Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus To Host RADD Summer Camps!

If you have kids as young as age 6 and as old as high school-age, and you’re not sure what to do with them this summer, RADDSports at the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus of Pasco County has a variety of great camps during the 2022 RADD Summer Heatwave.

RADD is offering everything from All-Sports camps to individualized training camps in its core sports of basketball, volleyball, soccer and cheerleading, some of which are broken down by age and/or skill level and others for kids of all ages and abilities.

All-Sport Camps!

To give your kids (boys and girls) ages 6-16 exposure to and training in volleyball, basketball, soccer and cheerleading, as well as Yo Murphy Performance Training, RADD’s All-Sport Camp is a great choice. There are three separate one-week sessions — May 31-June 3, June 20-24 and July 18-22 — and the camps group kids by age (6-8, 9-11, 12-14 & 15+), are all held indoors from Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., in air-conditioned comfort and include lunch each day, plus a camp T-shirt.

“Campers will get an introduction to each sport and learn basic skills, rules and components of each sport,” says RADD Sports CEO Richard Blalock. “This summer’s camps will focus on sport-specific skills  for everyone from novice to elite athletes.”

Basketball Camps!   

There will be three week-long RADD Basketball Camps for boys and girls ages 8-16, which are designed to focus on individual skills development, the importance of basketball fundamentals and developing a healthy team attitude and will be held indoors only, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. The basketball camp dates are June 6-10, June 27-July 1 and August 1-5, and also will be broken down by age and skill level.  

Cheerleading Camps!   

There are three levels of cheer camps this summer, including three one-week sessions for Youth Cheer Camps (June 6-10, June 27-July 1 & August 1-5, all 9 a.m.-4 p.m.; with late pickup and drop-off available for an additional charge) for ages 5-12. No previous cheer experience is necessary and athletes will learn foundational skills for stunts, tumbling, cheers and dance in a fun environment. The cheer camps also will include daily fitness education by Yo Murphy Performance.

The next level up is the RADD Team Cheer Camp for ages 6-14, which will be held June 13-17 only, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. each day, for athletes who have been through or would like to join RADD’s competitive cheer teams. The focus will be on new skills for stunts, tumbling and dance before fall team placements, with daily fitness education provided by Yo Murphy Performance.

High school cheer teams also have their own three-day (July 27-29) School Team Cheer Camp, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. each day. The School Team Cheer Camp is appropriate for both sideline and competitive cheer teams. Teams also will receive two follow-up sessions to be scheduled throughout the year. 

Soccer Camps!   

There will be three one-week RADDSports Soccer Camps for ages 8-17 — June 13-17, July 11-15 & July 25-29.

The soccer camps, which will be held both outdoors (weather permitting) and indoors, will focus on improving fundamental skills and game technique. 

“I really don’t think there’s anything like our camps in this area,” says RADDSports director of soccer (and former English Premier League player and Tampa Bay Rowdies player and coach) Stuart Campbell. 

Volleyball Camps!   

RADDSports also is offering seven different sessions of Volleyball Camp.

The Attacking Camp (June 13-15, 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m.) will focus on individual techniques for attacking, with proper footwork, proper arm swing mechanics and the transition part of the attacking position.

For the Defense Camp (also June 13-15, 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m.) campers should come ready to work hard and focus on the technical aspects of playing the libero position, including ball control and overall defense. 

The two-day Setting Camp (June 16-17, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m.) will focus on offensive strategies, proper hand and body positioning and mental and emotional aspects of the game.

Younger players (ages 5-9) can attend the Eaglets Volleyball Camp (July 11-13, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m.), where they will be taught the fundamentals of volleyball utilizing lighter balls and a lower net, all while having a great time building a passion for the sport.

There’s also a Co-Ed All Skills Camp (July 11-14, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m.) for boys and girls ages 10-18, designed to teach the fundamentals of volleyball to those ranging from elite to beginner levels. 

The Team Camp (July 11-14, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m.) is a four-day camp designed for Varsity and JV teams who want to get a jump start on their high school seasons! Coaches and players are encouraged to attend together with focus on skills development, competition against other high school teams, team building and goal-setting. 

