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Featured Article
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Breakfast of Champions
The Central Florida Sports Commission will be hosting the 2nd Annual Bright House Sports Network Breakfast of Champions, a series of awards programs that will recognize the best High School athletes in Central Florida. Five separate awards programs will be held, recognizing outstanding athletes in the following counties: Lake County, Orange County, Osceola County, Seminole County and Volusia County.
Volusia County's awards breakfast has been set for Monday, May 23 at the Bill France room at the Daytona International Speedway.
You should have received an invitation, so we hope you will join us in celebrating the accomplishments of these talented student athletes.
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A PERSONAL MESSAGE FROM SAM
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Congratulations to the Lady Hatters of Stetson University...2011 Atlantic Sun Women's Golf Champions! Stetson's off to a great start in the month of May and we hope you are too! The Stetson women's golf team rallied from a three-shot deficit starting the final day of competition, April 13th with a three over par 291 final round score to claim its third consecutive Atlantic Sun Conference Championship. NCAA regional selection announcements are underway, but the Hatters are already ticketed for the East Regional at LPGA International's Legends Course due to the fact that Stetson is the host institution for that tournament.
In addition to golf, early this month, basketball players from around the state will compete at the USSSA Battle at the Beach basketball tournament at the Daytona Beach Bandshell. In addition, youth baseball players from around the region will compete in a Florida Travel Ball tournament at various fields around Volusia. Also this month, Let It Fly returns! The Let it Fly Flag Football World Championships are expected to attract more than a thousand athletes (150 teams) to the Ormond Beach Sports Complex on Memorial Day weekend, May 27-30. This is the third year in a row that the event, which is supported by the Daytona Beach CVB, will be staged in Volusia County.
Mark your calendar for the 14th Annual East Coast Paddleboard Championships to be held in Ponce Inlet Saturday, June 18th at 8:00 a.m. Over 100 paddlers will be vying for the right to be called an east coast paddleboard champion. Water enthusiasts will be coming down from all over the east coast and beyond. This is the best of the best life guards, surfers, water men, and wahines. There will also be a Ho daddy O's surf cream paddle dash for kids 16 and under, a 220 yard paddle on anything that floats. For more information or to enter please visit www.paddleboards.com.
We hope you have a great month...and thank you again for making Volusia County a premier sports destination! |
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Best Regards,
Sam Stark
President/CEO
Central Florida Sports Commission |
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IN THE PIPELINE |
The Central Florida Sports Commission was recently approached by the Florida Sports Foundation with respect to communities interested in hosting the 2013-2015 Sunshine State Games Figure Skating Championships. In addition to Figure Skating, the Foundation is able to schedule other sports on the same weekend to create a Festival, which would be named for the host community. Currently, the sports of Kickball and Rugby are held in conjunction with Figure Skating, typically scheduled for three days in May, beginning the Friday after Mother's Day and ending the third Sunday. Other sports may be considered that are not currently being held at another Sunshine State Games Festival.
Since 2004, Figure Skating has been held at Incredible Ice in Coral Springs, Florida as a standalone event. In 2010, the Foundation created the Festival concept, separating the 24 sport Summer Games into two smaller Festivals held in June. At that time, the Sunshine State Games added Rugby to the Figure Skating weekend with the intention to create a new Festival held in May. In 2011, Kickball was added to the sport line-up, creating a three-sport Festival. Additional sports may be considered for this Festival based upon the facility strengths of the community selected.
We are currently looking at the Daytona Ice Arena, among several outdoor venues, as a potential fits for the Festival and hope to have more information for you in a future impact report. Speaking of exciting opportunities, we recently attended the National Association of Sports Commission's Event Symposium in Greensboro, North Carolina and spoke with multiple organizers about the possibility of hosting their event in Volusia County. We regularly attend conferences like these to network with national and regional sports entities and in fact are looking to host several of these sports conferences in Volusia for future years. Several event partners that we met with include USA Volleyball, USA Fencing, USA Team Handball, Pop Warner Football and USA Sports Congress, just to name a few. Upon or return, we sat down with the Daytona Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Ocean Center to finalize our prospects and start the bid process where applicable. Stay tuned for more business opportunism next month as we continue to seek and sort out opportunities that are best fit for Volusia and our premier sports venues. |
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| WINS & LOSSES
(Through March, 2011)
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- Bids Submitted - 3
- Wins- 1
- Losses- 2
The Sports Commission, in conjunction with the Daytona Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau and Spruce Creek High School (local USA weightlifting club), have been working closely to potentially submit a bid to host the 2012 USA Weightlifting School Age meet. Based on our diligence with our partners, the hosting requirements from both a venue and financial standpoint did not provide a fair and equitable economic return. That being said, we have decided not to place a bid on this event. We look forward to working with USA Weightlifting in the future to see if Daytona Beach might be an option in 2013 and beyond. |
UPCOMING EVENTS
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Crawfish Festival
Main Street (Daytona Beach)
May 14, 2011
www.daytonabeach.com
Walk-a-thon for Children with Apraxia of Speech
Central Park (Ormond Beach)
May 14, 2011
tammieb@cfl.rr.com
DIRTcar Races
Volusia Speedway Park (Barbersville)
May 14, 2011
www.thevolusiaspeedway.com
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| COMMUNITY PROFILE |
A true combat in sports took place at the end of April as Stetson and Bethune-Cookman's baseball teams battled it out in their fourth and final meeting of the season. It took 11 innings, a combined 11 pitchers from the two squads, and 4 hours and 15 minutes of play before the game was decided.
B-CU won the low-scoring marathon at Melching Field, 4-3, on an error by Stetson. In the top of the 11th inning, B-CU's Brashad Johnson hit a single down the right-field line that squeaked over the first baseman's head. Josh Johnson came to the plate, boasting a .538 batting average, and laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance Brashad Johnson. Then Alejandro Sanchez hit a line drive to center field that wouldn't drop to put two outs on the board. But the Hatters couldn't end the inning before the Wildcats scored.
With the win, B-CU (26-19) evened the season series 2-2 with Stetson (31-10). Brashad Johnson was 3-for-4 to lead the 'Cats bats, and DJ Leonard was 2-for-3. For Stetson, Nick Rickles was 2-for-5 with a solo home run, Crews was 3-for-5 and Kyle Zech was 2-for-4. B-CU will prepare for the MEAC Baseball Championships which start May 18th. For more information please visit www.b-cuathletics.com
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