Photos by David Volz

Laryssa Booth has a passion for Beach Tennis. She excels in this sport that is growing in popularity.

“I love to play Beach Tennis. It is a lot of fun and we are winning today,” said Booth.

She was among about 100 men and women who participated in the Pompano Beach Summer Series Beach Tennis Tournament on Pompano beach, on Sunday, August 16. The game is similar to tennis. It is played in a beach environment and on sand.

“Beach Tennis is a game I love to play,” said Rachel McGinnis. “It is a fun game and there is a great group of people here.”

Adrienne Cerra Simeon is a leader of the Beach Tennis sport and is president of IFBT-USA. The sport is very popular in Pompano Beach and Deerfield Beach. There is a large permanent Beach Tennis training facility right on the beach in Pompano, with eight courts. People can play singles, doubles and mixed doubles.

“We have a tournament about once a month. A lot of the people who participate have played volleyball and tennis,” said Cerra Simeon.

And Beach Tennis offers a fun atmosphere. Steve Culver, a Beach Tennis player said he loves the atmosphere and the camaraderie of the tournaments.

By David Volz

Children who are getting ready to start school received some help from the Crockett Foundation on Saturday.

Both Henri and Zack were football stars at Blanche Ely High School and Florida State University. They later played in the National Football League (NFL).

Many families came to the Community Health Festival that took place at the Pompano Citi Centre on August 8. The Crockett Foundation partnered with Broward Health to hold the event. Doctors, nurses and other health professionals performed health checks, vision care, dental care and immunizations. Families received other social services as well.

Members of Zeta Rho Omega Chapter of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority also participated in the program.

Children who participated in the health physicals received a backpack filled with school supplies.

Henri Crockett, CEO of the Crockett Foundation, enjoyed the program and seeing young people receiving healthcare and getting ready for school.

“I like this event because it has a positive impact on families. I want to lighten the load on parents. It is important to make sure that these kids are ready for the first day of school.”

Henri Crockett and his brother Zack Crockett, who is vice president of the Crockett Foundation, know the struggles many families face. They believe it is important to give back to the community and do what they can to help families in the area.

JoeAnn Fletcher, president of the Zeta Rho Omega Chapter of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, loved the opportunity to help out at the event. Many of the chapter members distributed backpacks to the families. “Our purpose is to serve others,” said Fletcher.

Nabil El Sanadi, M.D., President and CEO of Broward Health, offered his medical services at the Community Health Festival. He said he loved the opportunity to help children in the community.

Stephanie Buquo brought her children, Matthew and Michael, to the event. She said she was glad that her sons could each receive a backpack and school supplies for the upcoming year.

By Gary Curreri

Despite bowling a perfect game in qualifying, Pompano Beach’s Zach Griffin said he didn’t bring his “A” game to the Broward County (USBC) Top 8 Tournament at AMF Davie Lanes.

What he did bring was good enough as he captured his second consecutive junior boys championship with a 219-202 victory over Miami’s Cody Stevens in the final.

“I have been busy with work and getting ready for school so I haven’t been able to find the time and, when I do have the time, I sleep,” said Griffin, who works at Strikers Family Sportscenter and recently graduated from Cardinal Gibbons High School.

“When I am done with my nine-hour shift, I am exhausted and just want to go home,” added Griffin, who admitted he hadn’t practiced in 2-1/2 months.

He is headed to Springhill College in Mobile, AL on a bowling scholarship. “It is probably the last tournament I am going to bowl before college, so my dad (Greg) seeing me shoot 300 and win was nice. He really wanted to see that.”

The Top 8 bowlers in each division each bowled four games with the Top 4, with the highest pin fall after that moving on to a step ladder final with the fourth place bowler taking on the third place bowler, and the winner moving on to bowl against the second seed, and that winner taking on the highest seeded player.

The 300-game was the fifth sanctioned game of Griffin’s career.

“That was nice,” said Griffin, whose last sanctioned 300-game was in a winter league four months ago. “It was weird because I had just come off my worst game in qualifying which was a 202. I had trouble finding my line. I just moved in and started fi ring it 18-miles-an-hour at the 10-board and clearly it worked. It was really nice, too, because, the last couple of shots, I didn’t know if they were going to carry, but they did.”

“I’m happy with how I did,” Griffin said. “It is a good repeat too. If it happened, it happened. If it didn’t, it didn’t.”

Griffin is looking forward to bowling in college where he will bowl upwards of four times a week.

