The Meeker 8–10 age group softball team celebrates after securing a dramatic 6–5 walk-off win over Rifle One on Wednesday, June 18, 2025, at Paintbrush Park in Meeker. The team traveled to Carbondale the following day, where they narrowly lost 14–13. Meeker will return to their home field this Wednesday to host Grand Valley at 6 p.m. JARED HENDERSON PHOTO

The Meeker 11–13 age group softball team faced off against a tough Rifle One opponent at Paintbrush Park in Meeker on June 17, 2025. The team showed grit and determination throughout the game as they continued their summer schedule. Up next, they’ll travel to Carbondale on Tuesday before returning home Thursday to host Glenwood, with both games set for 6 p.m.

JARED HENDERSON PHOTO

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Published on June 25, 2025

The Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department (LLCHD), in partnership with Lincoln Community Learning Centers, invites families to the Youth Sports Sign-Up Fest on Saturday, June 28. The event will be from noon to 4 p.m. at Peter Pan Park, N. 32nd and “W” streets. This free event is designed to reduce barriers to physical activity and promote healthier lifestyles by connecting families with affordable youth sports opportunities.

The event is a collaboration with the local nonprofit organization Everybody Gets a Chance (EGC) and its Annual Community Event. Attendees will enjoy live music, free food, sports games, a dunk tank, and additional activities. The Youth Sports Sign-Up Fest will feature local sports programs with affordable fees and/or financial aid options, as well as resources to support young athletes.

“When kids participate in sports, their physical fitness increases, mental well-being improves, and social connections strengthen,” said Rachel Redepenning, LLCHD Public Health Educator. “This leads to lower risk of chronic diseases, avoidance of substance use and building of long-term social and emotional skills.”

Malachi Hopkins, EGC Founder, said sports are essential to cultivating leadership, hard work, and compassion for young people.

“The core mission of our organization is for all kids in our community to be able to explore their passion through sports and focus on the game and not the cost of participating,” Hopkins said.

The event will feature the following opportunities:

• Connect with sports programs for youth ages 3 through 16 and all skill levels that offer affordable options, financial aid, or scholarship opportunities for youth sports
• Learn about registration deadlines, cost, and expectations for various sports leagues and recreation programs
• Participate in a fun-filled day with food, games, music and activities
• Learn more about EGC’s monthly scholarship program and how to apply.

Groundbreaking Initiative Pairs Top-Ranked Athletes with National Brands in Media-Driven Content Platform

ATLANTA, June 25, 2025 (Newswire.com)
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LakePoint Sports, the premier travel and youth sports destination in the country, is once again setting the standard for innovation in the industry with the launch of its LakePoint Athlete Program – a first-of-its-kind name, image, and likeness (NIL) inspired content-centric initiative that pairs elite youth athletes at the center of branded storytelling and media partnerships.

Through this creative approach, the LakePoint Athlete Program provides access to national brands through curated partnerships within LakePoint’s robust portfolio of over 60 brand partners. When paired with LakePoint’s expansive multi-media offerings, athletes gain unprecedented exposure across the country. LakePoint’s ecosystem creates a unique opportunity for young athletes to elevate their personal brands, build connections with national industry-leading brands, and share their stories through LakePoint’s professionally produced network designed to spotlight their talent at every turn.

At the heart of the LakePoint Athlete Program is a deep commitment to protecting the interests of each athlete involved. As the youth sports landscape continues to evolve with greater access to exposure and brand collaboration, LakePoint is focused on ensuring that these opportunities are delivered responsibly. From clear communication and consent around content usage to aligning athletes with brands that reflect their values, LakePoint is taking a thoughtful, athlete-first approach. The program is designed not only to elevate talent but also to educate and empower these young players and their families-ensuring that every step forward in the spotlight comes with a strong foundation of trust, integrity, and support.

In a bold move that further cements LakePoint’s reputation as the country’s leading platform for travel and youth sports innovation, LakePoint is proud to announce the first class of LakePoint Athletes:

● Geno Goralski (2026, OF)
● Austin Tamborra (2027, OF)
● Dominic Rossy (2028, C/RHP)

Each athlete is nationally ranked by Prep Baseball and recognized as a standout both on and off the field, excelling in athletic performance, academic achievement, and community impact.

