NT/WC Reader Survey Results: Best Gym, Massage, Nail/Hair Salons

If youโ€™ve never seen the amazing array of fitness equipment on the 2nd floor of the Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel Wellness Center, you owe it to yourself to take a tour.

Although we have many wonderful fitness facilities located in New Tampa and Wesley Chapel, our Neighborhood News readers have voted the Health & Wellness Center inside the Wellness Plaza adjacent to (and owned by) the same Adventist Health Care System as Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel as their favorite.

And, who could blame them? Situated on the first and second floors of the Wellness Plaza, the 50,000-sq.-ft. facility includes two heated, indoor pools, a huge variety of cardio and strength equipment (including free weights), menโ€™s and womenโ€™s saunas, a 1/9-mile indoor track and more than 100 group fitness classes, including Les Mills, Zumba, barre, hot yoga and indoor cycling. Thereโ€™s even a circuit training area that allows you to get a full-body workout in just 30 minutes.

โ€œItโ€™s definitely the best gym Iโ€™ve ever belonged to,โ€ I heard one satisfied female customer tell another. โ€œIโ€™ve lost 20 lbs. and I feel the best Iโ€™ve felt in years.โ€

With its convenient location on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., between S.R.s 56 and 54, the FHWC Health & Wellness Center is a short drive from I-75 and a visit for a tour is well worth the trip from anywhere in New Tampa, Wesley Chapel and beyond.

I recently took my second tour of the facility with Fatima, one of the enthusiastic front desk staffers, and, even though I live at least 12-15 minutes away and the membership prices arenโ€™t cheap, Jannah and I are seriously considering joining because you canโ€™t beat the variety of equipment and classes you get to use or the true community feeling you get any time you visit.

The Health & Wellness Center also has a great Fit Fresh cafรฉ and smoothie bar that also sells nutritional supplements and healthy snacks for people on the go, a membership referral program (receive $20 in โ€œWellness Bucksโ€ for each new membership you refer), a Fit Friends Kids Club which offers unlimited two-hours-per-day babysitting for 1-2 children for just $30 per month or $7 per hour child care, whether youโ€™re a member of the facility or not.

Other fee-based services include personal training (although members get one free consultation with a certified personal trainer), small group training, licensed massage therapy, nutrition coaching (members also get one free nutrition assessment with a registered dietitian), swim lessons for adults and children, Pilates Reformer and more.

Memberships start at $57 per month or $684 for a one-time annual payment (save $114) and you can add a second family member, age 13 and over (living in the same household) for just $34 per month or $408 for a one-time annual payment.

The FHWC Health & Wellness Center (2700 Healing Way) is open Mon.-Fri., 5 a.m.-10 p.m. & 7 a.m.-7 p.m. on Sat. & Sun). For more info, visit FHWCwellness@ahss.org or call (813) 929-5252. โ€” GN

 

FLYย EAGLEย FLY

Former Liberty Middle School standout Nelson Agholor celebrates a catch against the Washington Redskins last year. Photo by Keith Allison, Hanover, MD.

Liberty Middle Schoolโ€™s Joe Merritt remembers the best flag football player he ever coached scoring four touchdowns on four straight plays โ€” and none of them counted.

It was overtime, against Benito he thinks, and his Liberty Eagles were on the 2-yard-line. His best player rushes for what Merritt says was a sure touchdown, before the refs ruled he was down at the 1.

On the next play, the same kid throws for a touchdown, but the refs said the receiver was out of bounds. And, the play after that, the very same kid lines up at wide receiver and catches a touchdown pass, although the ref said he didnโ€™t land with his feet inbounds.

Twice. Seriously.

Years later, Merritt couldnโ€™t help but remember that game as he sat and watched that same player, Nelson Agholor, catch nine passes for the other Eagles, of Philadelphia, in a thrilling Super Bowl win over favored New England.

