What To Watch For This Week In Florida Sports (November 18-24)

WATCH FOR the Florida International Senior Games & State Championships online registration website to be busy as the deadline the 2013 State Championships is Friday, November 22.

More than 1,100 senior athletes, age 50 and over, are currently registered and nearly 2,000 are expected to compete in 24 sports over the nine days of competition in Lee County, December 7-15.

To accommodate all of the senior athletes, volunteers are needed for all sports events throughout the week in Lee County.  Visit the Florida Senior Games volunteer page to find out the duties that will need to be performed.  All volunteers receive a free t-shirt for their time and talents.

Athletes registering will have the opportunity to be a part of a few new things to the 2013 Florida International Senior Games & State Championships.

The Coconut Point Florida Blue Center will host the return of the Celebration of Athletes, Saturday evening, December 14, beginning at 5:00 p.m. This event provides athletes the only opportunity to gather together as one over the nine days of competition.

All athletes and guests, who RSVP by December 7, are invited to join the festivities for vendors, food, music, guest speakers, entertainment and the presentation of the 2012 Athlete of the Year Awards to Linda Frisch, of The Villages, and James Richling, of Port St. Lucie.

It’s the only time Senior Games athletes will be able to swap tales of athletic accomplishments with new friends and best of all – IT’S FREE!

Earlier that day, the Coconut Point Florida Blue Center will host one of the two new sports to the 2013 Games as Bag Toss joins the Senior Games roster.  The competition will be held using United Bag Toss League Rules.

The other new sport to the 2013 Games is Golf Croquet, to be played Saturday, December 14 and Sunday, December 15 at the Estero Recreation Center.  

Finally, Masters Tennis will be introduced as a demo event of the Games, at Three Oaks Community Park in Fort Myers, Wednesday, December 10 and Thursday, December 11.  This event is taking place through a partnership with the Florida Sports Foundation and the United States Tennis Association-Florida Section (USTA Florida). The demo (Wednesday) and free play day (Thursday) is free to the public.

WATCH FOR more 2014 Florida Grapefruit League schedules to be released over the next few weeks.  Six teams have already posted full schedules at the Florida Grapefruit League Web Site and two teams have partial schedules posted.

Fans of the Baltimore Orioles, Detroit Tigers, Minnesota Twins, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, Washington Nationals, Atlanta Braves (partial schedule) and Toronto Blue Jays (partial schedule) can start making their plans now for the 2014 Florida Spring Training season.  

The season will begin the week of February 24, 2014 and run through the last week of March.  Keep checking www.floridagrapefruitleague.com for more schedules, ticket information and all the latest on the 2014 Florida Spring Training season. Follow the 100-day countdown to Florida Spring Training with a Fun Fact a Day on Twitter @FlaSpringTrain.

WATCH FOR more than 1,000 out-of-state visitors to come to Florida for a Florida Sports Foundation granted event.  The NJCAA Division I Women’s Soccer National Championship is being held in Brevard County with 12 teams in competition through Saturday.

The 2013 National Championship, hosted by Eastern Florida State College in Melbourne and Space Coast Sports, welcomes teams from 11 other states.  Vying for the National Championship are Iowa Western; Paradise Valley (Arizona); Navarro (Texas); Darton State (Georgia); Butler (Kansas); Southern Maryland; Laramie County (Wyoming); Monroe College (New York); Owens (Ohio);  St. Louis (Missouri) and Lake County (Illinois).

Four pools of three teams with pool play through Wednesday, followed by two semifinal games on Friday.  The National Championship game will be played Saturday night at 7PM at Titan Stadium on the campus of Eastern Florida State College in Melbourne.

The Weekly “What to Watch For in Florida Sports,” is compiled by Florida Sports Foundation Director of Communications, Nick Gandy. Follow the Florida Sports Foundation on Facebook and on Twitter #fla_sports. Visit www.flasports.com for more information about the Florida Sports Foundation and the vibrant sports industry in the Sunshine State. Florida is Where The World Comes to Play.

What To Watch For This Week In Florida Sports (April 15-21)

WATCH FOR Sports Tourism to continue to bring participants and fans to Florida as a recent article in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel referenced the thriving sports tourism business in Broward and Palm Beach County.

Broward County tourism officials continue luring a record number of visitors to the county.

Even as snagging another Super Bowl in 2016 is a high priority, tourism officials see a wider plane of sporting events as one of the keys to developing a year round economic engine.

“Sports tourism is one of our growth markets,” said Nicki E. Grossman, president of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau. “It’s a big money maker.”

In 2012, sports tourism had an estimated $530 million economic impact in Broward and generated 600,000 room nights benefiting local hotels, she said. In all, last year 12 million visitors contributed nearly $10 billion to the local economy, with nearly half of that spent on rooms and food.

Palm Beach County tourism officials say the area is increasingly attracting attention from a wider range of sports groups beyond the usual football, golf, and tennis tournaments, sports specialists say.

