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USA Gymnastics

If you build it, they will come

February 15, 2022 By B.C. Manion

For years, the site where Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus is now thriving was the topic of —  well, conversation.

The birth of the event destination dates back to 2001, when a feasibility study identified Pasco County as a possible sports tourism hotspot.

Actual plans for the athletic center didn’t come together until 2015.

The Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus of Pasco County sits on 80 acres of land in Wesley Chapel. Since opening, in 2020, it has attracted a wide array of national and regional tournaments. (Courtesy of Pasco County)

The facility broke ground in June 2018 and it opened in August 2020 — in the midst of a pandemic.

Rather than derailing the success of the sports destination, though, the facility managed to attract tournaments that had intended to go elsewhere but couldn’t because the place they intended to go was closed.

During the pandemic, staff with Florida’s Sports Coast — Pasco County’s tourism arm — also set the stage for future business by developing relationships with event planners.

Late last year, the Florida Sports Foundation named the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus in Wesley Chapel as Florida’s Small Market of the Year for its contributions to the state’s $57.4 billion sports industry.

The recognition didn’t exactly surprise Consuelo Sanchez, sports development and tourism manager of Florida’s Sports Coast.

After all, Sanchez said, efforts to promote the venue at national and international trade shows had been ongoing for years.

“Once it opened, in the middle of a pandemic, it exploded,” she said. “Everyone wanted to come here. All of these event organizers that we had been talking to for years, they wanted to come,” Sanchez said.

She attributes excellent customer service as a key ingredient for the facility’s success.

“Once, they came, they loved the venue, and moving forward, they want to keep hosting these events (here) on an annual basis,” Sanchez said.

The athletics campus is a public-private partnership between the county, which owns the land and facility, and RADD Sports, a private sports management company tasked with handling day-to-day programming, maintenance and operations.

The sports campus also was developed as part of a private-public partnership between the Pasco County Commission, the county’s tourism agency, and the Porter family, who donated the land.

When the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus isn’t booked for special events or tournaments, the court space can be used by local leagues and athletes. (Courtesy of Pasco County)

Designed for flexibility
The field house, which is the centerpiece of the campus, has two 35,500-square-foot multipurpose courts featuring eight drop-down basketball hoops and 16 volleyball nets.

It has a 5,000-square-foot indoor cheer zone.

The campus also has two full-size, outdoor multipurpose fields and will be getting five additional fields to wrap up phase one.

The facility can accommodate up to 17 different sports.

Already, it has attracted amateur events sanctioned by several national governing bodies, such as USA Volleyball, USA Gymnastics, Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) basketball, AAU volleyball, Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA), National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), Florida Senior Games, Special Olympics, and U.S. Club Soccer.

Recently, it finished the Christmas Invitational, which brought in 148 teams from around the country, said Adam Thomas, tourism director for Florida’s Sports Coast.

“These are top-level girls basketball players that are top recruits. We had eight of the top basketball teams from around the country, playing in our tournament at Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus of Pasco County,” Thomas said.

Last June, the facility hosted the first ever Tampa Bay Pro Combine, which brought in Division I and Division II college players, eligible for the pro draft, to showcase their hoop skills.

It will be hosting its second rendition of that event in April, in which 51 or 52 players will compete in the combine.

Local benefits, too
Besides attracting tournaments and tourism dollars to the area, the cutting-edge facility offers significant advantages for local aspiring athletes.

There’s a separate cheer and dance studio at Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus, in Wesley Chapel. (Courtesy of Pasco County)

Local leagues and players can take part in programming at the sports campus, when the facility is not booked for outside tournaments or special events.

“We have kids in Pasco County that participate in travel ball. They participate in travel ball for volleyball or basketball or gymnastics or soccer or whatever sport that we’re hosting at the sports campus,” Thomas said.

“Their level of experience now gets to increase because we’re bringing in better competition, from a national perspective. So, they can compete against top-level athletes,” he added.

