Success Comes Quickly For Cypress Creek Lacrosse

In just their third high school lacrosse season, the Cypress Creek High lacrosse team went 15-5 and captured its first District championship. (Photos courtesy of Jason Alvis)

Cypress Creek High is only a four-year-old school, but it has already earned district championships in several sports. And now, you can add girls lacrosse to that list.

The Coyotes, who started as a club team in 2018 before becoming an official varsity sport in 2019, won the school’s first lacrosse District championship (Class A-District 5) in April when they defeated Lake Wales 11-10. 

That was followed a week later by a loss to nationally-ranked Orlando Lake Highland Prep in the A-2 Regional playoffs, but Cypress Creek finished 15-5 and won all six of its District games.

Quite a turnaround for a program that could barely field a team its first season.

“We had a couple of years under our belt and then, this year, it just kinda clicked,’’ Coyotes coach Jason Alvis says. “They had experience. It was amazing how much it took off because of that.’’

It’s also amazing how far the team has come since its inaugural season.

Alvis, who never played lacrosse but got into the sport just through attending oldest daughter Jordan’s club practices as a freshman for Wiregrass Ranch High’s club team, petitioned Cypress Creek at the behest of his daughter to see if the school could start its own club team.

The school said okay, but had one question: “Who’s going to be the coach?,’’ Alvis remembers.  

Even though he was not a teacher on campus, because it was only a club team, it turned out Alvis was going to be the coach.

In 2018, he formed the club team, using players from both Cypress Creek and Wesley Chapel high schools and playing other high school club teams. While club lacrosse isn’t sanctioned by the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) and you don’t compete for district or state titles, the Coyotes did get to play an international friendly against Cheltenham High School from the U.K.

“After the game, the girls exchanged stories and gifts,” Alvis says. “It was quite the experience.”

Jason Alvis (right) and assistant coach Sydney Maziarz celebrate the Coyotes’ District title.

However, because lacrosse wasn’t exactly a well-known sport and had to compete for players with the more established spring sports like tennis, softball and track and field, it was tough to drum up interest the first year. Alvis says he never had more than 16 girls in 2018; you need 12 for a full lineup. 

“It was bad,’’ Alvis says. “I had four or five girls at any one practice. With me not being on campus, I couldn’t recruit. I told some of our club girls that they had to find multi-sport girls and get them to try lacrosse. We had just enough girls to field a team.’’

In 2019, the Cypress Creek lacrosse team was sanctioned by the FHSAA and could play other high school teams. The Coyotes finished 7-9 that year, and started off the 2020 season 6-3 with mostly underclassmen before Covid-19 ended the season.

With a group of 10 seniors and some talented underclassmen returning, Cypress Creek was ready to prove itself this season. With a much-more-competitive roster of 23 players, the Coyotes started with 7-0 and 10-1 records, on the way to a 15-5 season. Two of their five losses were by a single goal.

The experienced Coyotes powered their way to an unlikely appearance in the District A-5 championship game. After trailing 9-4 at halftime, they showed some of the resilience built up in their early years and locked down Lake Wales, holding the Highlanders to one goal in the second half to win 11-10 and capture the District title.

“I didn’t know what winning was like,’’ says junior midfielder Liberty Mermerian, who says she won two games in two years for her previous high school team in Boise, ID, before transferring to Cypress Creek. “I found out it was about the work you put in. My first high school team, we didn’t really put in much effort. But here, when we won that District (final), it was all about the attitude of our players and the amount of effort we put in. When we all celebrated on that field and everybody was hugging each other, that was an earned moment.’’

The Coyotes not only earned their first-ever District championship banner, they also received some postseason accolades. Three players were named first team All-Conference: Junior defender and team captain Miranda Garcia, sophomore Avery Smith (team-high 82 goals) and senior Brianna Segers (65 goals).

Two players were named to the second team: Mermerian and Kendall Smith. 

Cypress Creek was named the Sunshine Athletic Conference Team of the Year and Alvis was named the Coach of the Year. 

Despite losing 10 seniors to graduation from this team, Alvis believes the success is just beginning for this program. There will only be three seniors next year, but he knows there is talent in the younger classes, including his daughter Jenna, who will be a junior. 

“And I’ve heard that with our success, girls from other sports are saying ‘Hey, I think I’m going to try lacrosse now,’’ Alvis says. 

Don’t Shoot The Messenger! A Hopeful Update About Olympus Pools

Gary Nager

There’s no doubt that it’s been a difficult several months for Olympus Pools, the swimming pool contractor that has built more pools in the Tampa Bay area than any other company. 

