The Sports Commission would like to congratulate Shelley Maccini on becoming the permanent Executive Director of the Kissimmee Convention & Visitors Bureau. We look forward to continuing to work with Shelley and the entire Kissimmee CVB as we market Osceola County.

June was a great month for Osceola County as the Sports Commission and Kissimmee Convention & Visitors Bureau welcomed back Triple Crown Sports, an annual partner, for their Florida 8 Championships (June 3-5), the Florida State Championships and Kissimmee Summer Slam (June 10-12). These events, encompassing two weekends, attracted over 80 teams to Osceola County, using Osceola County Stadium, the Softball Complex and Gateway High School. These events brought in over 1,000 participants and coaches and over 2,000 spectators, totaling almost 1,000 room nights.  We would like to thank Triple Crown Sports for allowing us to grow this relationship year after year!

Next, the Sports Commission and Kissimmee Convention & Visitors  Bureau welcomed a new partner to Osceola County. Florida Outdoor Events, Inc. hosted the first-annual Champions MudBash on a private farm in St. Cloud, FL. This event was a 3-mile run throughout the 300 acre property, with various obstacles such as mud pits, fire jumps and a 40 foot slip n' slide into a pond! Over 2,400 participants competed in the first-annual MudBash, with over 1,200 traveling 40 miles or more to participate. Besides the competition, there were food and drink vendors, three live bands, a DJ, and a Motocross stunt show! Click HERE  for video footage from the event. We are very excited about the success of this first-annual event, and we look forward to assisting Florida Outdoor Events, Inc. grow this event in the future.

 In July, the Sports Commission and Kissimmee Convention & Visitors Bureau welcome Soccer Six USA to Osceola County for their Sunshine State 6v6 Open Cup. This event, taking place July 9-10 at Austin Tindall Regional Park, will feature Men's, Women's and Co-ed 6 on 6 soccer tournaments. We really enjoy co-hosting these events as it gives adults the opportunity to display their competitive spirit.

Thank you for your continued support as we continue to market Osceola County as the "Amateur Sports Capital."

On the business development front, the Sports Commission recently reached out to several paintball organizations about bringing events to Osceola County, notably regional or national championship caliber competitions to our community. That said, we recently conducted a site tour of Xtreme Paintball Xperience in Osceola County, which could potentially be the host venue for future paintball events. With paintball becoming more and more popular within the United States, we look forward to the opportunity of exploring more event opportunities that might call Osceola County its future home.

In addition, the Sports Commission recently reached out to FLW  Outdoors about the possibility of hosting an FLW Tour, EverStart Series, or a College Fishing Tournament on Lake Toho. Depending on size and scope of the event, each tournament would attract professional and/or amateur anglers from across the United States to Osceola County for multiple days of practice and competition. With such a world renowned fishery in Osceola County, we look forward to attracting more tournaments to Lake Toho to take advantage of this amazing resource.

Lastly, the Sports Commission recently conducted a final site visit with USA Wrestling and the Florida Amateur Wrestling Association with respect to potentially hosting the Pan American Wrestling Championships in February 2012, as well as the Pan American Wrestling Olympic Qualifier in March 2012 at Osceola Heritage Park's Silver Spurs Arena. Each of these events would feature over 250 athletes from over 40 countries from North, Central and South America, as well as the Caribbean. The Pan American Olympic Qualifier will showcase the wrestlers competing for two spots at the 2012 London Olympics. If we are given the opportunity to host both of these events, there is the potential for several countries/teams staying in Osceola County for over a month, as they would compete in both championships.