There are two different Elite Camps (July 25-28, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. and July 27-28). The first Elite Camp includes 21 hours of training for Elite Varsity-Level Setters (grades 9-12), Developmental Setters (non-varsity, grades 7-10) and First Contact (serve, serve receive & defense for grades 7-10). The second Elite Camp is eight hours of training for grades 5-7 and beginning 8th graders. 

For more information about all of the RADD Summer Sports Camps at the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus of Pasco County (3021 Sports Coast Way, Wesley Chapel) or visit wiregrass-sports.com/camps.

A Former (Mediocre) Male Swimmer’s Take On The Transgendered Swimmer

Gary Nager Editorial

When I saw on the news and the uproar on Facebook that transgendered swimmer Lia Thomas had won the NCAA Women’s 500-yard championship, beating out Sarasota native Emma Weyant by 1.75 seconds, I couldn’t help but think about my own mediocre career as a distance freestyle and butterfly swimmer.

I didn’t want to be a swimmer as a kid, but all of my closest friends joined the Hewlett (Long Island) High swim team in 9th grade. At that age, I wasn’t big/tall or good enough to play high school football or basketball, so I accepted that swimming was it for me.

All of my friends were better than I was as a swimmer, especially in sprint events. But, I did enjoy being part of a really good team (we always had guys advance to the State Championship meets and some of them even won their events at the County level and at least made it to the finals in their respective events at States). Two of my closest friends were even good enough to swim for the Ivy League University of Pennsylvania.

Meanwhile, I worked to the best of my ability for four years, doing well enough to earn a varsity letter my junior and senior years, based on my results in dual meets during those seasons. I even made it to the County meet my senior year in the 100-yard fly and 500 free, but did not crack the top-20 in either event, despite swimming PRs (personal records) in both. I believe my 500-free time at the County meet was 5:18, but that was nowhere near my goal of breaking 5 minutes.

Even so, I was in the best shape of my life, so I continued swimming to stay in shape in my two years at SUNY Albany, and I even decided to join Albany State’s team my sophomore year. I was relegated to the events none of the other swimmers wanted to compete in — the 200 fly, 500-, 1,000- and 1,650-yard freestyle — but I only qualified for the Division III State Championship meet in the 1,650. I had put on at least 10-15 lbs. of muscle since high school and swam my P.R. in the 1,650 at State — somewhere over 18 minutes — and also recorded my fastest-ever times in the 200, 500 (5:07) and 1,000 en route to finishing 18th at that meet.

Three months or so later, I transferred to the University of Florida, a long-time swimming powerhouse, and decided to see if I could walk on the men’s team. After the first 200 yards of warmups, I realized I was completely outclassed and got out of the water cursing at myself. The famous then-Gators coach, Randy Reese, put his arm around me and said he could tell I was a competitive swimmer, and that I could stay with the team as the equipment manager and possibly even a meet-day fill-in if I could handle the thousands and thousands of yards per day and still get the kickboards and hand paddles put away at the end of each session. 

Not only did I decline, I joked that I clearly wasn’t even good enough to make the school’s women’s team — and he agreed.

Little did I know, 40+ years later, that anyone would actually attempt such a switch. The former William “Will” Thomas, who says she began feeling transgendered while still in high school, joined the University of Pennsylvania’s men’s team as a freshman in 2017 and finished in the top-seven in the same events I swam (500-, 1,000- and 1,650-yard free) at the 2018 Ivy League Championships (for the same Penn team my friends swam for), although Will Thomas did not make the finals in any of those events at the NCAA Championships that year or in 2019, the Texas native’s last year competing as a man.

At the end of 2019, Will Thomas told his coaches that he was transgendered and began undergoing hormone replacement therapy to transition to female that year.

Between Covid and transitioning to female, Lia Thomas (right in picture) didn’t swim as a woman at the 2020 or 2021 NCAA Championships, but resurfaced as one of the favorites in multiple events at this year’s NCAA Women’s meet. Lia not only won the 500-yard final (in a time 13+ second slower than Will Thomas’ PR of 4:20.5), she also finished 5th in the 200 free and 8th in the 100 free.

