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Zephyrhills and East Pasco Sports

New sports complex expected to attract national events

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With concrete footers poured and steel beams heading vertical, the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Complex is a step closer to its much-anticipated opening.

The $44 million sports complex is targeted for a mid-July 2020 soft opening — more than two years after a celebrated groundbreaking ceremony that marked the beginning of construction at 3211 Lajuana Blvd., in Wesley Chapel.

Once completed, the 98,000-square-foot indoor space will feature a multipurpose sports layout that accommodates up to eight basketball courts or 16 volleyball courts, plus a separate competitive cheer and dance studio, fitness and athletic training center, and other amenities.

Concrete footers and steel beams represent construction progress on the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Complex. The 98,000-square-foot facility is anticipated to be a regional and national draw for youth and amateur sports. (Courtesy of RADD Sports)

Besides primarily basketball, volleyball and cheer offerings, the Pasco County-owned facility also will be able to accommodate martial arts, wrestling, gymnastics, curling, badminton, soccer, lacrosse and pickleball.  Secondary uses of the complex will include conventions, banquets, exhibits, concerts and so on.

Originally, the facility was expected to open later this year.

But, the project experienced some delays.

“That goes with a major development project like this,” said Richard Blalock, president and CEO of RADD Sports, the private sports management company tasked with operating and managing the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Complex.

Those delays included inclement weather, permitting issues and redesigns of the facility to make it hurricane-resistant, Blalock said.

“When you’ve got as many moving parts that’s involved in this project, it’s just a matter of getting all the contracts lined up, and the contractor online and bids opened,” he said.

The facility is being promoted as a regional and national attraction.

The indoor gym on weekdays will operate as a community-based sports center where local youth, adults and seniors will be able to practice and play.

Weekends, meanwhile, will be set aside to play host to national travel tournaments, competitions and other events to generate hotel stays and tax revenues for the county.

The facility’s first weekend tournaments aren’t expected to be booked until around October 2020, Blalock said.

The target is scheduling roughly 25 to 30 weekend events during the first full year and then grow it from there, Blalock said.

He mentioned RADD Sports already has received numerous inquiries from youth and amateur sports organizations asking about the facility’s availability.

“We’ve got ‘em lined up now, wanting to sign,” Blalock said.

The complex also will host a series of weeklong sports camps each July or August, which Blalock said otherwise is a slow period in the travel sports marketplace.

Those camps would allow for local school sports teams to get advanced instruction and match up against teams from all over the country, Blalock said.

“They’re not going to have to travel very much and we’re bringing all the competition in, so it’ll be a good marriage,” he said.

Not unlike nearby AdventHealth Center Ice in Wesley Chapel, the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Complex figures each year to draw hundreds, if not thousands, of youth and amateur travel sports teams and their families.

The $44 million Wiregrass Ranch Sports Complex is scheduled to open in mid-July next year.

Officials are excited about the prospects for Pasco County tourism.

Pasco County Commissioner Mike Moore, who chairs the county’s tourist development council, suggests the facility will be “a huge boon for the local economy.”

Said Moore, “People travel from all over the nation to go these tournaments and these facilities. They all have to stay in hotels, they’re all eating in restaurants, they’re all buying the gas.”

Moore said projections show the facility will generate annual revenues of roughly $4 million to $4.5 million each of first five years or so in operation, not including additional hotel and retail tax revenues generated.

The commissioner emphasized that it’s key for those traveling visitors to stay overnight locally instead of heading to Hillsborough County. It’s something he’s assured will happen, pointing out the county already has 38 hotels “with more coming.”

Moore explained: “Previously, when there’s a lot of tournaments that came into the county, a lot of the families were staying in Hillsborough County, so a lot of the local businesses didn’t see that revenue. Well now, we can handle those families, we can handle these tournaments.”

To take it another step further, Moore said the county’s tourism department is developing a marketing campaign to encourage the myriad sports travel teams and visitors to explore the county’s other offerings, outside the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Complex. The county’s tourism arm officially rebranded itself as “Florida’s Sports Coast” earlier this year.

Said Moore, “We want them to take the day and maybe go rent a boat and go kayaking or go fishing with one of our guides, or hit some of the islands. That’s another benefit for the families coming — great activities outside of the sports or watching their kids play.”

Outdoor offerings on tap, too
The Wiregrass Ranch Sports Complex will be more than just an indoor space.

The complex eventually will include seven outdoor sports fields, an amphitheater with an event lawn, walking trails, pavilions and a playground. There also will be an adjacent 128-room Marriott Residence Inn built with private funds by Mainsail Development Group.

Many of those features are expected to be finished in Phase II of the project, about a year or so later, officials say.

The entire complex is being built on 80 acres of land donated years ago by the Porter family, developers of Wiregrass Ranch.

Several proposals for some type of sports facility on the land fell apart over the years, including one for a baseball complex in 2015.

But, with the mix of indoor and outdoor components, the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Complex provides “the biggest bang for our taxpayers’ buck,” Moore said.

“It’ll be a really big thing for the area,” the commissioner said. “When you think about the area, there’s really nothing like this around here at all. And, if you see how well similar facilities do, this is going to be strong.”

He added: “It’s nice to obviously see the progress that’s being made. It won’t be long. It’ll be done before we know it. It’ll sneak right up on us.”

Meanwhile, the complex adds to a growing list of premier sports offerings in the East Pasco area — with construction underway on a multi-million tennis center in Zephyrhills and preliminary plans for a multi-million outdoor aquatics center in Land O’ Lakes. Even Cypress Creek Middle High, in Wesley Chapel, with its a state-of-the-art rubberized running track and field space has been highly regarded for hosting events.

Blalock underscored what all that could mean for the county’s quest to position itself as a sports tourism destination: “For the most part, we’ll be able to run any type of Olympic event in a short radius, and it’s crazy. There’s nowhere I’m aware of in the southeast, or anywhere in the country really, that can really do that.”

He also posited this: “If everyone in the community pulls together and we work together, and all the facilities work together, it could really, truly become an amateur sports destination that equals nowhere else.”

Published September 25, 2019

Zephyrhills tennis center breaks ground

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A groundbreaking ceremony officially marked the beginning of construction on the long-awaited Sarah Vande Berg Tennis & Wellness Center in Zephyrhills.

After more than two years of planning and design, the tennis center is slated to be ready for play sometime in spring 2020.

The facility will feature 11 outdoor tennis courts (eight clay surface, two hard surface, exhibition court), built to USTA (United States Tennis Association) standards, along with eight pickleball courts and four padel courts. The tennis center also includes a 7,000-square-foot indoor clubhouse that will have a fitness and rehabilitation center, restaurant and cafe, pro shop, kid’s club and other amenities.

A July 10 groundbreaking ceremony marked the beginning of construction for the long-awaited Sarah Vande Berg Tennis & Wellness Center in Zephyrhills. (Courtesy of David Alvarez)

It will be located at 6585 Simons Road, Zephyrhills.

The project comes with a $3.3 million price tag, largely funded through state appropriations, Penny for Pasco monies, park impact fees and other donations.