Merritt has taught and coached the boys flag football team since Liberty opened, and his list of former players include Matt Patchan and Jordan Sherit (both of whom went on to the University of Florida in Gainesville out of high school), Mattโ€™s brother Scott Patchan (currently at the University of Miami, FL) and Chaz Neal (who signed with Florida State University in Tallahassee on Feb. 7).

The night of the Super Bowl, however, was the first time Merritt says he had chills watching a former player, sitting on the couch at his parentsโ€™ house, jumping up and yelling every time Agholor grabbed a pass on his way to 84 yards receiving.

โ€œItโ€™s like you knew he was going to be a good athlete, but with each passing year, there was a new accolade that made you just feel happy for him,โ€ said Merritt, who had Agholor in his sixth grade reading class. โ€œHe reached the pinnacle in high school, he reached the pinnacle in college, he was a first-round draft pick out of college, and he wins the Super Bowl? I mean, come on. Thatโ€™s what every kid dreams of, holding up that Lombardi Trophy.โ€

A Humble Beginning…

Agholor, who was born in Nigeria, grew up in northeast Tampa, in the Suitcase City area near the University of South Florida. He attended Liberty from 2005-08, where he starred on both the football field and the basketball court. In fact, his overtime performance aside, some remember Agholor as a better basketball player initially than football.

โ€œI didnโ€™t see the talent as much in football as in basketball,โ€ says Phil Lana, who taught Agholor in his sixth grade science class. โ€œHe was an incredible basketball player in middle school. I thought that would be what he ended up going to college for.โ€

Merritt agrees. โ€œI thought his older brother Franklin was the better football player,โ€ he says, laughing.

In previous stories written about him, Agholor has talked about avoiding the trouble that dogged many of the friends he grew up with in northeast Tampa. The temptation to take the wrong path when that fork in the road presented itself was hard for many to resist.

It was at Liberty, some teachers who remember him say, that Agholor had help in fighting those urges.

โ€œNelson was a bit of a knucklehead coming in here,โ€ Merritt recalled. โ€œThere were some teachers that took him under their wing, to get him right. He was smart…great personality…athletic. And, we started preaching to him how far those things can take you in life.โ€

โ€œHe was a genuinely nice kid, very charismatic,โ€ says Brendan Paul, who had Agholor in his seventh grade math class. โ€œHe definitely grew quite a bit throughout the time he was here. If you listen to his interviews, he talks a lot about being given opportunities and making the most of those opportunities, and he definitely made the most of his time here. Liberty got him on right track. He had a lot of teachers looking out for him.โ€

Agholor responded to the mentoring. As an eighth grader, he was one of the most popular kids in school, and was named one of Libertyโ€™s Turnaround Achievement Award winners. โ€œBy the end of his eighth grade year, I remember seeing him as more of a leader than anything else,โ€ Lana says. โ€œHe was already helping the younger kids then.โ€

After graduating from middle school, Agholorย  went to Berkeley Prep, where he became one of Floridaโ€™s top football recruits as both a running back and a defensive back. He rushed for 4,732 yards in four seasons, and added 921 receiving yards, 12 interceptions and eight kickoff returns for touchdowns.

As a senior, Agholorย  led the Bucs to the Class 3A State semifinals, rushing for 1,983 yards and 28 touchdowns, and won the Guy Toph award as Hillsborough Countyโ€™s top high school football player. He chose the University of Southern California at Los Angeles from dozens of college suitors, where he blossomed as a wide receiver and caught 104 passes for 1,313 yards and 12 touchdowns as a junior.

That was enough to make Agholor the 20th overall pick of Philadelphia in the 2015 NFL draft.

โ€œHe was one of those kids that stayed in touch,โ€ Paul says. โ€œBefore the draft, he visited and spent time with students in a mentoring group here. I had the opportunity to go to his very first game in Atlanta (with Lana), and we met up with him afterwards.โ€

Agholor disappointed during his first two pro seasons in Philly, before a breakout 2017 campaign that saw him catch 62 passes for 768 yards (more than his first two seasons combined) and 12 touchdowns. In the postseason, he was brilliant, including a 42-yard TD catch in the NFC Championship game. His nine catches in the Super Bowl were a career high.