“This initiative represents the next evolution of our media strategy – where athletes, brands, and content come together to create a win for everyone involved,” said Cory McCartney, LakePoint Sports Vice President of Media. “We couldn’t be more excited about the caliber of athletes we’re working with and the partnerships already in place.”

By pairing athletes with iconic baseball brands like Rawlings Sporting Goods and cutting-edge innovators like Curve Test Center, the LakePoint Athlete Program offers a unique opportunity for these partners to authentically connect with the next generation of elite players. The content created through this program puts brand stories directly into the hands – and feeds – of highly engaged sports audiences, parents, coaches, and scouts.

LakePoint’s platform acts as the bridge between athlete and brand, enabling meaningful engagement and maximum exposure. With high-quality content and a built-in distribution strategy that spans digital, social, and on-site activations, partners can leverage the credibility and visibility that comes with being associated with LakePoint and its top-tier athletes. It’s not just about product placement-it’s about building brand loyalty at the grassroots level of the sport.

The LakePoint Athlete Program kicks off with collaborations between these standout players and Rawlings Sporting Goods and Curve Test Center, two industry leaders in sports equipment and performance testing. Content will be crafted by the LakePoint media team, showcasing the athletes through compelling social and digital storytelling – elevating not only the brands but also the personal platforms of each athlete.

With an unmatched digital footprint and media production infrastructure, LakePoint Sports continues to drive the future of content and brand partnerships in youth sports. The Athlete Program is just the latest in a string of industry-leading innovations that positions LakePoint as the definitive home for high-level athletes and forward-thinking partners.

“This is bigger than just baseball,” said Greg Barckhoff, EVP, Partnerships & Marketing. “We’re building a platform that can scale across sports, creating authentic engagement between athletes, brands, and fans in a way that’s never been done at this level in the travel and youth sports space.”

Athlete Highlights

● Geno Goralski (Georgia Jackets): No. 8 ranked 2026 OF in Georgia. 6.88 60-yard dash, 98.9 mph exit velocity, 2024 Future Games selection.
“It’s really exciting to be part of something this big. I’m pumped to represent the program and make the most of it,” said Goralski.

● Austin Tamborra (6-4-3 DP Baseball): No. 3 ranked 2027 OF in Georgia, No. 44 nationally at position. 6.77 60-yard dash, 99.2 mph exit velocity, 92 mph from OF.
“I’m absolutely thrilled to be part of the first class of LakePoint Athletes,” Tamborra said. “It’s an incredible opportunity to represent a brand that supports athletes like me both on and off the field. I’m excited to grow and learn through this opportunity.”

● Dominic Rossy (Aviators): No. 4 ranked 2028 catcher in Georgia, No. 15 nationally at position. 2.00 pop time, 98.9 mph bat speed, 86 mph fastball.
“I will do the best I can to represent the LakePoint Athletes Program with the utmost respect,” said Rossy.

All content will be generated by LakePoint’s media team and shared across its powerful distribution channels, as well as by the athletes and partners themselves. This integrated approach ensures each piece of content drives brand visibility, enhances athlete profiles, and contributes to the continued growth of LakePoint’s national platform.

With plans to expand into additional sports, the LakePoint Athlete Program marks a new era for how youth athletes are positioned, supported, and celebrated in a digital-first world.

Source: LakePoint Sports

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – If your child has ever dreamed of throwing the game-winning touchdown or leading the crowd in a spirited halftime cheer, now’s the perfect time to get them off the couch and into the game. Murfreesboro Parks & Recreation has officially opened registration for youth cheerleading and flag football, two of the city’s most exciting and energetic sports! Not to mention, one of the best age groups for parents capture memorable pictures and maybe a few laughs.

These programs are open to new participants now through July 11, 2025, and the season is packed with fun, teamwork, and just the right amount of healthy competition. Whether your child is a seasoned sideline star or a future quarterback in training, there’s a spot on the team just waiting for them.

Cheerleading and flag football are big hits with area children – and now’s the time to sign your young Heisman Trophy winner up (Heisman Trophy winner in the making, of course)…

Parents can register their children online at MurfreesboroParks.com or swing by in person at places like Patterson Park, SportsCom, or any other city rec facility. Once the games begin in August, you’ll hear the laughter, see the high-fives, and maybe even a touchdown dance or two…

Of course, the volunteer coaches have to instill in each player the need to pull the flag…

Register now through July 11, 2025 and learn more by visiting:

Flag Football: Flag Football | Murfreesboro, TN – Official Website

Cheerleading: Cheerleading | Murfreesboro, TN – Official Website

Let the games begin!

