More recreational sports on deck in Manatee County?

When Lakewood Ranch’s Kristen Korb moved from Long Island in January 2017, she needed a way to meet people and make friends.

Her first inclination was toward recreational sports.

She started almost immediately on a kickball league with MVP Sports and Social, an adult recreational sports league, and then started playing softball, too.

Although she and most of her teammates lived in Lakewood Ranch and neighboring communities, they traveled to Sarasota for their weekly get-togethers.

“Lakewood Ranch is constantly growing,” the 30-year-old Korb said from a dugout during a Tuesday evening softball game at Fruitville Park in Sarasota. “(Adult sports are) a way to meet people, bring people together. Having parks in Lakewood Ranch — you would have an opportunity to be active in an active community.”

MVP Sports and Social founder Chris McComas said his leagues already are at capacity. In just two years of business, he’s operating a cornhole league with more than 100 players, and the largest sand volleyball and kickball leagues in the state, with more than 130 and 230 players, respectively.

MVP’s softball league is in high demand, but McComas has not grown it because of space and geographic limitations and his desire to grow MVP in Lakewood Ranch, where he lives.

“MVP Sports and Social could sell out three to four fields immediately if we had lighted softball fields in East County,” McComas said. “This is what people want, but I can’t market it because I don’t have the space.”

Manatee County has told him fields at Lakewood Ranch Park are at capacity.

Although most participants in McComas’ leagues are from Lakewood Ranch and East County communities (52% of softball players; 67% of kickball players; and 71% of six-on-six volleyball players, for example), not a single sport is

played within Lakewood Ranch proper.

“It’s unreal we could have state titles with Lakewood Ranch residents and we’re not actually playing in Lakewood Ranch,” McComas said. “We’ve done everything, just on the outskirts.”

McComas will launch a disc golf league April 21, in conjunction with the opening of the new Robert L. Gardner Park in Lakewood Ranch off White Eagle Boulevard, just east of the Arbor Grande community. It will have disc golf fields, although it is not a county park.

“That will be our first league actually in Lakewood Ranch,” McComas said.

Perhaps the closest county venue McComas uses is Tom Bennett Park, off State Road 64, for sand volleyball. McComas brings in his own lights and generators to accommodate evening play there. He cannot logistically handle light setup more than once a week, but if he had lighted courts, he could sell out five to six sand volleyball courts three nights a week.

Manatee County officials are working on long-term solutions to park needs as the East County area continues to develop. The county released its proposed Parks Master Plan in mid-March, and the document incorporates Premier Sports Campus and Park — comprising the existing Premier Sports Campus facility and an additional 36 acres acquired by the county in December for a future aquatics center — as a regional park comparable to what exists at the county’s G.T. Bray Park in Bradenton.

Parks and Natural Resources Manager Charlie Hunsicker said county-owned acreage by Premier Sports Campus will be developed in phases, likely starting with racquet sports. What other amenities will be provided there will be as part of a larger campus setting will be determined in 2019 as the county develops its conceptual design for what will become Premier Sports Campus and Park.

Manatee County Recreation Division Manager Danny Hopkins said the county is exploring options for adding more softball fields for league and senior play. Potential venues could be Premier Sports Campus or Tom Bennett Park east of Interstate 75.

However, such improvements likely are still years away. Hunsicker said the county is working to repair and maintain existing facilities, for which maintenance has largely been deferred over the past decade after the recession, first.

For Lakewood Ranch resident Dan Elmaleh, a 43-year-old father of three, social sports options have been a saving grace after the loss of his wife, Misty, one year ago. He doesn’t mind traveling, but he says having facilities closer would be more convenient and he feels more people from Lakewood Ranch would participate.

“Everything is a bit of a hike,” Elmaleh said. “Lakewood Ranch has become an epicenter. There’s a lot of people I’ve tried to bring into the league and they say it’s too far. Distance is always a factor. Everything is about time management.”