Few were happier to see Agholor bounce back than his former Liberty mentors.

โ€œItโ€™s definitely surreal,โ€ Paul says. โ€œI think his career thus far just speaks volumes about who he is. He had two really rough years, and just turned it around. Itโ€™s just that attitude and effort he has.โ€

Lana, who is now the Director of Operations and logistics for the Atlanta Football Host Committee bringing the Super Bowl to the Mercedes-Benz Stadium next year, watched Agholorโ€™s performance in person.

โ€œIt really added to the whole experience, knowing I was actually watching someone I knew playing in the game,โ€ says Lana, who wasnโ€™t shy about letting everyone know about Agholorโ€™s days at Liberty.

โ€œPretty much everybody around me knew I had taught him in sixth grade,โ€ Lana says. โ€œI sat in a section heavy with Patriotsโ€™ fans, but they knew when I stood and cheered every time he caught a pass.โ€

Agholor comes back to Liberty a few times a year to preach to kids, many from the same rough-around-the-edges neighborhood he grew up in, the same message he was taught โ€” make good choices, listen to your teachers and school administrators, and they will help you reach the goals that you strive for. His words will carry added weight, as a newly-minted Super Bowl champion.ย 

โ€œThe fact that he does come back, and does impact other kids and thatโ€™s something thatโ€™s important to him, that just tells you the kind of dude that he is, the kind of character he has,โ€ Merritt says.

Agholor has purchased shoes, helmets and other equipment for kids who canโ€™t afford them. He has given them his cell phone number and told them to text him if they need something, even just a little advice. Merritt says Agholor reaches out to kids that he sees a little of himself in, to do what he can.

It is that connection, more than a decade later, that makes it easy to cheer for Agholor, to tune in on Sundays and root for the former Liberty Eagle.

โ€œThe whole school is super proud of him,โ€ Merritt says. โ€œThereโ€™s a lot of pride that Nelson used to go here. The fact that he turned out to be great kid, and did great things, itโ€™s just icing on the cake that he won a Super Bowl. When I watch, I still see that 12-year-old kid.โ€

NT/WC Reader Survey Results: Best Restaurant

Stonewood Tops Listย 

Operating partner Dave Rathbun (photo) says he is often amused when he sees people trying to leave his popular Stonewood Grill & Tavern after a meal, only to bump into a neighbor or someone they know and delaying their exit.

Those moments, as much as any other, are when Rathbun can smile and truly appreciate the success of his restaurant.

โ€œWe tried to create a culture where it feels like the โ€˜Cheersโ€™ of New Tampa,โ€™โ€™ Rathbun says.

And indeed, for Rathbun, it is a place where everybody seems to know his name, because they keep coming back.

The friendly and welcoming atmosphere, the familiarity between the customers and Rathbun and his carefully selected staff (the folks he says โ€œbring the place to lifeโ€), and a menu and bar area that almost never fail to deliver one of the best dining and imbibing experiences around are why, once again, Stonewood Grill & Tavern is the Neighborhood News โ€œBest Restaurant in New Tampa & Wesley Chapel,โ€ as voted on by our readers, for a second straight year.

Stonewood, a Tampa Palms staple since opening in September 2002, beat out Bonefish Grill and newcomer Noble Crust โ€” the readerโ€™s top pick for best new business (see list, on pg. 50) โ€” which are both located in Wesley Chapel, for the top spot.

โ€œItโ€™s just an honor to have people vote for you,โ€ Rathbun says. โ€œIโ€™m humbled by every vote.โ€

Despite a not-so-great location โ€” Stonewood is tucked behind a 7-Eleven and McDonaldโ€™s on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., just north of Commerce Park Blvd. โ€” it has thrived as an upscale family restaurant because, well, Rathbun is kind of like family. He has lived in North Tampa for more than 20 years, including Richmond Place the last 16 years. He knows most of his customers, and their kids, and where those kids go to school.