This is a monthly column that runs down five interesting startup funding deals every month that may have flown under the radar. Check out our May entry here.

Funded startups that caught our eye this month ran the gamut from the heartwarming (a cute robotic puppy companion for seniors), to the solemn (software for planning military operations),  to the hopeful (faster drug discovery without animal testing), but AI was again an inescapable theme. Let’s take a closer look at five interesting startups that announced funding in June.

Military software startup launches to unicorn valuation

Collaboration software isn’t as shock-and-awe-inspiring as a B-2 bomber, but is arguably just as critical to a successful military operation as the most sophisticated warplane or precision bomb.

Enter Onebrief, a Honolulu-based military planning software startup that this month raised $20 million in new funding at a $1.1 billion valuation — just three months after its Series C, which valued it at $650 million. The new round was led by Battery Ventures.

“Onebrief’s technology consolidates several key elements of war planning into one platform,” Battery Ventures general partner Michael Brown said in a statement. “It’s an intuitive model that has been organically adopted in a viral, bottom-up manner in many corners of the U.S. military, including four of the seven geographic combatant commands and other important units in the critical Indo-Pacific region.”

Onebrief says it plans to use the new funding to build out its cloud-based collaboration and operational planning software to be used simultaneously by 100,000 users across the military and to remain operational under adversarial conditions.

Even before the U.S. joined Israel’s war on Iran last weekend, global venture funding to defense tech startups was on a tear this year.

While venture investors have historically been squeamish about funding technology used by the military, that’s changed in recent years, and funding to VC-backed startups in defense — defined here as the industries of military, national security and law enforcement — hit $3 billion in 2024, per Crunchbase data. This year is well on its way to top those figures, with nearly $5.8 billion invested in defense tech so far this year, our data shows, including a $2.5 billion round for defense tech unicorn Anduril Industries earlier this month.

Robotic companion dog for seniors fetches $6.1M

And now for something decidedly warmer and fuzzier.

Tombot, a startup making a realistic-looking robotic puppy companion for seniors or others who may struggle to take care of a live animal, raised $6.1 million in funding. The round for Santa Clarita, California-based Tombot was led by health tech investor Caduceus Capital Partners and joined by new and existing investors.

The company’s Jennie robot is modeled after a 3-month-old Labrador puppy and is designed to serve as an alternative to an emotional support animal for seniors or others who are unable to care for a live pet.

“Tombot is entering a high-demand, underserved market at the intersection of mental health and assistive technology,” Tombot CEO and co-founder Tom Stevens said in a statement. “Over 300 million seniors around the world with dementia and mild cognitive impairment are unable to care for a live animal at a time when they need the companionship of a pet more than ever. Millions of other individuals suffering from mental health adversities are in a similar predicament.”

Stevens reportedly got the idea for the startup after his mother was diagnosed with dementia and her beloved dog had to be rehomed, causing a rapid decline in her mental and emotional well-being.

The company says Jennie is designed to respond to human touch and voice commands with movement and realistic sounds. The robot pup, which apparently already has 7,500 pre-orders from hospitals, care facilities and families, will initially sell for $449.

Nuclear fuel startup emerges from stealth with $42M

Standard Nuclear this month emerged from stealth and said it has raised $42 million in funding thus far to develop TRISO nuclear fuel, an advanced nuclear fuel designed for high-temperature reactors.

Its funding was led by Decisive Point with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, Washington Harbour Partners, Welara, Fundomo and Crucible Capital.

The Oak Ridge, Tennessee-based startup is producing TRISO — short for TRi-structural ISOtropic — fuel, which is central to the design of several advanced reactor concepts. The company said it’s “the country’s first and only independent TRISO fuel manufacturer without reactor development operations of its own.”

“TRISO particles cannot melt in a reactor and can withstand extreme temperatures that are well beyond the threshold of current nuclear fuels,” according to the U.S. Department of Defense, which is among Standard Nuclear’s customers.

The company said it counts commercial and government organizations including Radiant Industries, Antares, Nano Nuclear Energy, Jimmy Energy, The U.S. Department of Energy National Laboratories and the DoD among its customers.