“It’s nice,” he said. “I always wanted to bowl in college when I heard that a couple of my older friends went. It is a really nice atmosphere, was something I was looking for when I was looking at schools.”

Two weeks remain at Simply Soccer

There are two weeks left at the popular Simply Soccer Camp in nearby Coral Springs.

Simply Soccer, which has boys and girls, ages 5-14 of all skill levels, has attracted a record number of children from throughout Broward County for its 27th annual summer camp series at Mullins Park in Coral Springs.

The camp, featured during a live broadcast by CBS4 the day following the United States’ 5-2 victory over Japan in the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, is down to its final two weeks of the summer beginning Monday. They are August 10-14 and 17-21.

There are three sessions, ranging from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and a Tiny Tot program from 9 a.m. to noon. Players will be taught a variety of soccer skills from dribbling to shooting.

It is the longest running soccer camp offered by the city.

Campers must bring a soccer ball, swimsuit, shin guards, water bottle and lunch. For information, call 954-345-2200.

By Gary Curreri

More than 400 junior lifeguards competed in the 5th annual Junior Lifeguard State Championships recently on Ft. Lauderdale Beach.

Pompano Beach led the way with 60 competitors, while Deerfield Beach brought 27 junior lifeguards.

There were three primary age divisions in the state event including A Division (ages-14-17); B Division (ages 12-13); and C Division (ages 9-11) and an introductory Grommets Program (for 7-8 year-olds who are not yet qualified to join the Junior Lifeguard Team).

Pompano Beach’ Shannon Snell, 17, a senior at Cardinal Gibbons High School, is no stranger to the competition and turned in a stellar performance winning the Girls A Division of the beach flags event in addition to the surf swim and the run-swim-run.

Snell, who has been a junior lifeguard for nearly eight years, competed in last year’s World Championships in France last year where she placed 10th in beach flags; 6th in the 100-meter dash and 10th in the paddle.

“It was really epic to represent our country,” said Snell, who competed for the Pompano Beach junior lifeguard competition. “I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

Admittedly, there is a lot of pressure being at a world level and in a high performance competition she said, “you need to know what you are doing.”

“I am going to remember everyone I competed with and the teamwork,” she added. “Just the part of racing with each other and working together… and making friends for life … We know each other and learn new tricks every year from each other.”

Deerfield Beach’s junior lifeguards was led by Daniel Padron, who won the B Division of the beach flags event, while Pompano Beach also got a strong performance from Summer Schulte, who won the B Division in the paddle, run-swim-run and surf swim. There were seven events – beach flags, paddle, run relay, run-swim-run, paddle relay, surf swim, and the ironguard.

Local winners in the beach flags were Shannon Snell (Pompano Beach, Girls A Division); Daniel Padron (Deerfield Beach, Boys B Division); Christian Quinones (Pompano Beach, Boys C Division).

Winners in the paddle were Andre Bacic (Deerfield Beach, Boys A Division); Nicholas Calice (Pompano Beach, Boys B Division); Summer Schulte (Pompano Beach, B Girls Division); Jake Schulte (Pompano Beach, Boys C Division); Tamara Backers (Deerfield Beach, Girls C Division); Reef Coote (Pompano Beach, Boys D Division) and Victoria Vanacore (Pompano Beach, Girls D Division).

Winners in the Run-Swim- Run competition were Race Wilhoit (Pompano Beach, Boys A Division); Shannon Snell (Pompano Beach, Girls A Division); Christian Henderson (Pompano Beach, Boys B Division); Summer Schulte (Pompano Beach, Girls B Division); Jake Schulte (Pompano Beach, Boys C Division).

Winners in the Surf Swim competition included Shannon Snell (Pompano Beach, Girls A Division); Christian Henderson (Pompano Beach, Boys B Division); Summer Schulte (Pompano Beach, Girls B Division) and Samantha Escobar (Pompano Beach, Girls D Division).

The state championships were a precursor to the United States Lifesaving Association (USLA) regional competition recently in Daytona Beach. The national USLA competition will also be held in Daytona Beach on August 5.

Bucks hoping for big things

By Gary Curreri

Deerfield Beach High School football coach Jevon Glenn has put together quite the summer program with hopes of returning the school back to prominence.

Glenn has taken the Bucks on a whirlwind tour of college programs, 7-on-7 tournaments and football camps with hopes of winning a state title. Glenn took many of his athletes on two college tours from June 5-15 and hit many big name schools. Former Bucks running back Denard Robinson, now with the Jacksonville Jaguars, has been a regular during the offseason.