โ€œItโ€™s wonderful to work in the community where you live,โ€ he says.

Stonewood, a small chain which has 10 locations statewide, is best known for its steaks and seafood. Rathbun says the restaurant receives all of its steaks from only three different plants in Iowa, and โ€œitโ€™s all Midwestern beef, aged for 28 days, then hand cut to our specs and cooked the way you want them.โ€

The restaurant has popular main dishes like delightful short ribs with butternut squash ravioli, hearty grilled rosemary and garlic lamb loin chops, tender oven-baked herb-encrusted grouper and cedar plank roasted salmon in an apricot mustard jalapeรฑo glaze, to name a few.

Or, you can hunker down at Stonewoodโ€™s popular bar and order tavern wings or oak grilled shrimp or anything else from the full lunch or dinner menu.

โ€œOne of my customers once told me, โ€˜You know, I can come in here and have a real nice dinner and a bottle of wine with my wife and celebrate an event, or I can come in with my guys andย have a burger and a beer at the bar and watch a basketball game,โ€™โ€ Rathbun says. โ€œThey love the flexibility.โ€

A new and improved lunch menu, plus weekday specials which can be ordered at the bar or at your table, also help keep people coming back.

For example, on Tuesdays, Stonewood offers specials on craft beer and craft burgers (see photo). Wine Down Wednesday features half-off discounts on almost a dozen wines, and Thursday is Stoli Martini night.

โ€œWe offer something for everyone, and I really like that Iโ€™ve been able make so many relationships with my customers over the years,โ€ Rathbun says. โ€œIโ€™m glad so many people enjoy it.โ€

Stonewood Grill & Tavern is located at 17050 Palm Pointe Dr., Tampa Palms. For info, call (813) 978-0388 or visit StonewoodGrill.com.

Three New Hotels Add Heat To Wesley Chapelโ€™s Business Climate

The six-story, 125-room Hilton Garden Inn on Silver Maple Pkwy. will open this summer.ย 

For years, Pasco County has grappled with attracting tourists and giving them a place to stay.

Florida Hospital Center Ice (FHCI) and a planned RADD Sports Wiregrass Ranch Sports Complex, as well as the Tampa Premium Outlets (TPO), the Shops at Wiregrass mall, the massive โ€œconnected cityโ€ project and dozens of local restaurants will help take care of attracting visitors.

In a few months, a long-standing problem of finding beds for all of those visitorsโ€™ heads will be solved as well.

During the months of June and July, Wesley Chapel expects to see three new hotels open along the burgeoning S.R. 56 corridor, joining the Holiday Inn & Suites that opened last year next to FHCI (and the Hampton Inn & Suites, which has been open for many years).

โ€œThe two industries (tourism and hospitality) go hand in hand,โ€ says Hope Allen, the CEO of the North Tampa Bay (formerly Greater Wesley Chapel) Chamber of Commerce. โ€œItโ€™s almost like you canโ€™t have one without the other.โ€

Barring any weather delays, a six-story, 125-room Hilton Garden Inn on Silver Maple Pkwy., across S.R. 56 from FHCI, is scheduled to open in June, a 92-room Fairfield Inn & Suites is expected to open in June or July a few miles to the east (in the Wiregrass Ranch development), and the six-story, 132-room Hyatt Place Hotel & Convention Center will open in July at the Cypress Creek Town Center across from TPO.

The newest hotels have all been planned since late 2015.

The Hyatt Place Hotel & Convention Center

Impact Properties is building the Hyatt Place, and recently hosted a โ€œtopping offโ€ event to show off its progress. Impact just began building the $24-million hotel last summer. The Hyatt Place will share the north side of S.R. 56 with a host of new restaurants and retailers (see story on page 6).

The conference center addition fills another area need, says District 2 Pasco County commissioner Mike Moore. โ€œThis is going to be a great development all around,โ€ Moore said during the Hyatt Place event. โ€œWhen you talk about a convention center, that has been something that has been a big need in Pasco County, especially on the east side. You wonโ€™t have a problem keeping it full.โ€

Impact president Dilip Kanji said he has had his eyes on the Cypress Creek location for years, patiently waiting for the right moment.