The July 10 groundbreaking attracted a large crowd of dignitaries, business leaders and local residents to the site where the tennis facility will operate.

It marked a highly anticipated moment for many, as public talks of bringing a large-scale tennis center to the city began back in late 2016.

“It’s a beautiful day,” Zephyrhills Mayor Gene Whitfield said. “They’re going to build a beautiful building on this site.”

“Nothing’s going to make us happier than seeing this facility coming out of the ground,” said Zephyrhills City Manager Billy Poe.

Zephyrhills planning director Todd Vande Berg added: “It is a special day and it’s been a long time coming, but we’re glad this day is here.”

Officials say the tennis center will be not just a regional draw, but also will have national and international appeal through hosting USTA tournaments and other events.

Poe described the forthcoming facility as “an absolutely wonderful complex” that will help boost tourism and economic development in the area.

“Zephyrhills is known for water and skydiving. Soon we’re going to be known for tennis,” the city manager said.

He added, “Who knows, we very well may have a future Grand Slam champion that can say they started here at this facility. The facility will serve as an economic driver, not only for Zephyrhills, but for all of East Pasco.”

The tennis center is named in memory of Sarah Vande Berg, a former Zephyrhills High School district tennis champion, who died in an automobile accident at the age of 21 in October 2015. She was the daughter of longtime city planning director Todd Vande Berg.

Sarah Vande Berg would have just turned 25 years old. Her birthday was July 7.

“I know she’s looking down from heaven, smiling, thinking, ‘Wow, this is pretty special,’ her father, holding back tears, said at the groundbreaking.

“Sarah was a special person. She was a special daughter, and special in so many ways in how she cared for and loved other people.”

Sarah Vande Berg was noted for her sportsmanship on and off the courts.

Pasco County Commissioner Jack Mariano recalled his daughter — former Fivay High School tennis standout and current state Rep. Amber Mariano — losing to Sarah Vande Berg in a prep match “probably 6-love, 6-love each time.”

“She was a great competitor,” Mariano said of Sarah Vande Berg. “She played with class, she played with classiness after the fact (and) great sportsmanship.”

The Sarah Vande Berg Tennis & Wellness Center is a public-private partnership between the City of Zephyrhills and Tennis P.R.O., and its owner Pascal Collard, who will staff, operate and manage the tennis facility.

Collard is a former tennis director at Saddebrook who has trained his fair share of world-ranked tennis players.

Of the Sarah Vande Berg Tennis & Wellness Center, Collard said, “I’m going to try my best to make it unique.”

Collard also declared this lofty ambition: “There’s not one tennis player in the world that won’t know Sarah’s name. Not one. I promise you that.”

Published July 17, 2019

Construction nearing on Zephyrhills tennis center

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After more than two years of planning and design, a multi-million dollar tennis center in Zephyrhills will soon break ground and become a reality.

Construction is expected to begin in August on the Sarah Vande Berg Tennis and Wellness Center, Zephyrhills deputy city manager Billy Poe said during a special June 17 council meeting on the issue.

With the project’s final engineered site plan set to be completed this month, the city then will  seek construction bids through July, Poe said.

Construction is expected to begin in August on the Sarah Vande Berg Tennis and Wellness Center, situated west of Simons Road in Zephyrhills. The $3.5 million project is expected to be complete around summer 2020. (Courtesy of City of Zephyrhills)

Site and road work also is scheduled to begin next month by another contractor at the future facility’s location, which will be situated on nearly 5 acres of land, north of Dean Dairy Road and west of Simons Road.

The timeframe for the project’s completion is around summer 2020, Poe told city council members.

“I think we’ve accounted for everything,” Poe said of the design plans.

The $3.5 million tennis facility is being funded largely through combination of state appropriations, Penny for Pasco and recreation impact fees from several new housing developments.

The project is a public-private partnership between the City of Zephyrhills and Tennis P.R.O. and its owner Pascal Collard, who will operate and manage the tennis facility. It’s a similar arrangement the city has with the East Pasco YMCA.

Renderings show 11 outdoor  tennis courts (eight clay surface, two hard surface, exhibition court), built to USTA (United States Tennis Association) standards, as well as eight pickleball courts and four padel courts.

The tennis center also includes a 7,000-square-foot indoor clubhouse that will include a fitness and rehabilitation center, restaurant and cafe, pro shop and kid’s club, among other amenities.

The facility will be open approximately 80 hours per week.

More amenities also may come on line later.

Collard told council members at some point he is looking to phase in a 30,000-square-foot multi-purpose indoor sports complex which could accommodate four tennis courts and a soccer field made of artificial turf.

Indoor sports field house aside, Collard said the tennis center will draw people from inside and outside Zephyrhills and will become a draw for various regional, national and international tournaments.

He described the facility as “a community sports center for everybody.”

“I think that to have a place like this in Zephyrhills, it’s unique,” said Collard, a professional tennis instructor and former tennis director at Saddlebrook Resort in Wesley Chapel. “If you build something like this, we do believe that a lot of people will come.”

The meeting also included a discussion of the tennis center’s membership fees, which Collard presented to the council.

An annual individual tennis-only membership is listed at $65 per month. Cheaper price points will be offered for four-person households ($120), individual seniors over 65 years old ($50) and household seniors over 65 years old ($90).

There will be a series of other annual membership packages with various levels of access (bronze, silver, gold, platinum), along with a six-month snowbird membership option to run from October through March.

A platinum membership, for instance, provides access to all courts and in-house tournaments, as well as the center’s fitness room, cryotherapy/salt room, and kid’s club. It also includes a golf membership at Silverado Golf & Country Club. An individual platinum membership (ages 17 and up) is listed at $1,999 annually, paid in full.

By comparison, an individual gold membership, which includes all amenities except golf, is $1,296 annually.

All memberships will include a one-time $250 initiation fee. However, the fee will be waived for the first 250 Zephyrhills residents to sign up for a membership.

There will be a 20 percent discount in memberships for nurses, teachers, military veterans and local and state government employees.

In addition to memberships, the tennis center will offer non-member day passes, daily guest passes and hourly court rental opportunities. It also will be used for receptions, fundraisers and other community events.

The facility also will host free tennis camps and lessons to underprivileged youth on a regular basis through its non-profit counterpart, Sarah Vande Berg Tennis Foundation.

“It’s nothing set in stone,” Collard said of the membership prices. “We can tweak it, we can change it, but it’s pretty much what is done in the U.S. and different places.”

“It reflects in the pricing that we’re really giving everybody the opportunity to benefit from this center,” he added.

The breakeven point for the facility is roughly 450 members, Collard said.

In determining membership costs, Collard and city staffers analyzed membership fees at several other tennis and athletic clubs throughout the Tampa Bay region, such as the Beerman Family Tennis Center in Lakeland and the Cindy Hummel Tennis Center in Auburndale.

“Really, our numbers were very comparable and even sometimes less,” city planning director Todd Vande Berg said of the membership fees. “We’re offering so much more, and we’re not even talking about the restaurant (inside the tennis center clubhouse), so we did take a careful look at the comparisons to make sure they were in line.”