Now, after previously having met and written stories for the former Bruce (now Caitlyn) Jenner and his Better Health & Living magazine in the 1980s, I do believe it’s possible for adults to realize that the gender they were born into was somehow a mistake, and I wish Lia Thomas the best of luck in life.  

What I don’t believe is that someone who was born a man should be allowed to compete as a woman at any level of competitive sports. I’m no doctor or geneticist, but I don’t believe suppressing a male’s natural hormones is enough to not give that genetic man an unfair strength and endurance advantage when competing against genetic women.

Like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, I believe that Weyant should have won the 500-free title, although I blame the NCAA for allowing Thomas — or anyone born a man — to compete as a woman at all.

Women’s Professional Hockey Champion To Be Crowned At Center Ice

In another notable event landed by AdventHealth Center Ice, the Boston Pride will defend their Premier Hockey Federation Isobel Cup trophy in Wesley Chapel in March. The PHF playoffs will be free to attend and the final will be televised live on ESPN2. (Photo: Michelle Jay/NWHL)

You probably have already heard that last July, the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated Montreal in Tampa, earning the Bolts a second straight Lord Arthur Frederick Stanley Cup.

But, did you know that Lord Stanley had a daughter named Isobel, and a trophy bearing her name is handed out to the best professional women’s hockey team?

It’s true, and next month in Wesley Chapel, the winner of the 2022 Isobel Cup will be decided at AdventHealth Center Ice.

The six teams in the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) will square off March 25-28, with preliminary round games tipping things off on Friday, the semifinals on Sunday and the final to be contested live on Monday at 9 p.m., on ESPN2.

The PHF championship game will mark ESPN’s first linear broadcast of professional women’s hockey. And, although NBCSports.com reports that no current members of the powerhouse U.S. and Canadian women’s national teams have played in the PHF since 2019, a recent influx of new capital — a reported $25 million — will more than double each PHF team’s salary cap (from $300,000 to $750,000) and provide health care and maternity leave benefits for all PHF players.

“We’re pumped about it. This is a pretty big deal,” said AdventHealth Center Ice CEO Gordie Zimmermann. “The women are trying to develop and move into the pro ranks and the gain the respectability that they have always been looking for. So I think this is a great platform. The hockey development here is like no other in the nation and they recognize it as great place to present their format. Girls hockey is growing in Florida as well, so this is a great thing for all the developmental programs in the area to come and watch.”

Zimmermann says all the girls hockey programs will be invited to watch the playoffs. The general public also is invited to the event. AdventHealth Center Ice seats roughly 1,000 spectators.

It’s surreal and somewhat ironic that both the Stanley and Isobel cups, awarded to best teams playing the national sport of Canada, would be decided in….Florida. But, the opening of Center Ice in 2017 opened up a lot of previously unimaginable possibilities.

The PHF playoffs is another coup for Zimmermann. Other than the many men’s hockey events Center Ice has hosted, some of its most noteworthy events have involved women’s hockey. It was the training site for the 2018 Olympic gold medal-winning U.S. Women’s Hockey team and hosted Team USA, Canada, Finland and Sweden for the 2017 Four Nations Cup. In 2019, a virtual women’s hockey museum opened inside Center Ice.

Each spring, the rink complex also plays host to USA Hockey’s Women’s Nationals.

“We have been a catalyst for the growing interest in hockey in Florida since our opening, and in women’s hockey in particular,” Zimmermann says. 

Seven of the 25 players in Center Ice’s elite Global Prospects Academy are girls, and the facility also is home to the Crunch travel program, which has 14-under and 16-under teams.

The PHF was established in 2015 as the National Women’s Hockey League before re-branding itself. The league is made up of the defending champion Boston Pride, Buffalo Beauts, Connecticut Whale, Metropolitan (New Jersey) Riveters, Minnesota Whitecaps and the Toronto Six. 

The pairings aren’t set yet because the regular season is still ongoing, although Connecticut and Toronto are currently in first and second place, respectively.

For more information, visit PremierHockeyFederation.com or AHCenterIce.com.

RADDSports Charity Hosts Golf Tournament On Dec. 6!