Another plus? Local athletes can sleep in their own beds, eat meals at home and forego the expense of travel, he said.

The venue continues to expand its events and programming, and Florida Sport’s Coast staff now are working to secure bookings from 2023 through 2026.

Staff is eyeing one opportunity, in particular, which has great promise, the tourism director said.

“It’s a North American event,” Thomas said, adding he is not yet able to disclose specifics.

“It would be the first time that this event would ever be held in the Southeast Region of the United States,” Thomas said.

And what’s happened so far is just scratching the surface of possibilities for the sports campus.

Once the first phase wraps up, there will be a phase two and phase three.

Six-foot-11-inch Jordy Tshimanga, from Dayton University, goes up for a basket prior to the start of the slam dunk and 3-point shot competition.

How those phases will play out isn’t yet clear, so stay tuned.

Facility features

  • 98,000 square feet of indoor space
  • Two 35,500-square-foot gyms
  • Separate cheer/dance studio
  • Bio-cushioned hardwood floors
  • Multisport electronic scoreboards
  • 37-foot high ceilings
  • Can accommodate 16 volleyball games or eight full-court basketball games at once
  • Floors can be converted for sports such as pickleball (up to 16 courts), futsal (up to eight courts), and large-scale wrestling, mixed martial arts (MMA) or karate tournaments

Coming soon
Sampling of events coming soon to the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus:

  • Feb. 26 – Feb. 27: East Coast Cheer
  • March 5 – March 6: Mark Foster V-Ball
  • April 23 – April 24: RADD Volleyball Battle of the Bay
  • May 7 – May 8: RADD AAU Volleyball
  • June 25 – June 26: RADD Futsal
  • July 23 – July 24: SOH Elite Basketball

Published February 16, 2022

New year in sports offers plenty to enjoy, experience

January 8, 2020 By Kevin Weiss

As we embark on a new year, the sports world within The Laker/Lutz News coverage area promises to deliver plenty to watch and experience.

Here is a sampling of what’s ahead in 2020:

Sports and recreation in East Pasco
The year 2020 may become widely known as ‘the year’ of new sports and recreational facilities in East Pasco. Three significant sporting venues are expected to open: The Sarah Vande Berg Tennis & Wellness Center, in Zephyrhills; the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Complex, in Wesley Chapel; and Snowcat Ridge, in Dade City.

Each offers its own unique twist.

  • The Zephyrhills tennis center will offer 11 USTA-quality tennis courts, eight pickleball courts and four padel courts, plus an indoor fitness and rehabilitation center.
  • The 100,000-square-foot Wiregrass Ranch Sports Complex figures to be a national draw for basketball, volleyball and cheerleading events, and competitions.
  • Snowcat Ridge — being marketed as Florida’s first snow park — features a 60-foot-tall and 400-foot-long real snow-covered tubing hill with a magic carpet lift, an Alpine Village, and a 10,000-square-foot snow dome.

Major sporting events coming to Pasco, Tampa Bay
Pasco County and the Tampa Bay region, as a whole, are poised to host some major sporting events in the new year.

Among the most notable in Pasco: Skydive City in Zephyrhills will host the 2020 USPA (United States Parachute Association) National Parachuting and Skydiving Championships, from Oct. 30 through Nov. 24. While the event doesn’t begin until the fall, competitors will actually be training in Zephyrhills all summer long.

Zephyrhills’ Skydive City will host the 2020 National Parachuting and Skydiving Championships in the fall. (File)

Before that, Skydive City also will host the first annual Pasco Sports Fair on Feb. 16. The free, family friendly event will feature a meet-and-greet with renowned professional athletes, plus an introduction to various sport and game offerings in Zephyrhills and Pasco County, including tennis, soccer, football, basketball, skating, skydiving, boxing, mini-golf and more. Some noted pros scheduled to be in attendance include former English Premier forward Gary Blissett, former NFL defensive end Melvin Williams, former NBA shooting guard/small forward Anthony Parker, and former Tampa Bay Rowdies head coach Stuart Campbell.