Council members didn’t seem to have qualms about the various price points, instead expressing their eagerness for the forthcoming tennis venture.

“I’m excited about it,” councilwoman Jodi Wilkeson said. “I think about the people that I know that play tennis, that’s a great investment for them and would like to have that opportunity.”

Added councilman Lance Smith: “I think it’s a good partnership and I think we’re going to learn as we go along. I’m just anxious to get the facility going.”

Council president Ken Burgess said it’s “good timing” for the city to get a tennis center, pointing out roadway developments along State Road 54, State Road 56 and the Interstate 75-Overpass Road interchange extension to Zephyrhills.

“I think this is one more thing that’s going to put Zephyrhills on the map,” Burgess said. “I mean, I realize that probably a lot of our (tennis) members may come from not necessarily the city limits, but it’s still going to put Zephyrhills on the map. It’s a great design and I think everything’s coming together, all at the right time, too.”

The tennis center is named after the Sarah Vande Berg, a former Zephyrhills High School district champion, who died in an automobile accident at the age of 21 in October 2015. She was the daughter of longtime city planning director Todd Vande Berg.

Published June 26, 2019

Zephyrhills High names ‘Alan Reed Court’

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A little more than a year after naming its football field after legendary coach Tom Fisher, Zephyrhills High School has named the school’s gymnasium floor after longtime varsity boys’ basketball coach Alan Reed.

From now on, anyone stepping on the gym floor will be walking on “Alan Reed Court” — which has been visibly stenciled along the sidelines.

Zephyrhills High School game-goers in the front row seats sit near the newly inlaid name of retired basketball coach Alan Reed. Reed was honored in between the junior varsity game and the varsity game, against Pasco High School. (Fred Bellet)

A formal dedication ceremony for Reed was held Jan. 18 — an evening that coincided with a Bulldogs defeat of crosstown rival Pasco High, 61-34.

Reed, 71, served as Zephyrhills boys’ basketball coach for a total of 16 years — in four separate stints — 1975 to 1979; 1981 to 1986; 2006 to 2010; and, 2014 to 2016.

During that time he became — and still is — the school’s all-time winningest basketball coach.

His teams claimed two district titles and a final four appearance. He was conference basketball coach of the year three times.

His coaching efforts goes beyond hoops, too.

In total, he’s been involved with Zephyrhills athletics for more than 35 years, also coaching volleyball, track, football and softball.

To this day, he remains a volunteer coach at the school.

In that role, Reed spends countless hours with players in the weight room, scouting, and of course, offering strategy advice when broached.

“It beats sitting on the couch,” Reed said of volunteering. “It keeps me busy. I love the game. It’s what I do. It’s who I am. It’s my whole life.”

Before embarking on a lengthy coaching career, Reed played high school basketball in Pennsylvania and then for Florida Southern College in Lakeland. In-between, Reed spent four years in the U.S. Air Force where he reached the rank of sergeant, and also played hoops.

Alan Reed was presented with a basketball career memento signed by former teammates, players and coaches who attended the surprise, special event.

At Zephyrhills, Reed’s most successful basketball teams came 40 years apart from each other.

In his second season — 1976 — the Bulldogs went 21-7 and won a district title.

Fast forward to 2016 — his final year as a head basketball coach —and that squad went 27-5 and reached the 5A state semifinals. It also marked the program’s first final four appearance since 1966.

There were many other memorable seasons scattered throughout, too.

Said Reed: “There’s a lot of ’em. I  had a lot of special teams that didn’t have good winning records, but were much better at the end of the road (season) than the beginning.”

Yet, Reed’s biggest contributions to the school is more than just wins and losses, Zephyrhills athletic director Bruce Cimorelli said.

“The guy knows his basketball,” Cimorelli said, “but, he’s just a really good influence on the kids — teaching them work ethic, being on time, those sorts of things.”

Reed’s impact was undoubtedly apparent in the welcoming he received at the pregame dedication.

Dozens of former players and coaches — as well as a handful of Reed’s former teammates — joined hundreds of Bulldogs fans in congratulating Reed and giving him a rousing ovation when the gymnasium floor was officially named for him.

For Reed, the special event was “totally unexpected.”

“I can’t even put it into words,” Reed said. “I love this community. I love this high school. It’s just an honor.”

In that group of cheering attendees was Academy at the Lakes varsity football and basketball coach Shawn Brown, who once served as an assistant junior varsity basketball coach for Reed at Zephyrhills and also as a football coach at Stewart Middle School.

Prior to the presentation of a special basketball memento and dedication ceremony, Zephyrhills High School athletic director, Bruce Cimorelli, left, asked coaches, former players coached by Reed and former teammates who played basketball with Reed to sign a memento to honor Reed’s great coaching career. Here, former student Joe Galyan, of Zephyrhills, signs the memento. He was coached by Reed from 1975 to 1978.

“He was straight old school,” Brown, who has won back-to-back eight-man state football titles at the Academy, said, describing Reed.

“He was good with adapting to the new style of everything, but he was strict on his ways and his philosophy. That never wavered. When he did something, he did it that way.

“I thought one thing he did really good was he always invested everything with the team and the community. He made sure the kids always had team shoes, uniforms. It was always a top-of-the-line type program.”

Brown added the Zephyrhills hoops coach is “definitely a person I learned a lot from.”

“I run some basketball drills that I learned from him — a couple of different plays I stole from him,” Brown said, with a hearty chuckle.

Meanwhile, the renaming of the hoops court comes at a good time for the Bulldogs’ boys squad, which stands at 12-4 overall and 8-2 in district play, as of Jan. 21.

Solid record and all, it didn’t keep Reed from giving an honest assessment of the roster he volunteers with each day.

“We’re not playing to our potential,” Reed said while the Bulldogs sported a 31-17 halftime lead over Pasco. “We’re struggling a little bit in a lot of areas. We just haven’t put it all together yet. We’ve got some good players, some good kids. We have a lot of inexperience…so they’re still catching up.”

Published January 23, 2019

Pasco High gets new football coach

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Pasco High School will have a new head football coach roaming the sidelines, for the first time in more than a decade.

The school recently announced its next head coach is Jason Stokes — a coaching mainstay in the Tampa Bay area, most notably at Gaither High School.

Jason Stokes has been named Pasco High School’s football coach. (File)

Stokes, 43, replaces longtime Pasco coach Tom McHugh, who was relieved of his coaching duties following four consecutive losing seasons, including a 2-8 mark this past year.

Stokes most recently coached at Lake Region High School, in Polk County. The perennially struggling program went winless in his lone season there.

Stokes has achieved coaching success elsewhere, however.

In 2017, he served a season as offensive coordinator at Indian Rocks Christian High School, which went 9-3 and reached the 2A regional finals.

He’s best known for his time at Gaither, from 2011 to 2016 — steering that program to playoff appearances in each of his first three seasons. (He later resigned in the middle of the 2016 season after reports surfaced about using ineligible players, which led to three games forfeited that year.)