In Palm Beach County amateur sporting events accounted for about $61 million of the total $260 million in sports tourism economic impact in 2012, said Linley. The 113 sporting events the commission helped to bring to the county last year represented 35 different sports and generated more than 165,000 room nights, he said.

For Lee County, it’s Roller Hockey bringing visitors to Southwest Florida.  The National Collegiate Roller Hockey Championship was recently held in Fort Myers.

Then there’s Quidditch World Cup being played in Kissimmee bringing 80 teams and 1,600 enthusiasts of the game made popular in the Harry Potter series of movies to Osceola County.

Polk County has the National Collegiate Paintball Association’s National Championships being played in Lakeland with 60 teams attending.

The Florida Sports Foundation supports many events that bring visitors to Florida with its Grant Program made available by the sale of Florida Pro Sports License Plates. Watch the recently-produced FSF promotional video to see the benefits of the Florida Sports Industry.

WATCH FOR the 2013 Fed Cup by BNP Paribas World Group Playoff opening this weekend at the Delray Beach Tennis Center, the world No. 1 and 15-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams will be joined by her sister and world No. 22 Venus Williams to represent the U.S. against Sweden.

“I am really excited about the team that we have for this World Group Playoff,” said U.S. Fed Cup Captain Mary Joe Fernandez. “With four women ranked in the Top 30 and Serena playing as the No. 1 player in the world, we have great talent and depth, which is a perfect combination.”

The U.S. Fed Cup team is 3-0 in Florida, and it will be the third Fed Cup tie held at the Delray Beach Stadium & Tennis Center, making it the only venue to host a U.S. Fed Cup tie on three occasions.

The best-of-five match series begins on Saturday, April 20, with two singles matches, followed by two reverse singles matches and the doubles match on Sunday, April 21. Tennis Channel will present live daily coverage beginning at 2 p.m. ET on Saturday and 1 p.m. ET on Sunday.

Tickets can be purchased as two-day packages or as individual sessions. Prices for the two-day packages are $70 and $120. Prices for individual sessions are $40 and $65. Additional ticket fees apply. Tickets can be purchased via www.ticketmaster.com or by calling 888-334-USTA (8782).

Fed Cup by BNP Paribas is the world’s largest annual international women’s team competition with 97 countries entering in 2013. The United States leads all nations with 17 Fed Cup titles, the last coming in 2000.  

WATCH FOR another Sunshine State Games Sport Shooting Event as the Three Position Air Rifle Event takes place at the Summerlin Academy in Bartow.

For five of the next six weekends, through May 19, an event of Florida’s Sunshine State Games will be taking place.  Besides events of the Sport Shooting Championships, the Bradenton Area Festival, Basketball Championships, Artistic Roller-skating Championships and Parkland Lacrosse Series Tournament will be contested at one of 13 Florida locations.

The Sunshine State Games Figure Skating Championships, to be held May 10-12 as part of the Bradenton Festival, closed its registration Sunday night and 329 skaters will be in action at the Ellenton Ice & Sports Complex.  Rugby and Quidditch will also be played at the Bradenton Festival.

Upcoming Sunshine State Games events
April 28 – ICORE, Central Florida Rifle & Pistol Club, Orlando
April 28 – International Air Rifle, Summerlin Academy, Bartow
May 4 – Skeet, Volusia County Skeet & Trap, New Smyrna Beach
May 4-5 – ILSA (Lawnsteel), Misty Morgan Road, Samsula
May 6 – Smallbore Rifle Silhouette, Hollywood Rifle & Pistol Club
May 10-12 – Sunshine State Games – Bradenton Area Festival, Manatee County (Sports: Figure Skating, Quidditch, Rugby)
May 10-12 – Sunshine State Games Basketball Championships, Alachua County
May 11 – Smallbore Conventional Prone, Hollywood Rifle & Pistol Club
May 11 – Trap & 5 Stand, Volusia County Skeet & Trap, New Smyrna Beach
May 11-12 – IPSC, Ancient City Shooting Range, St. Augustine
May 12 – Hunter Pistol Silhouette, Chuluota Sportsmen’s Club
May 12 – Sunshine State Games Artistic Roller-skating Championships, Semoran Skateway, Casselberry
May 17-19 – Sunshine State Games Lacrosse Series, Parkland Tournament
May 18 – Air Rifle & Air Pistol Silhouette, Port Malabar Rifle & Pistol Club
May 19 – Conventional Pistol, Gateway Rifle & Pistol Club, Jacksonville

 

The Weekly “What to Watch For in Florida Sports,” is compiled by Florida Sports Foundation Director of Communications, Nick Gandy. Follow the Florida Sports Foundation on Facebook and on Twitter #fla_sports. Visit http://www.flasports.com for more information about the Florida Sports Foundation and the vibrant sports industry in the Sunshine State. Florida is Where The World Comes to Play.