Photo by Lexi Coon
The Greg Carter Memorial Disc Golf Course features 18 holes at the Trussville Athletic Complex along Riverbend Road. While some holes are in open spaces, many are located in the forested areas or near the small boulder field of the complex.
Caitlin Lea grew up playing soccer at the Trussville United Soccer Club as a sprawling sports complex grew up around her.
Many a night as the sky streaked pink and the sun set over the Trussville Sports Complex, she and her family were there.
“I was playing or practicing several nights a week, and on the nights we weren’t there for me, we were often there for my little sisters,” Lea said.
As she got older, she and her dad would take their mountain bikes to the complex and hit the bike trails that wound through the woods. And as Lea’s soccer coaches worked more and more running into their practices over the years, she and her teammates would spend hours pounding the pavement of the greenway that ran alongside the Cahaba River. The two-mile trail is connected to Trussville’s library, community center and mall area by a pedestrian bridge.
“I wouldn’t say running was my favorite, but I liked that trail. It was shady and flat — a really nice place to run,” Lea said.
It seems a lot of people agree with her. Every day, sports lovers and outdoor types enjoy the 120-acre sports park, which offers both organized sports and places for casual sports enthusiasts. It boasts soccer, baseball and football fields, as well as fields for youth and adult softball. It also offers tennis courts, disc golf courses, mountain bike trails, a greenway and the newest addition: a bouldering area.
The boulder trail offers climbing routes on five boulders tucked behind the ball fields — boulders that serve up overhung lines, technical face climbing and varied traverses for all ability levels.
Two 18-hole disc golf course are also available. The Greg Carter Memorial Course, for both casual play and Pro/Am tournaments, is inside the complex. The John LeMaster Course starts near the senior center and goes along the greenway just outside the sports park.
“The complex was originally opened in 1993, and we have added a lot of stuff over the years,” said David Vinson, director of Trussville Parks and Recreation. “It’s a big, beautiful park. We have a lot of great programs there.”
There’s something for everybody, said Drew Peterson, Parks and Recreation superintendent. The sports park also now includes the Cahaba Dog Park, which is “probably one of the few dog parks that’s completely shaded,” he said.
You can get into the complex from Cherokee Drive near Cahaba Elementary School, from Happy Hollow Road or through Sherman Oaks Subdivision.
For more information, visit trussvilleparks.org.