Following a flurry of complaints on Facebook by a plethora of Olympus customers with unfinished pools, which prompted a number of investigative news reports on several Tampa Bay-area TV stations, followed by pending lawsuits and even reported investigations by local law enforcement agencies, Olympus owners (and long-time New Tampa residents) James and Alexis Staten knew they had to do something. 

And, considering that there were close to 300 customers reported to have partly or (in many cases) fully paid for, but unfinished, pools, and so many of them were complaining about a lack of communication from the company, the Statens had to not only act quickly, they had to seek help.

To that end, according to a news release sent on May 25, a highly-rated Tampa Bay-area pool company had jumped in to help Olympus Pools, thanks to a new partnership between the two companies and their owners.

Specific terms of the partnership were not disclosed, but Jordan Hidalgo, a general contractor who founded Pools by Jordan, a high-end pool construction company based in Pinellas county, has partnered with Olympus to help assist and help restore the company to its pre-Covid standing. 

“I saw what Olympus’ customers were going through on the news, but I also know the high quality of Olympus’ work and their capabilities. So, after weeks of negotiations, I’m happy to say we’ve reached an agreement, and we’re excited to get to work on sorting this all out,” said Hidalgo.

Hidalgo, who also runs a management consulting firm for pool companies called The Pool Consultants, and his team have taken over administration, accounting, permitting, purchasing and customer relations for Olympus.

James Staten, who founded Olympus Pools, will remain on board and out front, running sales, field operations and business development.

Olympus Pools, which was founded in 2010 by Staten, has generated more than $150 million in revenue over the last decade and completed more than 3,000 pools.

The release also promised more direct access to ownership, improved customer relations, and those who have been waiting for their pools to get started can expect work to begin sooner, thanks to the new partnership. 

“Some things are going to happen immediately, and (others) are going to take a little bit of time as we dig into things, but we’re ready to get all of these pools done as quickly as possible and work on rebuilding the positive image that Olympus worked so hard to achieve,” said Hidalgo. 

The news of the partnership comes amid a flurry of recent work activity, including reports of dozens of pools finally started and/or completed. 

“I’m looking forward to putting this chapter behind Olympus and showing what our talented teams are capable of accomplishing together,” said Hidalgo in the release.

I told the Statens that I would pull their advertising until things improved for them and that rather than jump on the media bandwagon maligning the company, my primary concern was trying to help those customers, especially those who still had unfinished holes in their yards.

Some will say that despite the new partnership, it’s all still too little too late for Olympus (which is still taking some lumps online), but the Statens’ promise to complete every unstarted/unfinished pool and not take on new customers until those pools are done is definitely a step in the right direction.  

Suspect Arrested In Fatal Hit-And-Run

Nicole Marie Gennarini Cresswell

A Wesley Chapel woman was arrested Tuesday night after she struck and killed a 64-year-old woman in a mobility scooter who was checking her mail.

Nicole Marie Gennarini Cresswell, 24, was arrested just before midnight. She was found sitting in her gray 2019 Nissan Sentra in the driveway of a home on Shenandoah Run in Wesley Chapel. Gennarini Cresswell was arrested by Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) troopers and taken to the Pasco County Jail during the early morning hours on Wednesday, June 16, and charged with leaving the scene of a crash involving a death.

The FHP report says troopers were able to use vehicle parts found at the crash, as well as witness accounts, to assist in locating Gennarini Cresswell.

According to the FHP, Gennarini Cresswell was traveling westbound on Robin Roost Lane where she collided with the victim, who was retrieving her mail at the roadway edge at roughly 5:45 p.m.. She told troopers she had struck a deer earlier, but did not remember where.

Following the crash which caused damage to the front right portion of the vehicle, Gennarini Cresswell fled the scene as the victim suffered fatal injuries.

Pebble Creek Golf Course To Shut Down July 31

Pebble Creek Golf Club opened in 1967, long before New Tampa as we know it was developed.

The letters went out last weekend, but were probably not a surprise to anyone living in Pebble Creek.

The golf course, the oldest one in the area, is shutting down for good on July 31.

Pebble Creek Golf Club (PCGC) owner Bill Place, who has been trying for years to sell the 6,436-yard golf course he bought in 2005, says he can’t continue losing money on something with no future. After a few failed attempts to finalize a deal with developers the past few years, as well as unsuccessfully trying late last year to get a brownfield designation from the county that would have helped cover almost 3/4 of the cost to decontaminate the soil, Place says he was out of options.

The club, heading into what is usually its slowest time of the year from August through October, currently has only 13 full-time members. 

“Even though we had a little bit of a bump from Covid-19, I’ve already started to see it back off as people go back to work,” Place said. “We’re on a path to to repeat 2018 and 2019, when we lost money those years.”

Place also said merely maintaining the course had become financially untenable. Built in 1967, he says the course still has its original irrigation system and “it failed miserably during this recent drought.

