The Jefferson Parks and Recreation Department has two youth sports programs starting soon.

According to JPRD Assistant Director Lyndsey Wathen, a Youth Volleyball Camp is happening this coming Monday and Tuesday for third-sixth graders. She states that the third and fourth grade session is from 10-11:15am and the fifth and sixth graders are from 11:15am-12:30pm, both taking place at the Greene County Community Center. Wathen points out that the camp is being led by the Greene County High School Volleyball Varsity Head Coach Chris Heisterkamp and Adrianna Vargas. The cost to participate is $10 for community center members and $15 for non-members.

Wathen notes the other program is a second through sixth grade Girls Basketball League that will be on Sundays in January from 1-2pm also at the community center. The cost to participate is $30, which includes a t-shirt and there is a discount rate of $10 for any girls that did the basketball camp this past October. 

To sign up for either program, contact the community center at 515-386-2134 or click here. 

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New 70-foot light poles stretch skyward from the perimeter of Keach Park as part of the long-awaited plan to illuminate one of Concord’s most popular athletic fields.

The work is a culmination of years of lobbying from the community organizing group Change for Concord, which implored the City Council to approve the project to support youth equity and access to outdoor recreation on the Heights.

Once complete, the Heights will have the only athletic field with lights in Concord besides the athletic complex at Memorial Field.

Despite the progress, the design is not what advocates had envisioned. These lights will cover a youth-sized field, which is smaller than a traditional soccer pitch.

“Our proposal that we submitted to the city council was acquiring the whole field to have lights,” said Fisto Ndayishimiye, one of the Change for Concord leaders. “The reason why we did that was to be more inclusive, to make sure that the field is utilized by many groups at different times.”

Parks & Recreation Director David Gill said that the area covered is enough for a seven-on-seven soccer match and will greatly expand the soccer clinics and pitch availability for general use.

The city held back on adding more lights to avoid affecting the nearby softball diamond, Gill said.

The existing plan, according to Gill, will not illuminate abutting houses much, won’t generate much light pollution and is also compliant with environmental regulations.

Installation began last month, with nighttime use ready to begin sometime between May and June of next year.

On Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, the field will be available for rent for leagues and organized groups from dusk to 10 p.m. It will only be closed if the field is deemed unusable or unsafe due to heavy rain or other weather conditions, in which case the public will be notified through Parks & Recreation’s regular channels.

While the lights aren’t everything Ndayishimiye’s group hoped for, he was glad some progress was made after seven years of discussion.

“I really appreciate the leaders of the community, our city staff, for making this happen, even though it took a long time,” he said.

What started as a way to get free sports cleats and shoes to kids in need is becoming much more, especially for one Kewaunee family.

Announced earlier this month, Play 4 Owen, 23’s Cleats 4 Kidz and local artist Zane Statz are collaborating on a new scholarship and award called Laces 4 Life. The initiative will recognize student-athletes from Kewaunee, Algoma, Southern Door, Gibraltar and Sturgeon Bay who are excelling in the classroom and in the community.

The $2,300 scholarship and cleat award honors Owen Vaughn, who died by suicide in February. The three-sport athlete became a source of inspiration for the Kewaunee wrestling and baseball teams as they wrapped up the school year.

A few towns away, 11-year-old Bentley Gerczak has been busy running his organization that helps connect young families with the equipment they need to compete in youth sports. What started as giving back a pair of soccer shoes he had won has grown into donating more than 150 pairs of new shoes and hundreds of used pairs for redistribution.

Gerczak has expanded the mission beyond cleats, collecting shoeboxes filled with nonperishable food items for local pantries. His father, Jim, and Owen’s father, Chris Vaughn, are friends, leading Gerczak to look for ways he could help carry on Owen’s legacy.

That effort included donating the pair of spikes the baseball team brought with them on their run to the state championship. Gerczak didn’t want to stop there, helping organize the scholarship, which will be awarded annually at a special banquet. He hopes other kids will be inspired to find ways to give back and that community members will support them in doing so.

It has not been an easy year for the Vaughn family since losing Owen in February. Chris Vaughn said he is thankful for the community support that rallied around them in the months following, whether through hugs, meals dropped off on their porch or events organized in his son’s honor.

That support helped lead to the creation of Play 4 Owen, which is launching the Owen Vaughn Memorial Scholarship as part of Laces 4 Life while also promoting mental health awareness. Vaughn said the goal is to help ensure no other family goes through what they did and to carry on Owen’s memory.

The Laces 4 Life scholarship application, which includes a nomination from a coach, teacher or other member of a school’s faculty, is due April 15, 2026. More information can be found below.

The fan who was involved in the altercation with Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver DK Metcalf will not be punished, the NFL said after upholding Metcalf’s suspension. Metcalf, who was suspended two games for the incident, argued the fan was out of line, yet the NFL said there were ‘no violations to the fan code of conduct’ from the fan.

Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said that he had a conversation with Metcalf, who explained why he did what he did. Beyond that, Tomlin would not elaborate, as he does not condone what Metcalf did, but still wants to support him.

n top of that, Tomlin hears that there could be potential legal ramifications stemming from that incident, so he did not want to speak upon the situation much.

“He did explain to me why he did what he did. I certainly don’t condone the behavior, but I support DK. I really don’t have a lot to add other than what I just told you. I think he has a hearing this afternoon, an appeals hearing, and I certainly don’t want to weigh in prior to that. I have heard more recently that there might be legal ramifications, but I’d better be careful of what I say and how I say it,” Tomlin said.