Before that, Stokes was the head football coach at Bloomingdale (7-5 in 2008) and Middleton (10-10 combined record in 2009-10) high schools.

In taking over for McHugh, Stokes undoubtedly has big shoes to fill.

McHugh compiled an 86-50 mark in 12 seasons, winning six district titles (2007-12) and two regional titles (2008, 2011).

He is the county’s fifth winningest coach in public schools, behind John Benedetto (195 wins at Land O’ Lakes), Tom Fisher (124 wins at Zephyrhills), John Castelamare (103 wins at River Ridge, Mitchell) and Scott Schmitz (94 wins at River Ridge, Mitchell).

McHugh also coached a trio of Pasco players who would go on to the NFL— Josh Johnson, a former San Diego Charger and Jacksonville Jaguar cornerback who now plays for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League; Janarion Grant, a wide receiver currently on the Baltimore Ravens practice squad; and, Joey Ivie, a defensive tackle currently on the Kansas City Chiefs practice squad.

Yet, the Pirates have struggled in recent years under McHugh, going a combined 10-30 the past four years. Moreover, the program suffered four straight defeats to crosstown foe Zephyrhills High School in the annual 9-Mile War rivalry game, losing those games by an average margin of nearly 40 points.

Despite the difficulties of late, the Pirates do have a young roster stocked with promising players.

That includes linebacker Gabriel Barnes, tailback Malcolm Gibbs, receiver Darrion Robinson and lineman Savion Spaights, who will all be juniors next season, as well as rising seniors in quarterback Desmin Green, defensive back Jordan Mclaughlin and offensive/defensive tackle Cody Rand, among others.

New Sunlake football coach Trey Burdick, left, pictured with former Sunlake all-star linebacker Adam Jarvis. (Courtesy of Trey Burdick)

Meanwhile, Pasco isn’t the only local school to undergo a coaching change this offseason.

In early December, Sunlake High School named assistant Trey Burdick as its next head coach, to replace the now-retired Bill Browning, the only head varsity football coach in the school’s history.

Burdick, 36, has been an assistant at Sunlake since 2008, where he’s coached linebackers, tight ends, special teams, and served as the team’s recruiting coordinator; he’s also been the school’s head track coach for six years, a role he’ll continue as head football coach.

Prior to Sunlake, Burdick was an assistant for two years at Tallahassee Godby High School, working under Florida Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Famer Shelton Crews. He also played football for Tallahassee Lincoln High School, where he was a member of the 1999 6A state championship team.

Sunlake is coming off back-to-back 4-6 marks. Before that, from 2010 to 2016, the Seahawks strung together seven consecutive winning seasons and four playoff appearances.

Published January 16, 2019

Foundation offers tennis lessons to Pasco youths

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Construction has yet to begin on the Sarah Vande Berg Memorial Tennis Center in Zephyrhills — but that hasn’t stopped the community from working to serve up more tennis opportunities to its underserved population.

Well before the new $3.5 million, 11-court facility opens off of Simons Road, dozens of underprivileged youth in east Pasco will get opportunities to learn the game through a new nonprofit —  the Sarah Vande Berg Tennis Foundation.

Pascal Collard, center left, and Nick Bollettieri, right, stand at the net with some of the Nick Bollettieri and Sarah Vande Berg Tennis Clinic’s participants. (Fred Bellet)

The foundation is headed up by professional tennis instructor Pascal Collard, who will also manage the daily operations of the new tennis center bearing the same name.

Its overall purpose is to instill character, leadership and academics to children, through the game of tennis.

The foundation’s first major fundraiser was on Oct 5, at Arbor Green in New Tampa.

About 60 participants and another 40 volunteers turned out for a tennis clinic and gala headlined by International Tennis Hall of Fame coach Nick Bollettieri.

Bollettieri, 87, is renowned for grooming 10 world No. 1 players, including Andre Agassi, Monica Seles, Maria Sharapova and Dade City’s Jim Courier, among many others.

The legendary coach also is known for founding the IMG Academy in Bradenton — formerly the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy — which opened in 1978 as the world’s first full-time tennis boarding school.

The gala helped raise more than $10,000, which will be used to purchase tennis rackets and subsidize tennis camps for youth, who will begin learning the sport on the courts at Zephyr Park and will transition to the city’s new state-of-the-art facility expected to open in late 2019.

“This is going to help a lot of kids — kids that have probably never seen a tennis ball,” said Collard, a former tennis director at Saddlebrook Tennis Academy in Wesley Chapel from 2003 to 2006.

His training includes working with several widely known tennis pros, including Younes El Aynaoui and Martin Verkerk, both of whom coincidentally ranked as high as No. 14 in the ATP Tour rankings back in 2003.

It’s not Collard’s first outreach program.

While he was tennis director at The Merion Cricket Club — a private club in Haverford, Pennsylvania — Collard created a similar foundation called Down the Line and Beyond.

The Philadelphia-based nonprofit, which has grown to serve more than 1,600 underprivileged youths from 7 through 17, facilitates positive character and education development through tennis lessons.

Some of those youths have earned collegiate tennis scholarships.

“None of them would’ve played tennis — none— without the foundation. We are going to do the same thing over here (in Zephyrhills),” Collard said.

The Sarah Vande Berg Tennis Foundation will begin its program with 25 kids to 50 kids, and hopes to grow it from there, Collard said. “We have to touch one life at a time.”

In preparation for the start of the tennis clinic, instructor Vincent Suillerot, 24, of Paris, France makes sure a sufficient number of tennis balls were on hand for each of the courts.

The foundation — and tennis center— is named after the former Zephyrhills High School district champion who became a scholarship player on the University of South Carolina Upstate women’s tennis team. Vande Berg, the daughter of the Zephyrhills planning director Todd Vande Berg, died in an automobile accident at the age of 21 in October 2015.

And, it’s all drawn the support of Bollettieri, a longtime friend of Collard’s.

Bollettieri, who lives in Sarasota, plans to visit Zephyrhills every six weeks to eight weeks to pitch in with foundation clinics and other events.

Instead of his well-documented coaching achievements, Bollettieri said he wants to be remembered for helping children, particularly those from inner cities and of lower socio-economic status.

He, along with fellow tennis Hall of Famer Arthur Ashe, started the Ashe-Bollettieri Cities Tennis program in the late 1980s, which introduced thousands of youth to the sport and helped hundreds achieve athletic or academic scholarships.

Of the Sarah Vande Berg Tennis Foundation, Bollettieri said: “First of all, when you do things for charity, there’s no greater reward than helping out for a great cause. Pascal’s going to give an opportunity for a lot of boys and girls to make it in life.”

Tennis center to be draw for Zephyrhills
The tennis legend, too, is impressed with the design plans of the forthcoming Sarah Vande Berg Memorial Tennis Center.

“I think a lot of thought has gone into it,” Bollettieri said. “The big thing is, someday, if they could get a few indoor courts, whether it’s open on the sides or, if they can have at least a covered area, that would help tremendously.”