“I am very excited,” said Glenn, a 1996 graduate of Blanche Ely, where he played football and basketball, and replaced former Bucks coach Allen Jackson in the spring. Jackson resigned in December after four seasons. “We have done a lot of great things in the offseason and we are looking forward to getting started.”

The new Bucks coach will have his work cut out for him as the team is coming off of a 4-6 season in which the Bucks missed the playoffs. It was only the sixth time in school history, dating back to 1974, the Bucks finished with a losing record.

“It’s tradition rich,” said Glenn, who will tackle his first varsity head coaching job after having spent eight seasons coaching Deerfield Beach’s junior varsity squad and holding several positions with the varsity. “There is a good buzz about the program and we made it a priority to keep our kids as Deerfield kids.”

Glenn said during the past couple of years, players left the school to play for other programs – both public and private schools.

“Rather than complain about it, we raised the quality of our program and a lot of those kids came back,” Glenn said. “Many of those kids played in the Deerfield Packer/Rattler youth football program.”

Among those players returning to their roots are two wide receiver transfers from Monarch High School – Cavin Ridley and Jerry Jeudy, in addition to Blanche Ely transfer Teddrick Moffett, a quarterback.

“I think the trips we took created good team chemistry and opened up a lot of eyes with the colleges that these kids can play,” Glenn said. “We believe that we will be better disciplined this year and we can compete for a state championship.”

The Bucks will open the season on Aug. 28 when it hosts Cypress Bay High School.

Four weeks remain at Simply Soccer

There have been record numbers at Simply Soccer camps this summer.

Simply Soccer Camp, which has boys and girls, ages 5-14 of all skill levels, has attracted children from throughout Broward County for its 27th annual summer camp series at Mullins Park in Coral Springs.

The camp, which was featured during a live broadcast by CBS4 the day following the United States’ 5-2 victory over Japan in the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, has four weeks remaining beginning Monday. They are: July 27-31; Aug. 3-7; Aug. 10-14 and Aug. 17-21.

There are three sessions ranging from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and a Tiny Tot program from 9 a.m. to noon. Players will be taught a variety of soccer skills from dribbling to shooting.

It is the longest running soccer camp offered by the city. Campers must bring a soccer ball, swimsuit, shin guards, water bottle and lunch. For information on the Coral Springs camp, call 954-345-2200.

By Gary Curreri

So much for the home field advantage.

Deerfield Beach Select All-Stars coach Joe Silvia believed his team had a home field advantage when it took the diamond in the Big League Baseball State Tournament recently at Floyd Hull Stadium in Ft. Lauderdale.

Deerfield Beach (2-2) opened the tournament with a 12-2 victory over Port St. Lucie before dropping a 6-1 decision to Clearwater/ Dunedin, the defending Big League World Champions.

“They played hard, but when we lost to Clearwater/ Dunedin it took the wind out of them,” Silvia said. “That was the championships game on Saturday.”

Deerfield Beach seized the lead in the top of the first inning on an infield single by Brendly Martina that scored Blake Guisti for a 1-0 advantage before Clearwater/ Dunedin rallied for the victory and advanced to this weekend’s Southeast United States Regional Tournament that gets underway July 17, also at Floyd Hull Stadium.

Justin Glover got things rolling for Clearwater/Dunedin with a solo home run to tie the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the fourth inning. Clearwater/Dunedin padded its lead with one more run in the fourth and four runs in the fifth thanks to a bases-clearing double by Ian Lisle.

Deerfield Beach pitcher Nick Ferngren, who had his first no-hitter since he was 11 in a 10-0 sectional win over Ft. Lauderdale, didn’t allow a hit until Glover hit his round tripper in the fourth inning.

Ferngren, 19, of Coral Springs, is in his first year on the team.

“I love it,” said Ferngren, who recently graduated from Cardinal Gibbons and headed to Rhodes College in Memphis, TN to play for the school next year. “The camaraderie is great. It is like family here. Most of the guys on the team have been here for like three years and they make me feel like I have been here just as long.”

It is the first year playing Big League baseball. He previously played for the South Florida Huskies in a showcase league.

“I have only been pitching for a couple of years now,” Ferngren said. “I didn’t get a lot of innings in high school. I am not surprised with how well I have done. I expect a lot out of myself.”

