreation Department, and the Greene County Partnership all work together to recruit, coordinate, and host local, regional, state, and national tournaments at the site.
Each year the Tennessee Municipal League honors cities throughout the state for overall excellence, improvement, specific outstanding programs, or department accomplishments. Award winners for 2025 include Chattanooga for Excellence in Energy Efficiency and Conservation; Cleveland for Excellence in Economic and Community Development; Farragut for Excellence in Innovation; Franklin for Excellence in Fire Services; Gatlinburg for Excellence in Municipal Governance; Greeneville for Excellence in Parks and Recreation; Jackson for Excellence in Police Services; Kingsport for Excellence in Economic and Community Development; and Pulaski for Small City Progress.