Wesley Chapel’s AdventHealth Center Ice will be the venue for a slew of prominent events, including the Sunshine State Figure Skating Games (May 15 to May 17), USA Hockey Adult National Championships (April 19 to April 26), and Torhs2Hot4Ice roller derby national championships (June 28 to July 9), among others.

Meantime, Pasco and north Hillsborough residents may find some interest in these big draw events throughout the Tampa Bay region:

  • 2020 NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament first and second rounds on March 19 and March 21, at Amalie Arena, Tampa
  • PGA Tour Valspar Golf Championship, March 19 to March 22, at Innisbrook Resort, Palm Harbor
  • WWE Wrestlemania 36 on April 5, at Raymond James Stadium, Tampa

Saint Leo’s new sport
Saint Leo University’s new acrobatic & tumbling program will begin its inaugural season in February, which will include seven regular season matchups and three home meets.

Acrobatics & Tumbling, a discipline of USA Gymnastics, is the evolution of different forms of gymnastics and involves tumbling, tosses, and acrobatic lifts and pyramids. Teams participate in head-to-head competition and are scored in six events, including Compulsory, Acro, Pyramid, Toss, Tumbling, and Team.

Acrobatics & tumbling marks the 21st intercollegiate sport offered at Saint Leo and the school’s 12th offering in women’s sports.

The athletics department last added women’s beach volleyball to its sports offerings in 2017.

The acrobatics & tumbling team’s 18-member roster includes five athletes from The Laker/Lutz News coverage area, with the remainder representing other areas of Florida, Maryland, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Texas, New York, New Jersey, Virginia and North Carolina. The team is coached by Allie Williams and Joely Smith.

The Pasco-Hernando State College men’s baseball team is coming off a third-place finish at the 2019 National Junior College Athletic Association Division II College World Series. (Courtesy of Pasco-Hernando State College athletics)

These teams look to repeat success
The 2019 season — and last several years, for that matter — yielded banner campaigns for many prep and college teams in our coverage area. Here are some programs that may be worth watching to see if they maintain or build off past successes:

  • Bishop McLaughlin Catholic High varsity volleyball
  • Gaither High varsity football
  • Land O’ Lakes varsity girls soccer
  • Pasco-Hernando State College men’s baseball
  • Steinbrenner High varsity football
  • Steinbrenner High varsity boys cross-country
  • Saint Leo University men’s golf
  • Sunlake High varsity girls weightlifting
  • Wesley Chapel High varsity girls basketball
  • Wiregrass Ranch High varsity boys tennis

Plenty to do
There’s no shortage of recreational activities and outdoor destinations in The Laker/Lutz News coverage area. Here are a few options our readers may enjoy trying sometime in the new year:

  • Bike, run or walk the Upper Tampa Bay Trail or Withlacoochee State Trail
  • Hit the links at Trinity’s Fox Hollow Golf Club, Wesley Chapel’s Saddlebrook Resort & Spa, or Lutz’s TPC Tampa Bay, or one of the many other golf courses
  • Learn to ice skate at Wesley Chapel’s AdventHealth Center Ice
  • Take the family to Lutz’s Lake Park for hiking, biking, BMX racing, equestrian riding, kayaking, fishing, boating and more
  • Test your skeet shooting skills at Tampa Bay Sporting Clays in Land O’ Lakes, or Silver Dollar Shooters Club in Odessa
  • Gather your friends and coworkers and join a senior, men’s or coed softball league at Land O’ Lakes Heritage Park or the Land O’ Lakes Recreation Complex
  • Learn to skydive, parachute and tandem jump at Zephyrhills’ Skydive City
  • Visit Dade City’s Treehoppers to try out the largest zip line aerial adventure park in Central Florida

Published January 08, 2020

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05/21/2022 – Free vaccines/microchips

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05/21/2022 – Garden Club

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05/21/2022 – Train show & sale

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05/21/2022 – Veterans Resource Fair

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