Deerfield Beach went on to split its next two games as it downed Dade City, 11-7, before closing out the tournament with an 8-5 setback against Ft. Myers to finish second overall.

Silvia has coached for 27 years and coached Big League baseball for the past 11 years.

In 2010, the team was one out away from winning the state tournament as it fell to the same Clearwater/Dunedin squad. The team was up 5-4 with two outs and the outfielder missed the catch and three runs wound up scoring for a 7-5 victory.

“This team is one of the better teams we have had in seven or eight years,” Silvia said. “This team gelled together. They are all friends and they all support each other. There was no negativity on this team. It’s a pleasure to be here.”

Deerfield Beach had played seven contests at Floyd Hull during the season. The team was composed of players from eight different high schools. Martina, Ferngren, Dalton Williams and Drexler Maccaay paced the team among others.

“We graduate about half the team,” Silvia said. “They were a great group of kids.”

By Gary Curreri

Former Highlands Christian Academy basketball coach and athletic director Reg Cook first staged a summer basketball camp at the school 30 years ago.

It was attended by 19 athletes and not only is it still ongoing, but it is still going strong. The two weeks brought in 60 campers in the first week (7th-12th graders) and 50 in the second week (2nd-6th grade).

“It was one of our most successful camps in the past 10 years,” said current Highlands Academy basketball coach and athletic director Jim Good. “We had a great group of coaches who provided energy, enthusiasm and quality instruction.”

The high school student/ athletes attended the first week of camp and then acted as assistant coaches for the second week of camp with the elementary school campers and earned community service hours.

There were also two guest speakers – Andrew Smith, a 2011 HCA alum, and Casey Wohleb, who is the head coach at North Broward Prep and also the founder of Ball by Design.

Smith attended both the elementary and high school camp sessions while he attended Highlands Christian, and recently graduated from Liberty University (Big South) where he played for the past years.

Smith is currently in China playing with an All-Star team and will then be traveling to Europe in July to pursue playing professionally in Latvia.

“Andrew’s a great role model for our athletes and did a great job explaining the importance of hard work and sacrifice while trying to achieve your goals,” Good said. “Andrew uses basketball as his platform to proclaim the name of Christ.”

Good was also impressed with Wohleb, who played locally at Westminster Academy where he helped the team win a state title in 2002 as a junior and then transferred to North Broward Prep for his senior year. He went on to play at Florida Gulf Coast University and also professionally overseas.

“Casey was able to come in the afternoon,” Good said. “He provided and led several quality and productive shooting drills.”

A typical morning always started off with a devotion in which several of the coaches were able to provide a spiritual thought and Scripture for the day.

The basketball activities included warm-up runs, stretching, ball handling, dribbling, and speed and agility stations.

The campers were then broken up into specific age groups to work on layups, “cone” drills and shooting. Several Gatorade contests were done throughout the day.

The trophy contests included a 1-on-1 tournament, 2-on-2 tourney, free throw shooting and a Hot Shots Competition.

Campers enjoyed lunch at Chick-Fil-A and CiCi’s Pizza. The day concluded with 5-on-5 full court games in the afternoon.

The coaches included John Wilson (boys elementary head coach/girls varsity assistant), Jim Good (Athletic Director/Boys Varsity Head Coach), Kyle Lassen (11th grade), Josh Good (boys JH head coach), Luke Still (Boys JV head coach), Matt Veynovich (10th grade), Herman Robinson (11th grade), Caris Everette (HCA alumnus 2014) and Danielle Domino (11th grade).

By Gary Curreri

A chance encounter with Phil Mickelson as a 10-year-old helped launch Wyatt Rubin’s golfing career.

“I was just starting out in golf in 2007 and me and my dad went to Doral and we followed Phil Mickelson during his round,” said the 18-year-old Rubin, who lives in Pompano Beach. “He had just finished the 13th hole and flipped his golf ball to me. He said, ‘here you go kid.’ I still have that ball today. It was the Holy Grail for me.”

Rubin recently won the Junior Golf Association of Broward County’s Boys Championship Flight by firing an even par, 72 (35-37) at the Plantation Preserve Golf Club. Fellow Pompano Beach resident Isak Nilsson tied for sixth just four shots back after shooting 38- 38-76.

Rubin hit 13 of 18 greens for his win and putted well as he totaled six birdies in his round. He recorded birdies on 1, 7, 9, 11, 15 and 17 and came back from a double bogey on 10.