Metcalf told Chad Johnson that Ryan Kennedy, the fan who was struck, called him a racial slur and used unsavory language towards his mother. Kennedy, through his attorney, vehemently denied using that language, instead stating he called Metcalf by his full government name.

A video emerged on Tuesday that showed Kennedy saying ‘that was the goal, folks’ after he was shoved by Metcalf. Tomlin said the culture around sports of provoking people and using ‘volatile language’ is ‘unfortunate.’

“I just think volatile rhetoric is a component of our business, unfortunately,” Tomlin said. “It just is. But not only our business, but college and youth sport parents. It’s just a component of sport that’s just developed and developed in a big way in recent years and it’s unfortunate.”

Metcalf was suspended two games by the NFL and is now down for the rest of the regular season. Should the Ravens win against the Packers and the Steelers lose to the Browns, that means Metcalf would miss the pivotal win and in game in Week 18.

SPRINGFIELD — Joseph Hartzler, who was an assistant U.S. attorney in Springfield when he was tabbed as the lead prosecutor in the Timothy McVeigh case, died in Chicago on Dec. 18, according to his family.

He was 75.

McVeigh was convicted of murder in the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in which 168 people died and scores were injured. At the time, the bombing was the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil.

Plans to transform a long-dormant landfill into a sprawling sports complex are on hold as questions regarding the extent of soil contamination at the site remain unanswered.

Pinellas County commissioners approved a $250,000 budget amendment Dec. 16 to complete subsurface investigation and engineering work at the former Toytown landfill. The state decommissioned the 175-acre dump, at 10540 16th St. N., in 1990.

County officials believe the anomalous, wide swath of vacant land near I-275 and Roosevelt Boulevard is ideally suited to host increasingly lucrative youth sports tournaments. In March, a local company submitted conceptual plans that included 20 synthetic turf baseball and softball diamonds, 17 multipurpose fields, 24 pickleball and 12 sand volleyball courts.

Brian Lowack, CEO of Visit St. Pete-Clearwater (VSPC), explained the conundrum to commissioners at a Dec. 11 workshop. “We have a ton of data from throughout the years of what’s under that landfill, but there were existing gaps that needed to be addressed in order to put pen to paper and provide a concrete proposal,” he said.

“What we’ve seen is, because we have this data gap, and folks don’t know what’s under there, they haven’t been willing to take on that risk,” Lowack said. “We haven’t been able to get the private sector to come in at a reasonable amount, limiting that public side investment.”

Clearwater-based Sports Facilities Companies (SFC) was the sole respondent to the county’s request for proposals in December 2024. Lowack said Pinellas would boast the most fields in the Southeast if the estimated $150 million to $200 million plan comes to fruition.

“And given that, with the proximity to the beach, we have the potential to have the best youth sports facility in the country,” he added.

County officials bought the former Toytown subdivision in 1956. St. Petersburg leased 160 acres for a landfill from 1961 until 1983.

Toytown subsequently became a designated brownfield site. Multiple redevelopment attempts failed to gain traction; those efforts were essentially paused in 2016 when plans to build an Atlanta Braves spring training complex unraveled.

Pinellas received a $15 million state grant for environmental remediation in 2023. SFC has experience completing similar projects nationwide and believes an athletic complex would generate a direct economic impact of $350 million within five years.

Lowack said the county has “maxed out” other athletic fields, and local governments around the region and country are increasing investments in youth sports facilities. SFC declined to begin formal negotiations with VSPC until it received additional site information.

“This has been talked about for a long time — it would be a tremendous project,” said County Administrator Barry Burton. “But we have to make sure we understand what we’re getting ourselves into. These firms want to shift the risk to our side.”

Officials planned to redevelop approximately 95 acres. The study will determine if there is potential to expand into other areas.

“We simply don’t know what’s under there, and what materials that consists of, and how deep that goes,” Lowack explained. “If you put just a bunch of fields, with no vertical construction, we can do that. However, it’s going to be difficult, and you likely wouldn’t receive much private sector investment.”

Commissioner Rene Flowers said a complex needs “accessory pieces,” including lodging and restaurants, to attract premier tournaments from other areas. SFC proposed an optional “eatertainment” fieldhouse with indoor putting, sports simulators and an “interactive dining experience.”

Pinellas can use the FDEP grant to pay for environmental remediation, but not subsurface investigations. Commissioners approved using $250,000 in tourist development taxes to fund the studies Dec. 16 without discussion.

Commissioner Kathleen Peters said Dec. 11 that Toytown could host an amphitheater and a sports complex. She also noted that the county could have competing projects.

“It’s my understanding that there’s going to be a significant amount of fields being brought into Clearwater in a public-private partnership that I saw the plans on a couple of weeks ago,” Peters said. “That’s incredible. And a potential minor league soccer stadium. That may produce sooner.”

Lowack said SFC is also working on the Clearwater project. “If you’re working with the same firm, then I’m not concerned,” Peters said.

VSPC, with the commission’s funding approval, will now hire SFC’s geotechnical subcontractor to complete the studies. Pinellas can begin grant-related work once the process concludes in March 2026.

Lowack expects to receive a final proposal from SFC by the end of June. The redevelopment’s design and engineering phase could begin in October.

This content provided in partnership with stpetecatalyst.com.