Renderings of the facility show 11 full-sized outdoor courts — a mix of clay and hard surfaces — built to U.S Tennis Association (USTA) professional standards.

Additionally, an 8,000-square-foot tennis center is expected to include a fitness/wellness center and cryotherapy room, a pro shop, a restaurant, conference and multipurpose rooms, a kid’s club and playground, a common area, office spaces and other features.

At some point, there’s also a possibility of phasing in a covered/indoor tennis court building that would have four full-size courts.

Though its architectural design plans are not yet final, the tennis center is expected to be complete “in about a year,” Steve Spina, who is city manager for Zephyrhills, said during the foundation fundraiser.

Preparing to check-in at the registration table, Lisa Strickland of New Tampa was among the 60 or so who participated in the Nick Bollettieri and Sarah Vande Berg Tennis Clinic at the Arbor Greene Community Center. Vande Berg was a former Zephyrhills High School district champion who became a scholarship player on the University of South Carolina Upstate women’s tennis team. Vande Berg, the daughter of the Zephyrhills planning director Todd Vande Berg, died in an automobile accident at the age of 21 in October 2015.

Along with city dollars, funding assistance for the project is coming from the state, recreation impact fees, USTA grants and Penny for Pasco, among other sources.

Besides its public recreational use, the facility will also be used to draw an assortment of regional and national tournaments to East Pasco.

“I think it brings us to a whole new level,” Spina said. “It’s just a facility like we’ve never seen, to really make us a player, nationally.

“I think it’s huge for the community,” added Collard. “It’s going to be a great impact in terms of visibility and awareness of Zephyrhills, and put them on the map.”

Vande Berg remembered on, off the court
Meantime, Todd Vande Berg is appreciative of having his late daughter’s name memorialized through the tennis foundation and the facility.

“If I lived in Tampa, I’m not sure this happens,” he said, “but to have a small, interlocked community like we have, that know the people and care for the people and support each other,  it’s pretty unique and special.”

Aside from her achievements on the court, Sarah Vande Berg was known for her friendliness and outgoing personality, her father said.

“She was super competitive on the court,” Todd Vande Berg said, “but the complete opposite off the court. Sarah loved people. She was super social. She befriended all the athletes, and not just the tennis athletes.”

Sarah, too, was known for her work with children with special needs.

“Sarah had a special place in her heart towards special needs kids,” her father said. “They just seemed to gravitate to her.”

Published October 24, 2018

Saint Leo lacrosse celebrates its program-best season

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Saint Leo University made history in 2006 as the first NCAA lacrosse program in the state of Florida.

The university has added another significant notch to its belt — becoming the state’s first lacrosse program to make a national championship appearance.

Saint Leo’s men’s lacrosse team squared up on May 27 against Merrimack College in the NCAA Division II Lacrosse National Championship at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts.

The Saint Leo men’s lacrosse team recently became the state’s first program to make a national championship appearance. They lost to Merrimack College 23-6 in the NCAA Division II Lacrosse National Championship at Gillette Stadium, in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
(Courtesy of Saint Leo Athletics)

The Lions were overmatched by the Massachusetts-based foe, surrendering 23-6. However, the season still goes down as the best run in team’s 13-year history.

Saint Leo finished the 2018 campaign with a 16-3 overall record, including a 7-0 mark in the Sunshine State Conference.

The team ranked among the nation’s leaders in scoring (11th, 13.63 goals per game), shot percentage (first, .393) and clearing percentage (third, .907).

Leading up to the season finale, the Lions defeated conference rival University of Tampa 11-10 in the national quarterfinals and then downed Lenoir-Rhyne (North Carolina) University 12-11 in the national semifinals.

As the team regroups from a biting title game loss, players are proud to finish national runner-up and be part of the remarkable campaign.

Redshirt junior goalkeeper Tom Tatarian described the season as “an incredible run.”

Senior attacker Anthony Visintin evoked similar feelings: “It sounds cool and awesome to say that we had the best record in Saint Leo history and we get to go down as one of the best teams to go through here. Obviously, we would’ve rather it gone the other way and we would’ve rather won and have the whole big grand ending, but I guess you could say it’s the second-best ending that could happen.”

As one of 15 seniors on the 2018 roster, Visintin and others took the onus upon themselves to make their final season count — by improving upon a relatively disappointing 2017 where the Lions finished 9-5 overall and 1-4 in conference play.

Many of those upperclassman, including Visintin, were also part of squads that finished 9-5 and 7-7 in 2016 and 2015, respectively.

“I think for me, playing for four years, we kind of found ourselves underachieving almost every year,” he said.

“But I think this year we were able to finally put it together. Having a big senior class definitely helped,” added Visintin, who finished with 20 goals and 11 assists.

Saint Leo men’s lacrosse coach Brad Jorgensen said the team, starting in the offseason, “worked hard to go from a pretty good team to a great team.”

Saint Leo men’s lacrosse coach Brad Jorgensen launched the program more than a decade ago.
(Courtesy of Saint Leo Athletics)

Jorgensen, who helped launch the program more than a dozen years ago, explained there was a “re-energized” commitment and attitude toward game preparation, strength and conditioning, among other team aspects.

The heightened focus and mindset, Jorgensen pointed out, allowed the Lions to win several close games this year; eight of their wins came by three or fewer goals.

The prior year, the Lions lost two conference games by two goals. They lost two others by four goals and five goals, respectively.

Jorgensen explained: “I think we had a tendency, when the pressure got on, to do what felt comfortable instead of what needed to be done on some occasions and it was really that tougher battle of, ‘Am I willing for the next 10 months to do the hard stuff to get us to where we want to go?’”

He added: “Guys needed to realize the devil’s in the details and, when you lose as many close games as we did in 2017, it just points to a little bit of a lack of attention to detail and commitment to getting the little things right.”

Thinking ahead to next year
Like many of the Lions’ players, Jorgensen acknowledged he’s still reeling from the national championship loss.

But the longtime coach hasn’t lost sight of what just getting there means for the program’s future.

“We got unbelievable exposure over the course of the (championship) weekend,” Jorgensen said. “Being able to have the Saint Leo logo plastered all over Gillette during the final four where you’re talking 35,000 to 40,000 people were able to see us and see our school and be exposed to it, that’s obviously huge.”

It’s especially important for recruiting because the national title appearance enhances Saint Leo’s reputation as a bona fide lacrosse power.

“I think every coach tells recruits that they want to play for a championship and that they’re a championship program and all that other stuff, but it becomes a heck of a lot easier sell now that you’ve been that close,” the coach said.

Meanwhile, the lacrosse program looks to move on without a senior class that made up about 40 percent of the 2018 roster.

Among the key departures is attacker Jake Gilmour, the program’s first-ever United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) Division II First-Team All-American.

Another is defender Jake Bye, who was named USILA honorable mention.

Said Jorgensen, “It’s not like this class graduating snuck up on us, but it is kind of impossible to discount what we’re losing to graduation. …Some guys who have been starting here for four years won’t be here in the fall when we get started. That’s going to be an adjustment.”

Even so, the Lions do have solid core in place for next season.