He started playing in the Junior Golf Association (JGA) of Broward County when he was 10 and was in the lower flights as he worked his way up. The best he had done in the JGA of Broward was tying for third at Plantation Preserve last year.

The recent Calvary Christian Academy graduate is in the process of walking on at Florida Atlantic University. He is preparing for a September tournament staged by the school for walk-on golfers.

“It would be amazing to play college golf,” said Rubin, who helped his high school team win district and regional titles in golf. “Just like going to states in high school was a big deal, to be able to say I played a Division 1 sport in college would be a really good accomplishment. I am going to try my best and we’ll see.”

Golf almost wasn’t in his future. He made the Calvary Christian school team as a seventh grader, but gave up the sport in the eighth grade.

“I was sick of golf,” Rubin said. “I played in a lot of tournaments that required me driving like two hours when I was younger. I played both days on the weekends and it took all of my time. I wasn’t playing very well. It was just so time consuming and it was frustrating.”

Rubin didn’t even watch golf on TV and didn’t play the sport at all for a year.

“When I came back for my freshman year, I was refreshed and from then on I kept getting better and better,” Rubin said. “It was exciting because I got to hang out with all of my friends and my coach Marty Fanning, who was my teacher in the third grade and is like a mentor of mine.”

He said the JGA of Broward County has been the majority of his competitive golf experience. He likes the players and the organizers.

“It is such a cool thing to wake up on a Monday morning and go play some competitive golf,” Rubin said. “Competitive golf is a feeling you can’t replicate anywhere else.”

Knowing he won a tournament that a current PGA golfer has probably won in their history is also exciting.

“I was thinking the whole week after I won I was like the big man on campus for one week,” Rubin said. “I am sure there have been some really good golfers who have won the boys championship in the past.

“Every time I won a lower flight tournament in the past, it felt good, but it wasn’t the Championship Flight,” he added. “And to finally pull off a championship where all the best players were in and to call myself the best in the entire JGA for that week, really felt good.”

In other divisions involving local golfers at Plantation Preserve, Pompano Beach’s Daria Korovina shot a 30 to place fourth in the Girls B Division. Weston’s Polina Anisimova carded a 25 to win the division.

Two Pompano Beach golfers finished fourth and sixth respectively in the Boys Junior Division. Dylan Glatt shot a 42-41-83 to finish fourth, while Nicklaus O’Bryan was sixth just three shots back with a 43-43-86.

Deerfield Beach’s Justin Danzansky carded a 48 to finish seventh in the Boys A Division. He was seven shots back of Sunrise’s Orangel Machado. In the Boys E Division, Daniel Melnick of Pompano Beach shot a 24 to finish four shots behind winner Evan Kuperman of Parkland.

Pompano Beach’s Mateo Desmond carded a 14 to tie for second with Lauderhill’s Israel Bailey in the Boys F Division. Pembroke Pines’ Jose Esteras also shot a 2-over par, 14 and won the division on a tiebreaker.

There are five more weeks left in the JGA of Broward season, including the three-day final tournament to be held at the end of July at Jacaranda Golf Club, Woodlands Country Club and Ft. Lauderdale Country Club.

By Gary Curreri

Pompano Beach Middle School eighth-grader Shariff Rodriguez couldn’t have picked a better time to perform his best.

Rodriguez, 14, bettered his previous best throw by nearly 11-ft. in winning the discus event (109-02.50) to take first place in the recent Broward County Middle School Track and Field championships at Coral Springs High School.

His performance helped the boys’ team place third with 30 points.

“It was my greatest throw I made in track ever,” said Rodriguez, of Pompano Beach, whose previous best was 98-ft., 6-in. “When I heard the total, my heart was just pounding. I was happy they had to get another measuring tape because the first one had run out.”

“My nerves struck, threw me, and my right arm just felt like Superman,” Rodriguez said. “I just got in the circle and all my nerves filled me up while I was throwing and all of a sudden I just let the disc go and it did its job. That surprised me a lot. This is really big. It is a blessing to be here.”

It was redemption for Rodriguez, who thought he had won the regional competition last year; however, his throw of 87- ft., 9-in. didn’t count because he was disqualified.

“I threw the game-winning throw and stepped out the front (of the ring) and got disqualified so I couldn’t get to county’s last year,” Rodriguez said. “So, this year, I kept reminding myself to go through the back.”

Rodriguez, who hopes to throw in college, said he is unsure why he was able to better his mark so substantially this year.