“It was time.”

Place says he has quietly told brokers in the last six years he was looking to sell the golf course. After having his brownfield designation rejected in December 2020, Place has continued entertaining suitors.

DR Horton, one of the original interested buyers of the PCGC, had done preliminary testing two years ago and discovered contaminants on the golf course before withdrawing its interest. A brownfield site is a property that is contaminated, which hinders efforts to expand or redevelop it. But there are significant tax credits offered to help clean the property up. 

Without those tax credits, Place will likely foot the bill. He has paid $150,000 to have the site tested by an environmental testing firm, and expects results this week. A preliminary estimate, he says, indicated it would then take 6-9 months to decontaminate the soil. That could cost Place $1 million.

But he has potential developers lined up — he will choose one in the next two months — and says he is including the two Pebble Creek homeowners associations, who serve roughly 1,300 homeowners, in the process. Regardless, he expects a significant number of residents to protest when rezoning the 149-acre property gets underway.

“No matter what, we are trying every which way we can to work with the HOAs,” Place says. “I know they would rather have the golf course, but we are looking for the best possible solution.”

Local Businesses Finding Workers Hard To Come By

Steve Falabella filled his staff at his new bistro, but it wasn’t easy. (Photo: John C. Cotey)

The signs are all over — on the front of businesses reducing their hours because they don’t have enough employees, a drive-through posting asking for your patience due to a historic shortage of workers and another sign offering a $500 bonus and a free sub sandwich with every shift.

At places just opened, like the Falabella Family Bistro, there’s no need to post a Now Hiring sign because, well, no one seems to be reading it.

While owner Steve Falabella will be able to open his new bistro in The Grove with (barely) a full staff within the next week or too, he also is opening a second 900º Woodfired Pizza place, like his popular location at the Shops of Wiregrass, right next door.

“If I had to open that today, there’s no way I could,” he says. 

Due in large part to the Covid-19 pandemic, and the governmental response to it, jobs aren’t hard to come by, but employees are, says Falabella, who owns three businesses in Wesley Chapel.

Here’s the deal: many folks are unwilling to seek work at businesses that don’t pay as much as they currently are getting from unemployment. 

At the height of the pandemic, Congress expanded federal unemployment insurance (Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation) to $600 a week. It is currently $300 a week, in addition to the Florida’s state-level benefit of $275 weekly (which is typically for 12 weeks, but was extended during the pandemic).

The majority of those on unemployment assistance, then, receive nearly $600 a week, or the equivalent of working 40 hours while being paid $15 an hour.

For anyone paying less than $15/hour, or even more in a lot of cases, it’s tough to compete.

“It’s not just us, it’s the entire country,” says Falabella. “It’s a sensitive topic.”

Falabella chooses his words carefully, as a result. The issue has strong political overtones. While it has increased concerns about the growth of the welfare state, it also has shined a light on what some feel are unfair wages, causing some small business owners to reassess compensation.

However, the level of unemployment pay is keeping some home, instead of in the workforce, says Fallabella.

“It’s not a theory,” says Falabella. “I talk to people I want to hire back that left months ago, and they tell me as soon as the unemployment dries up they’ll be back out there looking (for a job).”

Signs like this ask for patience as some local businesses are shorthanded.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced that Floridians who receive unemployment benefits will have to provide proof that they’re looking for a job, a requirement that was lifted during the pandemic but expired in May.

Florida also will withdraw from the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation Program on June 26.

“I think it’s pretty clear now, we have an abundance of job openings,” DeSantis says.

Jamie Hess, who owns the Treble Makers Dueling Piano Restaurant & Bar in The Grove, as well as a computer repair shop, says he has been able to keep a full staff but it hasn’t been easy.

He and Falabella, as well as Joe Schembri of the Ice Dreammm Shop, who is opening his second location across the way from Falabella Family Bistro, are contemplating a shared employee program, where workers will train for all three of their restaurants and open up opportunities for them to work more hours if they choose. 

“If I can only give someone 30 hours but Steve needs someone, that person can work (10 hours for him and/) or as much as they want,” says Hess. “We want everybody making decent money where they can afford to live.”

Hess, who also owns five Subway restaurants in New York, says the pandemic drove many employees out during the lockdowns, and the lack of employees as the economy rebounds has driven many of his contemporaries out of the restaurant business altogether.

While he says he pays above minimum wage at Treble Makers, pay expectations are “getting a little out of whack.”

He said had lost a bartender recently who said she couldn’t afford to work for only $25 an hour.  He thinks the road back to pre-Covid times could be a long one.

“I think it’s going to take a long time,” Hess says. “Once the $300 (weekly federal) bonus goes away, you’ll see more people looking, but it’s probably not going to go back to the way it was.”