That includes Tatarian, a second-team All-American goalkeeper who ranked sixth nationally with 13.84 saves per game; attacker Charlie Kurtenbach, who was second on the team in goals (40) and assists (29); and midfielder Julian Taylor, a Tampa product and Plant High School alum who tallied 23 points.

Tatarian, for one, is embracing what’s in store for 2019, where he’ll be a graduate student exhausting his final year of eligibility. (He received a medical redshirt for an injury suffered as a freshman in 2015.)

He will be the longest-tenured player on next year’s roster, likely forcing him to become more of a leader in both actions and words.

Said Tatarian, “There’s really going to be a movement forward to a younger team and I have to take that responsibility upon myself as well as the other seniors to really shoulder the dynamic for this program, for what we’re about, and what we’re going to do moving forward. I think it’s going to be a very exciting process seeing all the young guys coming in and see what they’re going to bring to the table.”

Published June 6, 2018

Local sprinter wins state title, has promising future

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It took an injury playing football for Evan Miller to unleash his potential at the track.

Miller, from Zephyrhills Christian Academy, recently captured the Class 1A boys 100-meter dash title in a blistering 10.75 seconds at the Florida High School Athletic Association Track & Field 2018 Championships at the University of North Florida, in Jacksonville.

Zephyrhills Christian Academy senior Evan Miller won first place in the 1A boys 100-meter dash in 10.75 seconds at this month’s Florida High School Athletic Association Track & Field 2018 Championships. Courtesy of Erica Miller)

Moreover, the senior was the final leg of the school’s gold-medal winning 4×100-meter relay team that scorched the competition with a 42.10 second mark — joining junior NyJohn Moody, sophomore Tyler Davis and senior Calvin Samuel.

Those marked the only first-place finishes at the state meet among athletes from The Laker/Lutz News Coverage area.

The event was held May 4 and May 5.

For Miller, the memorable showing has been a year in the making.

Last summer, the multisport athlete suffered a broken ankle during a 7-on-7 football tournament.

The injury forced Miller, a standout defensive back, to miss several games in the fall as a member of the Zephyrhills Christian Academy varsity football team.

Unable to hit the gridiron, Miller hit the starting blocks instead, as part of his rehabilitation process.

“It was like an epiphany, ‘Well, we could do track,’ to help work him back into shape,” said his mother and track coach Erica Miller. “He still always had his eye on football, but we just didn’t really realize he was that good at track, so it kind of fell into place.

“For him now, a year later (after the injury) to be state champ, that’s awesome; miraculous, really,” she said.

Though Miller ran track his freshman year (then for Wiregrass Ranch High School) and for Zephyrhills Christian Academy as a junior, the speedster admitted this was the first time he really began to seriously train for the sport. His focus on it intensified after his football-related setback.

Around December, Miller linked up with AAU track coach and personal trainer BB Roberts, who runs the Wesley Chapel-based Speed Starz Track Club, and lists NFL and MLB athletes as training clientele.

Roberts, a former track star in his own right at Wesley Chapel High School and Coffeyville (Kansas) Community College, worked to correct Miller’s running form and technique, among other tips.

Miller explained: “He helped me with my start. My start was something I really needed to work on — coming off the blocks. And then sprinting, finishing the race. He taught me transitions through the race. It’s not just getting from point ‘A’ to point ‘B,’ there’s a transition, a drive phase, all that stuff…”

The fixtures shaved Miller’s 100-meter personal record from a still-impressive 11.2 to a 10.69 — which he set at the Steinbrenner High Invitational in early April.

Meanwhile, Miller’s time of 10.75 second in the state finals bested a 10.77-second effort from the second-place finisher, Community School of Naples senior Alex Murphey. The next fastest time in the 1A finals was a 10.98.

Miller no doubt believed in himself at the event.

“I was very confident,” Miller said, “because it wasn’t that I was much faster, but every meet I was placing either first or second, so I was very confident going into states and regionals, knowing I’ll be able to win.”

He added: “I was ready to run that day. I went into the finals with the mindset of, ‘I’m going to get a gold medal. I’m going to get first place. I’m not accepting under that.’ So, it felt good to cross the finish line, at first. And, it had me in a good mood for the 4×100 (relay) as well, because that was the next race.”

Miller is also proud to represent his small school — which has about 250 students from prekindergarten through 12th grade — in just its second year offering a boys and girls track & field program.

A budding program, Zephyrhills Christian Academy also reached states last year and came home with gold in the boys 4×100 relay (43.3 seconds). That relay squad featured Miller, Samuel, Jevan Smith and Dominic Moses.

“It’s kinda cool. Since last year was actually our first year ever running track and actually made it to states, it feels good to bring attention to the school for track,” Miller said.

Aside from natural ability and learning to master sprinting fundamentals, Roberts credits Miller’s motivation, determination and never-give-up attitude as reasons for the prep sprinter’s all-but immediate success.

“He had will. He had the potential,” Roberts said. “It wasn’t magic or anything like that. He was willing to listen, willing to learn, willing to take criticism. He came out the very first track meet, and I saw him and I said, ‘Hey, let’s work on this.’ Every other track meet we’d work on something else, until we perfected it.”

Miller just turned 17 and plans to compete in football and track at Warner University, in Lake Wales.

A state title in hand, perhaps Miller’s next goal is supplanting Roberts’ own 100-meter best of 10.64 seconds.

“I’m going to get him past that. I want him to be better than me,” said Roberts, noting he could see Miller reach the 10.4s by July.

The track star has other bold aspirations in sight, too.

Miller explained: “I’m looking to chop down my time as much as I can, maybe even try out for the Olympics. My parents were talking to me about the 2020 Olympics, maybe getting in that if I get my time down, in time. But, I’m just going to keep running track in college, see where I can get from that.”

Roberts acknowledged such a goal is attainable for Miller, with athletic bloodlines to further tap into. Along with his mother who ran track in high school, his father, Selvesta Miller, played football at the University of South Carolina and also had a stint with the Miami Dolphins, as a linebacker/defensive end.

“He can go far,” Roberts said. “He’s definitely an amazing kid, and I’m excited for what the future holds for him.”

