When I heard the idea to replace the MLK Recreation Center with a new facility was proposed, I saw potential for the youth sports scene to grow in an area where we’re lacking.
If your thing is football or baseball, it’s not hard at all to find good, competitive organizations around here. Soccer and volleyball have presences here. But local offerings for basketball, one of the four most popular sports in America, are much more limited.
I’m not trying to say that the area is completely unfriendly to the sport, as the city offers a rec league for youths and the Plant City Family YMCA has youth and adult leagues of its own to bring to the table. If anyone has the ability to join one of those leagues and wants those playing experiences, they should sign up. Both the city and the Y offer good experiences for their players.
But we do have room to grow to further accommodate the sport.
The Plant City Vipers travel team often had to practice on the city’s outdoor courts and didn’t have an indoor “home court” of their own where they could host games or tournaments. If you’re not a member of the Y, your best local bets at indoor basketball are to play in the city league or while you’re in grade school. Otherwise, you’re most likely going to have to hoop outside at Mike Sansone Park or the Dort Street courts. When it rains, you’re not going to be able to play or practice a sport almost always played competitively indoors.
Outdoor basketball is fun, but it’s not the same — weather conditions, concrete courts and different rims affect everything from the way shots go in, to the way the ball bounces. It all adds up and makes a difference.
I know for a fact that having the resources afforded by a full-service facility would generate more interest in area travel basketball leagues, which could likely result in an AAU program starting up in Plant City. There are a lot of talented athletes in the area that would currently have to commute to play for an AAU or similarly competitive travel team — why not keep those kids local if we can? Travel sports leagues can get expensive enough even before you factor in the cost of gas for frequent trips from here to Brandon, Tampa or Lakeland.
And it would also create another place for the city to host sports tournaments. We’re already gaining a reputation as a legitimate sports destination, between the national tournaments that use our parks and existing facilities, to Gary Sheffield eyeing a spot by Park Road for a big-time complex. A community center brings more opportunities to draw in visitors and boost the local economy when they’re eating at our restaurants and staying at our hotels, to name a few things.
Of course, the most important thing about the community center is going to be the money. As much as I’d like to see legitimate AAU basketball come to Plant City, I’d rather see the proposal tabled and the current MLK rec center renovated if building a new center isn’t financially viable for the city. If it all checks out, I’ll be excited about the future of basketball in Plant City.
With the variety the combo of this center, the Rec and Parks Department and the Plant City Y could offer local hoopers, I’d say it looks like a slam dunk.