โ€œIโ€™ve been looking at Wesley Chapel since 2012,โ€ Kanji says, citing the Cypress Creek Town Centerโ€™s permitting woes dating back to 2007. โ€œIf you remember, (our interest) goes back to the days when the mall was going to go there, the problems with the wetlands and the Army Corps of Engineers, all that stuff, so we just kept looking. But, Wesley Chapel has arrived, Pasco County has arrived, everyone wants to be here. We had an idea for what we wanted to do; we were just waiting for the right time.โ€

Kanji said his company also eyed the Shops at Wiregrass mall and Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel areas in Wiregrass, as well as the area near FHCI (where the Holiday Inn Express is today).

โ€œThereโ€™s been the potential (for a hotel) in the area, but the place we always wanted to be was on that (the west) side of the interstate,โ€ he said.

A Little History…

Impact Properties was founded in 1981, two years after Kanji, a biochemist at the time, visited San Francisco and stayed at a family-run hotel that he fell in love with. He decided, without the benefit of any business schooling or real estate courses, to enter the business.

Impact Properties president Dilip Kanji

โ€œI never stepped in a lab again, and never looked back,โ€ said Kanji, who works closely with brother and VP Nash Kanji, whom he describes as a construction โ€œwhiz.โ€ They started with a small motel in Gainesville that Kanji says his attorney at the time joked was known as a โ€œno-tell motel.โ€ Since then, Impact Properties has grown into an award-winning development company, owning and managing more than 25 hotels, and was awarded the key to the City of Tampa by then-Mayor Dick Greco for developing the Hilton Garden Inn in Ybor City, the first hotel to be built in the historic district in more than 100 years.

Impact Properties currently owns a hotel in Gainesville, two in Jacksonville and two in Tampa, including The Westin on Westshore Blvd.

The company also is developing a hotel in Treasure Island, FL, in addition to the Wesley Chapel location, which Kanji says is one of the most coveted areas around.

Speaking Of Hot…

Kanji says people have asked him if heโ€™s building his next hotel in downtown Tampa or St. Petersburg, and when he tells them no, they ask why, because those are the hot areas.

โ€œI donโ€™t even go where itโ€™s already hot,โ€ Kanji says. โ€œWe identify an emerging area, growth areas that are going to be hot. And, we get there first.โ€

He says that was his plan when he built a hotel in Brandon years ago, the first he says to do so on the old I-75 bypass. โ€œThe interchange wasnโ€™t even working,โ€ he says. โ€œWe identified where Brandon was going โ€” it was the bedroom community of Tampa โ€” and we identified that area as hot. We got there first. There were growing pains. We did not hit our numbers the first year or two. But, we said we will control the market.โ€

In the case of Wesley Chapel, however, Impact Properties will be entering a market that is already considered hot, and growing crowded quickly โ€” landowner Bob Sierra said at the โ€œtoppingโ€ event that if the Hyatt Place is successful, Kanji has an option to build a second in the Cypress Creek Town center.

In addition to the three hotels set to open this summer, the RADD Sports Wiregrass Ranch Sports Complex โ€“ which could open in spring of 2019 โ€” will have a 120-room Marriott-branded Residence Inn on site, and the Brightwork Crossing development north of S.R. 54/56 and west of C.R. 54/Wesley Chapel Blvd. has stated plans in 2016 to build an unnamed hotel with up to 150 rooms on that site.

Also, plans were filed with the county in August for a proposed, also-unnamedย  160,000-sq.-ft. hotel to be located behind the Walgreens at the S.R. 54 and Bruce B. Downs Blvd. intersection.