2018 FHSAA Track & Field Championships

Results of top finishers in T he Laker/Lutz News Coverage area, for Classes 1A-4A:
1A
Boys
Team(s)
Zephyrhills Christian Academy (tied for 7th out of 57 schools)
Carrollwood Day School (48th)

100-meter dash
1st place: Evan Miller, Zephyrhills Christian Academy (10.75 seconds)

110-meter hurdles
6th place: Seth Cribben, Carrollwood Day School (15.44 seconds)

4×100-meter relay
1st place: Zephyrhills Christian Academy—NyJohn Moody, Tyler Davis, Calvin Samuel, Evan Miller (42.10 seconds)

Triple Jump
9th place: Kavion Mabra, Zephyrhills Christian Academy (12.93 meters)
23rd: Christopher Sheppard III, Carrollwood Day School (11.45 meters)

Girls
Team(s)
Carrollwood Day School (31st out of 48 schools)

Pole Vault
4th place-tied: Hailey Crow, Carrollwood Day School (3.00 meters)

2A
Boys
Team(s)
Zephyrhills High School (tied for 30th out of 55 schools)

Long Jump
8th place: Cartrell Strong, Zephyrhills (6.66 meters)

Triple Jump
5th place: Cartrell Strong, Zephyrhills (13.49 meters)

3A
Boys
Land O’ Lakes High School (tied for 23rd out of 54 schools)
Wesley Chapel High School (tied for 23rd)
Pasco High School (tied for 36th)

100-meter dash
3rd place: Isaiah Bolden, Wesley Chapel (10.75 seconds)

200-meter dash
7th place: Isaiah Bolden, Wesley Chapel (23.07 seconds)

400-meter dash
4th place: Mario Watson, Pasco (48.52 seconds)

3200-meter run
19th place: Alejandro Michel, Freedom (10:11.77 minutes)

4×800-meter relay
16th place: Land O’ Lakes—Adam Hahn, Josiah Pineda, Joseph Pineda, Alex Normandia (8:21.95 minutes)

Pole Vault
2nd place: Tucker Brace, Land O’ Lakes (4.65 meters)

Shot Put
11th place: Gregory Zellers, Sunlake (15.21 meters)
23rd: Thomas Calta, Land O’ Lakes (13.40 meters)

Girls
Gaither High School (tied for 17th place out of 46 schools)
Sunlake High School (tied for 32nd)
Land O’ Lakes High School (46th)

100-meter dash
4th place: LaSarah Hargove, Gaither (11.95 seconds)

200-meter dash
4th place: LaSarah Hargrove, Gaither (24.00 seconds)

1600-meter run
20th place: Natalie Abernathy, Land O’ Lakes (5:27.76 minutes)

3200-meter run
8th place: Natalie Abernathy, Land O’ Lakes (11:15.71 minutes)
24th: Shannon Gordy, Sunlake (12:47.54 minutes)

Long Jump
6th place: Arielle Boone, Sunlake (5.43 meters)
20th: Gianna Levy, Sunlake (4.89 meters)

Triple Jump
13th place: Arielle Boone, Sunlake (11.05 meters)

Shot Put
7th place: Lauryn Beacham, Sunlake (11.20 meters)

Discus
19th: Keyvyn Stinyard, Pasco, (29.54 meters)

4A
Boys
Steinbrenner High School (44th place out of 52 schools)

4×800-meter relay
18th place: Steinbrenner—Marcus Quinones, McCrea Weller, Zachary Harrigan, Zachary Whitmer (8:18.78 minutes)

Girls
Steinbrenner High School (tied for 18th place out of 53 schools)

400-meter dash
6th place: Ken’naria Gadson (56.77 seconds)

1600-meter run
15th place: Sophia Piniella, Steinbrenner (5:17.97 minutes)
18th: Alexandra Staumann, Steinbrenner (5:22.61 minutes)

3200-meter run
8th place: Sophia Piniella, Steinbrenner (11.07. 57 minutes)

4×400-meter relay
9th place: Steinbrenner—Natalie Brown, Serena Gadson, Ken’naria Gadson, Dana Elkalazani (3:58.15 minutes)

Long Jump
10th place: Ashley Allen, Steinbrenner (5.23 meters)

Pole Vault
10th place: Ashlyn Ludovici, Steinbrenner (3.15 meters)

Triple Jump
9th place: Sara Grofter, Steinbrenner (11.07 meters)
16th: Harmony Shellman, Steinbrenner (10.45 meters)

Published May 16, 2018

Zephyrhills a hotbed for shuffleboard

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The Betmar Acres community customarily hosts one of the state’s largest three-day shuffleboard tournaments every January, and this year was no different.

Bill Everett, left, a winter resident from Maine, shuffles off a disc during an elimination match at the Florida Shuffleboard Association, Betmar, Winter Shuffleboard Tournament. Visiting opponent Phil Rebholz, of Fort Pierce, waits his turn. (Fred Bellet)

The Florida Shuffleboard Association (FSA) Betmar Winter Open Tournament drew 50 men’s doubles teams and 34 women’s teams — 168 players total — all competing for a state championship and point positioning.

Tavares, Deland, Leesburg, Sebring, Fort Pierce, Bradenton and Hawthorne were just some of the many cities represented by professional and amateur shufflers alike.

But, it was locals who reigned supreme.

Zephyrhills residents Bonnie Collins and Sue Dick claimed the women’s championship, out-dueling Glenna Earle and Diane Beardsley, another Zephyrhills-based team.

On the men’s side, the Zephyrhills duo of Henry Strong and Earl Ball ousted Bradenton’s Dave Kudro and Ron Nurnberger in the finals.

The tournament ran from Jan. 29 to Jan. 31.

Ball, 73, was the center of attention throughout, sporting his signature green jacket and medallions for the many championships he has won regionally and internationally.

Ball, a resident of Betmar, recently became just the third player to amass 1,000 career points within the Florida Shuffleboard Association (FSA) — joining Clearwater’s Glen Peltier (1,364 points) and fellow Betmar resident Joan Cook (1,049 points).

Besides employing varied shuffleboard tactics, Ball had another weapon on his side — home-court advantage.

Waiting her turn, Jan Metzger, a winter resident from Ohio, stands by with her cue and sizes up her strategy for her next turn during the Florida Shuffleboard Association, Betmar, Winter Shuffleboard Tournament held in Zephyrhills.

“Being home I know all the courts,” he said, “so playing ‘kitchen’ becomes easier.”

Having an established longtime partner didn’t hurt, either. His cohort, Strong, currently ranks 12th in the state with nearly 600 career points. “My partner’s an outstanding player. He’s a Hall of Fame player,” Ball said.
Glenn Monroe has served as the Florida Shuffleboard Association’s head tournament director since 2005.

Of the countless shufflers Monroe’s witnessed, he said Ball and Strong “are probably some of the best strategists in the game right now.

“They’re just very good at what they do. They know what the right shot is to take to put pressure on their opponent. They know what their opponents’ tendencies are — and they’ll play against those tendencies,” Monroe explained.

Shuffleboard, or floor shuffleboard, is a game in which players use cues to push weighted discs, sending them gliding down a narrow court, with the purpose of having them come to rest within a marked scoring triangle-shaped area — where different parts of the triangle have varied point values. Matches can be played in singles or doubles.

“The strategy of the game is keeping your opponent from scoring while scoring yourself,” Monroe said, “and this is one of the few games where you can take points off your opponent’s score, in what’s called the ‘kitchen.’”

“It’s a very easy sport to learn, but very difficult to master because of the strategy involved in it. Anybody can learn to make a good shot, but the strategy involved in the prosecution of the game is challenging,” he said.

Kudro, current president of the FSA, likens the game to a combination of pool and chess.

“It’s a multiple-facet game,” he said.

“You make a move, they make a move, and you’re trying to get ‘checkmate’ basically or just trying to score. There’s much more than just shooting it down there and knocking it off,” he added.