“We are rapidly scaling TRISO fuel production to advance our mission of securing the domestic supply chain and achieving energy independence,” Thomas Hendrix, general partner at Decisive Point and executive chairman of Standard Nuclear, said in a statement.

The company’s funding and emergence from stealth follows another large round for a nuclear startup this month. Last week, Bill Gates-founded TerraPower announced it had raised $650 million in fresh funding from Gates, HD Hyundai, NVentures and existing investors as it develops a 345-watt nuclear power plant at the site of a retiring coal plant in Wyoming. The funding deals come as the rapid rise of power-hungry AI data centers sparks fresh interest in new energy technologies.

Biotech raises $21M for human-first drug discovery

Parallel Bio raised a $21 million Series A funding led by AIX Ventures for its platform designed to replace animal testing with human-first, AI-powered drug discovery.

Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Parallel’s funding comes as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is phasing out animal-testing requirements for certain drugs in favor of New Approach Methodologies, or NAMs, which include cell cultures, computational models and organoids — miniature, lab-grown 3-D models of human organs.

Advocates of the new approaches say they could lead to faster, more effective drug development with lower R&D costs.

“With these milestones, we are closer to making human-first drug discovery the new industry standard,” Parallel CEO and co-founder Robert DiFazio said in a statement. “For too long, the reliance on lab mice to model human biology has come at a high cost: 95% of drugs fail in human trials even after succeeding in animal studies. We’re turning that on its head by using organoids and AI to discover drugs in true-to-life human models from the start.”

Existing investors Metaplanet, Humba Ventures, Atypical Ventures, Undeterred Capital and Jeff Dean joined the round. New investors included Amplo and Salesforce 1 founder and CEO Marc Benioff.

Parallel said eight pharmaceutical companies are testing more than 50 drugs and immunotherapies using its organoid-based immune system platform. They include Centivax, which used Parellel’s technology for its first preclinical testing for its universal flu vaccine candidate, now headed to human trials.

Sports AI startup scores $3.2M

Boston-based sports AI company SportsVisio said it raised $3.2 million in new funding, bringing its total raised to $9 million. The company’s technology is used by amateur and youth sports teams — currently volleyball and basketball — to analyze player performance and provide real-time stats and video highlights.

The latest round includes funding from existing investors Sapphire Sport, Hyperplane AI and Sovereign’s Capital. Mighty Capital, Sony Innovation Fund, Alumni Ventures, Waterstone Impact Fund and new strategic angels also joined.

“At Sony Innovation Fund, we invest in technologies with the potential to reshape industries — and SportsVisio is a perfect example of that,” Austin Noronha, managing director of Sony Ventures in the U.S., said in a statement. “Their AI-driven platform delivers professional-grade tools to youth and amateur athletes, transforming how sports moments are captured and shared. We’re excited to back a team that’s expanding access to high-quality sports content and empowering the next generation of athletes.”

SportsVisio said the new funding will be used for sales and marketing initiatives as it scales its offerings across basketball and volleyball. It also plans to add new sports including baseball for amateur, youth and professional sports teams. It says its product is currently used by more than 150 leagues, clubs and teams in 16 countries.

Illustration: Dom Guzman

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) – The Palmer Williams Group is proud to host its 12th Annual Athletic Youth Camp on Saturday, June 28th, 2025, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at Highpoint Park in Eight Mile, Alabama. This FREE event is open to children ages 4–13 and promises a dynamic day of football skills & drills, cheer, games, giveaways, lunch, and family fun.

Founded by former NFL and University of Alabama athletes Sherman Williams and David Palmer, the Palmer Williams Group has spent over a decade using the power of sports and mentorship to uplift youth across the Gulf Coast. This year’s camp is made possible through generous sponsorship from Coca-Cola United, NFL Foundation, Greer’s, and Publix.

Attendees will be coached by a lineup of former NFL players, local college athletes, and cheerleaders who will guide participants through energetic drills and motivational talks. The goal: instill values of teamwork, discipline, and confidence—on and off the field.

“This is more than just football—it’s about changing lives,” said Sherman Williams. “We’re giving these young people positive role models, life skills, and an unforgettable experience.”

Registration is free and now open at www.palmerwilliamsgroup.org.

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