A report in 2016 by consultants analyzing the potential for a sports complex in Wesley Chapel pointed out the lack of hotel rooms in the area. And, while it still made a sizable economic impact (estimated at $3-million a year), it has been believed that one of the main beneficiaries of the DICKโ€™s National Lacrosse Championships held at Wesley Chapel District Park the last several years were nearby Hillsborough County hotels, such as those in New Tampa, which took in 60-75 percent of the tournamentโ€™s teams and visitors.

While saturation may become an issue, the new hotels are anticipated to help the countyโ€™s tourism efforts and fill tax coffers. The county approved doubling its tourist tax, or bed tax, from 2 to 4 percent last year.

โ€œWhat youโ€™re seeing in Pasco County is quality,โ€ Moore said. โ€œThere is a lot of time and effort put into these projects. Weโ€™ll be getting rooms filled, heads in beds…and we appreciate the help. It helps us grow, and helps us bring in additional profits to the county.โ€

Magic On Ice!

OlympianVanessa James gave 7-year-old future ice skating star Serena Kemble a lot more than just some tights -โ€” she gave her a memory that will last a lifetime.

A Simple Gesture By An Olympic Medal Hopeful Inspires A Young Skater At Florida Hospital Center Ice

Serena Kemble had only been figure skating a few months when she first saw Olympic medal hopeful Vanessa James at a 2016 competition at the Ellenton Ice & Sports Complex in Bradenton.

The then-five-year-old was transfixed by Vanessaโ€™s beauty and grace, the way she glided across the ice and so elegantly twisted and turned as she leapt through the air.

And by her skin color.

โ€œIt was the first time Serena saw anyone in person skating that was her own skin color,โ€ said Deserree Kemble, Serenaโ€™s white, adoptive mother.ย 

โ€œShe was bouncing in her seat, as happy as she could be.โ€

During the Winter Olympics, which begin today in PyeongChang, South Korea, Serena is likely to once again be happily bouncing in her seat, as she hopes to see Vanessa and her partner, Morgan Cipres, who have been training at Florida Hospital Center Ice in Wesley Chapel since May, represent France as they compete for a medal in the pairs figure skating competition. The duo recently finished fourth at the European World Championships.

As she cheers on her skating idol, Serena just may be clutching a pair of new brown tights in her hands, given to her by Vanessa, a significant gesture that has left a significant impact.

+++++

Deserree and Serena, who is 7 years old and has been skating for two years, grew dismayed by a lack of equipment for skaters of color, especially tights, which are primarily supposed to match the skaterโ€™s skin tone, while adding protection in case of falls.

โ€œWe bought her tights, but I recall they never did look right,โ€ Deserree says. โ€œTights are supposed to resemble the skaterโ€™s skin tone and hers stood out. They were obviously not close to her skin tone.โ€

Deserree tried dyeing the tights they had, but nothing seemed to work. One competition, Serena skated without them, but fell and suffered ice burns on her legs. They managed to locate a used pair from Nyman, and by mending holes and double-layering the tights, made them last.

Deserree connected with Vanessa, whom they had met at a skating event in Ellenton, on Facebook and shared some of the difficulties she and Serena encountered being a skater of color. Having endured her own obstacles, Serenaโ€™s story touched Vanessa.

The next time she saw Serena, she vowed she would be ready. Her coach, John Zimmerman IV (a 2018 U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame inductee), and FHCI Ice Skating Director Shari Klutz, helped orchestrate a future meeting.

On Jan. 24, Deserree was on Facebook when she noticed a post announcing the final practice for Vanessa and Cipres before they headed off to the Olympics, with an autograph session to follow.

She rearranged her schedule so she and Serena could drive across the state to see Vanessa up close, although she kept it a secret. Traffic, though, caused them to miss the morning session. So, Serena free skated while they waited for the night practice session.

After a few hours, as Deserree and Serena stood at the Guest Services desk at FHCI, Vanessa came in the door and also walked up to the service desk.

โ€œSerena was just in shock,โ€ Deserree says of the unplanned meeting. Serena stared at Vanessa. She had no words.

โ€œI told her, โ€˜You waited two years for this moment, youโ€™re not going to say anything?,โ€™โ€ Deserree says.