We’ve been telling you about RADDSports, the private company that has been responsible for the management and all of the programs at the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus of Pasco County, since long before the 98,000-sq.-ft. AdventHealth Sports Arena opened to the public at the Sports Campus in August of 2020.

But, one of the things the management at RADDSports had noticed since it opened is that there are a lot of outstanding athletes throughout the Tampa Bay area who can’t afford to pay for the basketball, volleyball, soccer, cheerleading and lacrosse programs offered at the Sports Campus, and that just didn’t sit well with president and CEO Richard Blalock and his management team.

In order to rectify that situation, Blalock and his director of marketing Jannah Nager, who had years of prior experience in similar positions for nonprofit organizations like the American Cancer Society and the Pasco Education Foundation, decided to start their own nonprofit charity in order to provide scholarships for kids of all ages and ability levels who couldn’t afford to participate in the programs at the Sports Campus.

 “RADDSports Charity wants to change the culture of youth sports by promoting equal access to quality sports and fitness programs, regardless of their ability to pay,” says Blalock, who also serves as the new Charity’s Chairman of the Board. “We decided we needed to start our charity to provide these kids who couldn’t afford our programs with scholarships to participate in their choice of sports at the Wiregrass Sports Campus of Pasco County. Our goal is to promote the total overall well-being and development of each child through education, discipline, physical fitness and teaching proper technique of each sport, and we don’t want cost to be an issue.”


Former NFL players Brandon Ghee (left) and Chris Pressley are among the former pro and college athletes on the Board of Directors of the new RADDSports Charity, which will be hosting its first-ever fund-raising golf tournament at Lexington Oaks Golf Club on Dec. 6. 

How You Can Help

In order to kick off the fund-raising arm of the new RADDSports Charity, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, Nager decided to organize a charity golf tournament, which will be held on Monday, December 6, at the recently upgraded Lexington Oaks Golf Club.

“This event is our first of hopefully many fund raisers for the RADDSports Charity,” Nager says. “It should allow us to fund our first round of scholarships, and we’re still looking for not only golfers to play in the tournament, but also businesses who want to help young athletes in need by supporting this and other upcoming events.”

Blalock, Nager, and their fellow original RADDSports management team members Anthony Homer and Arika DeLazzer all serve on the new RADDSports Charity’s Board of Directors. Other members of the Board include former NFL defensive back Brandon Ghee, who is the director of operations for Yo Murphy Performance, the sports training company that operates at the Sports Campus, Realtor and former NFL fullback Chris Pressley (who played a few games with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers), and former Florida State University tight end Carver Donaldson.

“We’re excited to kick off our fund-raising for RADDSports Charity at Lexington Oaks,” Nager says. “We thank owner Anass El-Omari, who gave us a price for golfers that ensures we will be able to raise money for our charity with this event.”

To play in the first RADDSports Charity Golf Tournament, or to help sponsor it, visit RADDSportsCharity.org, email development director Lauren Cione at Lauren@RADDSports.com or call (727) 271-4873. Sponsorships start at as little as $250 and your company’s logo/graphics will be displayed at the event.   

Wildcats Just Miss State Volleyball Finals (with photo gallery)

The Wesley Chapel High volleyball team won its first District title since 2004, won two Regional playoff games for the first time in program history and played in its first-ever Region championship, but fell short of a State finals appearance when the ‘Cats dropped a heartbreaking 25-27, 25-17, 25-23, 25-20 decision to Ocala Vanguard on Nov. 6 in the 5A-Region 2 title game.

But Wesley Chapel, which finished with a 19-6 record and made the playoffs for the second straight year under coach Brittany Collison, will be expecting to better their historic season next year, as they will return the core of the team and the leader in every statistical category.

Junior hitter Chloe Danielson, who set a school record with 375 kills, including 20 in the Region championship match, and is a contender for Pasco County Player of the Year honors, is the biggest piece of the puzzle.

But, the Wildcats also should return junior setter Jenna Ly (631 assists and 46 aces, both team highs), sophomore libero Brooke Ashkenase (school record 367 digs) and sophomore hitters Grace Korta and Lizzy Ekechi, who each had more than 100 kills. You’ll get ‘em next year, girls! — JCC