What a year it’s been.
As 2016 comes to a close, we at the Plant City Times & Observer are looking back fondly at what went on in the Winter Strawberry Capital of the World. From the Florida Strawberry Festival to local elections, there was no shortage of exciting things happening in Plant City.
Of course, that includes the sports scene.
Many of the best sports programs around kept doing their thing, whether it was Durant baseball, Plant City girls golf, Strawberry Crest girls basketball and others who have long been on top of their sports’ scenes. Crest’s cheerleading squad turned in another fantastic season, and I think it’s about time to start calling it a dynasty. Plant City softball, playing with a second-year coach for the first time since its seniors started high school, made a big leap back to the top of the district. Durant football also clawed its way back to the playoffs in a tough district, also taking back the Redman Cup. No matter which sport you’re looking for around town, you can find a high school program that truly excels in that area.
We’ve also seen how many of these programs can adapt to changes.
Several programs got new leadership this year and, in some cases, whether the new coaches were familiar faces or totally new, succeeded. Plant City’s golf teams continued to reach the playoffs with new coaches Todd Martin and Mark Kummelman, and the girls team once again put a golfer in the state championship tournament. Robert Paxia nearly led the Raiders back to the playoffs in the face of several key injuries. Paul Bonanno kept Crest’s swimming teams up to speed in the pool, sending five swimmers to states.
Not all the new coaches were able to reach or come close to the playoffs, but it’s sometimes good to remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day.
There was also the fallout from the “Choice in Sports” bill, which created a free-for-all transfer situation that many area athletes took advantage of. Perhaps no team was hit harder by transfers than Strawberry Crest football, which remained vigilant under new coach Ron Hawn and focused on rebuilding with what it had left. Should the 2017 offseason be kinder to the Chargers than 2016 was, they just might break their losing streak next season.
Beyond high school sports, we got to see Plant City’s bigger sports parks put to good use. We saw the UYFL National Championships, College Club Sports’s annual spring baseball and softball showcase, an international slow-pitch softball tournament and more — the parks are used 42 weeks out of 52 in the year. Snowden Park’s renovations were completed earlier in the year, and Ellis-Methvin Park was just completed two weeks ago, shortly after hosting the UYFL tourney for the first time. It sounds as though Plant City is being styled as a go-to destination for amateur sporting events both in the United States and internationally.
I have really high hopes for what 2017 will bring to the area, and 2016 helped lay the foundation for that optimism. I think many of us can look back on this year in sports and say that, even with some craziness mixed in, it was a fun ride.