A star-struck Serena mumbled, โ€œSheโ€™s so pretty.โ€

Vanessa looked down and realized it was Serena, the little girl from Facebook who couldnโ€™t find a pair of tights in her skin tone.

โ€œLetโ€™s meet after the night practice session,โ€ Vanessa told her.

Serena got a front-row seat for Vanessa and Cipresโ€™ practice session, where the figure skaters performed their long program, or free skate, to the tune of Simon & Garfunkelโ€™s โ€œSounds of Silence.โ€ She excitedly provided the play-by-play for her mother.

โ€œSerena told me every move they did that she knew the name of, and when she didnโ€™t, she just sang their song,โ€ Deserree says. โ€œWhen it was over, Serena looked over at me and said, โ€˜This was the best day ever.โ€™โ€

+++++

Little did Serena know that the best day ever was going to get even better.

After the training session, Vanessa signed autographs, including a copy of SKATING, the U.S. Figure Skating magazine, January issue. In the Kid Zone section of the magazine, Serena is featured, and named Vanessa as one of her skating role models.

As the autograph session wrapped up, and only Serena was left, she met with Vanessa. After a brief conversation, she asked them if they could wait around for a few minutes. Serena nodded her head.

Vanessa sped home to nearby Seven Oaks, where she has lived while training at FHCI. With music playing in her head, a beaming Serena waited in the lobby, practicing axel after axel, nearly 75 in all.

Deserree stood nearby, smiling.

Vanessa returned with gifts โ€” tights for Serena.

The first two pairs were tights in Serenaโ€™s size, and skin tone, that Vanessaโ€™s mother shipped her from France.

The third pair actually belonged to Vanessa. โ€œOne day,โ€ she told Serena, โ€œyou will grow into these.โ€

โ€œSerena was over the moon excited,โ€ says Deserree. โ€œWhen we were in the car driving home, Serena said she would never wash the tights Vanessa gave her, and would never wash the hand that she shook.โ€

Deserree chuckled. โ€œI told her she might want to think about that, but left it there for the time being.โ€

Serena may have had trouble finding tights to match her skin tone, but she definitely didnโ€™t have any trouble finding a role model who does.

+++++

The Kembles, Deserree and Lance, adopted Serena and her 6-year-old biological cousin, Elijah, at birth, rescuing the children from their rough background, through a program with the Kemblesโ€™ church.

โ€œIt just seemed like the right thing to do,โ€ Deserree said.

The Kembles hardly imagined that their daughter would discover figure skating, of all things, but a 2016 family trip would change Serenaโ€™s world forever.

At a ski resort in Gatlinburg, TN, Serena saw ice, and people skating on it, for the first time. She was mesmerized as the skaters whizzed by her, and begged her parents to let her try it.

A few moments later, Serena had laced up a pair of cheap, worn rental ice skates and was gliding around the ice with surprising aplomb, charming the other skaters,ย many of whom couldnโ€™t help but notice.

โ€œHow long has she been skating?,โ€ someone asked Deserree.

โ€œOh, about two minutes,โ€ she replied.

When it was time to leave, Serena begged to stay. She has been skating ever since, inspired by Vanessa on that night in Bradenton, just a few months after she began. Her mother says Serena has already been in about a dozen competitions, earning nine gold medals, one silver and one bronze. She also skates with a performance team called Theatre On Ice, and is the youngest member of the team coached by Katie Nyman, who also coaches at one of Serenaโ€™s home rinks, the Space Coast IcePlex in Rockledge (near Cocoa Beach), which is known for its strong figure skating program.

Serena is heading into competition season now, and will have her first competition in a more competitive classification this March, in Coral Springs. The Florida State Games are coming to FHCI in Wesley Chapel this summer, and Serena plans to compete there.

She will be wearing her new tights.

The Winter Olympics begin Feb. 9 in PyeongChang Olympic Stadium and continue through Sunday, Feb. 25. Vanessa and Morgan will skate Feb. 13-14.