“I don’t really know,” Rodriguez said. “Every sport I do, the nerves fill in my stomach before I compete. I was about to fall apart because it was county meet and the nerves just went through me, and I just threw and went as far as I could.”

Other top performers for the Bengals included: Pompano Beach Middle’s Joshua Scott, who was fourth in the high jump (5-04); Jovan Williams, who took fifth in the 100-meter hurdles (15.92); Tosheum Meade, who was fifth in the boys 200-meter dash (24.48), and Brian McClain, who captured seventh in the boys 800-meter run (2:20.39).

The Pompano boys’ 4×100- meter relay took third with a time of 46.41, while the Bengals’ 4×400-meter boys’ relay was fourth with a time of 3:52.81.

The girls team took sixth with 20 points led by Jaleah Williams, who finished third in the girls’ 400-meter dash (59.81). The girls’ 4×100-meter relay was second with a time of 51.27, while the girls’ 4×400- meter relay was third with a time of 4:23.88.

MIDDLE SCHOLAR ATHLETES

For the first time ever, the Broward County Middle School Athletic Association (MSAA) handed out Scholar/Athlete Awards. Every MSAA middle school was eligible to select students to receive this award.

The awards ceremony was held at the Plantation High School Auditorium on May 28. Each student named by a middle school was recognized and presented with a scholar athlete medallion.

Local middle school scholar athlete award winners included: Rodriguez from Pompano Beach Middle for the boys and Allegra Allen (girls). Deerfield Beach was represented by Claire Ries (girls) and Zacharie Saint Victor (boys).

“Each member school was eligible to select a male and female from their school to receive this award,” said Michael Roland, student activities liaison for Broward County Public Schools.

“To be eligible, a student must have an unweighted 3.0 GPA, have no ‘U’s for the entire year and have participated in two sports.”

By Gary Curreri

Gaspar Cecchi can’t think of a better way to spend an afternoon.

The 12-year-old from Miami Beach has been playing beach tennis for the past two years and he was one of an estimated 250 competitors who took part in the 7th annual Deerfield Beach World Cup Beach Tennis event this past weekend in Deerfield Beach.

“It is my type of game, my type of sport,” Cecchi said. “It is a racquet and a ball. There is no bounce. It is outside on the beach and I get a tan. You are diving and I get to be with my friends and family. It is better than just spending time sitting on a couch watching TV and playing video games inside.”

Cecchi views winning as being important.

“In tournaments, it is very important for me to win because later on you get better,” Cecchi said. “You play harder opponents and learn from it. When I play A Division or Open Divisions, I get pro points. You get higher (rankings) and maybe you get as high as the pros.”

In this tournament, he played in both the Men’s Open and Junior Division.

“I like playing against the men,” Cecchi said. “There are some people who are tough. They play better or they are tall. They can also run more. The hardest to me are the lefties because you don’t know where to shoot the ball. If you are a righty, you know where to put it. If you are a righty against a lefty or a lefty against a righty it is harder because you don’t know where to put it.”

The International Beach Tennis-USA event was cosponsored this year by Frank Congemi and SEXY Beach Tennis as a co-title sponsor, along with Dos Equis Beer. The three sponsors put up the $5,000 winners purse that was handed out to the various divisions.

Adrienne Cerra, president of the International Beach Tennis-USA, said the event doubled in size this year to 250 competitors.

“We used a lot of social media and the word is getting around how awesome Deerfield Beach is,” Cerra said. “We were very pleased with the turnout. This is going to be in the Olympics. We just have to continue to grow the sport. There are people playing all over the world. There are thousands and we are going to continue to try and get the support of the sponsors, and the media and TV will help.”

Simply Soccer Camp

Area residents are invited to attend the Simply Soccer camp at Mullins Park in Coral Springs.

Simply Soccer seeks boys and girls, ages 5-14, of all skill levels, for its 27th annual summer camp series that begins this week in Coral Springs.

This summer’s camp dates are: June 8-12, 15-19, 22-26; July 6-10, 13-17, 20-24, 27- 31; Aug. 3-7, 10-14, 17-21.

There are three sessions ranging from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and a Tiny Tot program from 9 a.m. to noon. Players will be taught a variety of soccer skills from dribbling to shooting.

It is the longest running soccer camp offered by the city. Campers must bring a soccer ball, swimsuit, shin guards, water bottle and lunch. For information on the Coral Springs camp, call 954-345-2200.