Shuffleboard is taken seriously in Zephyrhills, particularly among retirement communities like Betmar, which alone has 24 courts devoted to the game.

Linda Marshman, a winter resident from upstate New York, marks down the score of a match. Her husband, Bob, also played in the tournament.

“It’s the shuffleboard mecca for Florida — there’s no question about that,” Monroe, a resident of Lakeland, said.

“There are more players in the Zephyrhills area than anywhere else in the state. It’s to the point where people will just move into this area to play shuffleboard.”

Zephyrhills is situated in the central district, the largest in the FSA. The district, which also includes Lakeland and Sebring, encompasses more than 3,000 players between 58 clubs and about 580 courts.

“Downtown Zephyrhills and Betmar are probably the two best clubs in this district,” said Lee Hutchins, a Betmar resident originally from Michigan.

“A lot of these people — this is all they do,” he said.

Hutchins first got interested in the game about 10 years ago, picking it up from his father. He’s been hooked ever since. “It kind of got in my blood,” he said.

Hutchins and his shuffle partner won three matchups before running into the Ball-Strong world-beaters.

“People have been playing a long time, like Earl and Henry. They just stick together all the time,” Hutchins added.

Glenna Earle, 73, described the Zephyrhills shuffleboard community as a “big, giant family.”

Earle is a longtime member of the Zephyrhills Shuffleboard Club who recently was inducted into the FSA Hall of Fame after surpassing 200 career points.

“The thing that keeps us coming back is the people — the camaraderie and the people,” she said.

Art Carlen holds a picture of his daughter, Brenda Carlen Zellner, who lost her battle with cancer. The tournament is also known as the Brenda Carlen Zellner Memorial Tournament.

“If anybody has problems, health issues, or someone dies, everyone rallies around them and are there for each other. They’re close-knit with this common interest — the shuffleboard game. But, when you get old like this, it’s nice to have company when you’re in trouble or whatever, and so it’s a really rewarding experience.”

That’s the case for 87-year old Art Carlen.

For 12 years running, the Betmar Winter Open Tournament has been named in honor of his late daughter, Brenda Carlen-Zellner.

She lost her battle with cancer in 2005 at the age of 40 in Pennsylvania.

The elder Carlen started shuffling when he moved to Betmar in 1990. He continues to play regularly, appreciating its strategy and social aspects.

“First of all, it’s excellent for exercise,” he said, “and I’ve met so many nice people.”

After an early elimination, Carlen stuck around to view the conclusion of the tourney.

He kept a watchful eye on Ball, pointing out he was one of his first instructors nearly 20 years ago. “He went way beyond me,” Carlen said. “Gotta give him credit.”

Published February 7, 2018

Shuffleboard player joins ‘1,000 points’ club

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Zephyrhills’ Earl Ball has achieved yet another milestone in what’s been a lengthy and historic shuffleboard career.

Ball, a resident of Betmar Acres, recently became just the third player to amass 1,000 career points within the Florida Shuffleboard Association (FSA) — joining Clearwater’s Glen Peltier (1,364 points) and fellow Betmar resident Joan Cook (1,049 points).

Zephyrhills resident Earl Ball became the state’s third shuffleboard player to amass 1,000 points. (Courtesy of Earl Ball)

To honor the feat, the FSA last month presented the 73-year-old Ball with a commemorative green jacket — reserved only for members of the 1,000 points club.

A corresponding awards ceremony was held for Ball on Dec. 17 at Betmar Acres, attracting more than 100 guests.

Besides friends and family, shuffleboard players from all across Florida and other states gathered to celebrate Ball on his rare feat.

“It was a fabulous experience to be recognized like that,” said Ball, who sits with 1,020 points.

“When you’re living it, you never realize what’s going on around you; you never realize you’re reaching a record like that, that other people just haven’t made,” he said.

Ball began taking shuffleboard seriously after he retired from the automotive industry in 1997.

He earned “instant pro” status by 1999. (Players can earn a pro designation by accumulating five points within a three-year period at state-sanctioned events.)

Ball has averaged about 55 points per season at the state level since then.

Shufflers earn points for finishing near the top of state-sanctioned events. A first place finish, for example, nets five points.

Joining the 1,000-point club is just the latest of Ball’s many shuffleboard feats.

Ball is the current record-holder for FSA championships (115), as well as National Shuffleboard Association championships (21) and men’s national points (421).

He was inducted into the FSA Hall of Fame in 2005—reserved for players who’ve accumulated at least 200 points.

He’s since achieved Hall of Fame status at the district, national and international levels, as a player.

Earl Ball was recognized during a Dec. 17 shuffleboard awards ceremony at Betmar Acres in Zephyrhills. Besides securing 1,000 points, Ball is the current record-holder for FSA championships (115), as well as National Shuffleboard Association championships (21) and men’s national points (421).

Shuffleboard, or floor shuffleboard, is a game in which players use cues to push weighted discs, sending them gliding down a narrow court, with the purpose of having them come to rest within a marked scoring triangle-shaped area — where different parts of the triangle are worth different points. Matches can be played in singles or doubles.

It has developed a cult following in Florida, particularly among retirees and elderly.

Ball said his shuffling success was born out of a serious commitment to the game.

For many years, the retiree would play eight hours a day, six days a week, year-round.

The countless hours of practice and playing in matches allowed him to apply all kinds of strategies and learn the sport’s nuances.

“I would listen to everybody,” Ball said, “and I became an expert in the rules.”

Though he longer follows such a rigorous schedule, Ball acknowledged he still plays “more than most people” — usually five or six days a week.

That includes playing in numerous events throughout Central Florida, as well as tournaments in places like Hollywood, Fort Pierce, Fort Myers, Melbourne and Leesburg.

For Ball, the game is more than just “a bunch of old people pushing discs back and forth.”

Instead, he describes it as a “physical chess game.”

“It takes you back to your young days of sticks and stones, and bats and balls, and everything else in the field,” he said.

Personal accolades notwithstanding, Ball’s greatest satisfaction comes when he teams with novice players and helps them earn their first wins.

That happened most recently on Jan. 3, when Ball teamed with Zephyrhills resident Walt Shine to win a New Year’s tournament in Clearwater.

“To see how happy they are that they won — it’s that kind of thing that’s just really a thrill for me,” said Ball.

As a youth, Ball grew up playing just about every sport competitively year-round. From baseball, basketball and football, to wrestling and cross-country, Ball “always had something going on.”

He also became a “near scratch” golfer as an adult.

That drive remained as Ball’s grown older, but with a focus on shuffleboard.

When asked what keeps him playing regularly, Ball said: “That’s what I do. I’m a competitive athlete; have been all my life. So, that’s just me.”

And, he doesn’t plan on changing his ways anytime soon.

Ball strives to one day surpass Peltier as the state’s all-time points leader.

As a means to extend his shuffleboard career — and maintain his health and wellness — Ball can regularly be found at the local YMCA lifting weights several days a week.

“I do a lot of things that people don’t see to keep myself in shape to compete with other people, and hopefully that will allow me to continue the way I am,” Ball said.

Published January 10, 2018