Ocoee sports leagues offer fun, fellowship for students

The Ocoee Parks & Recreation Department is steadily growing as it brings new improvements to the beloved sports leagues and the gymnasium itself more than two years after the pandemic put a halt to nearly everything.

The most noticeable and beautiful change is the newly renovated gym, which previously had tan floors. The gym now features a light gray floor with blue accents and black bleachers, perfect for the expansion of the youth basketball and volleyball league. Additionally, there are brand-new lights to help players and the audience see the action-packed games. The city of Ocoee logo sits in the center of the gym to show off Ocoee’s pride. The project was completed in May 2023.

“The new gym makes the kids more excited to play and brings in a competitive atmosphere to the gym,” returning basketball coach Alex Gonzalez said. “We’ve already had buzzer beaters, overtime games and games ending in ties. We aim to make the league as balanced and competitive as possible.”

Originally, youth basketball was only once a year and had fewer than 100 players, but with great management and support from families, the leagues grew to new heights for kids all around to enjoy their favorite recreational activities. 

“We have coaches that played in the league as kids and are now coaching,” Operations Manager Toren Hogan said. “It really reinforces the importance of recreation centers and us being a part of the community.”

The youth leagues are now offered twice a year, summer and winter, and have grown with more than 225 participants in each season. Just this year, there were 265 players, ranging from ages 4 to 15. 

The community has been beneficial in supporting all the programs, with parents volunteering to help out at games and step in for times when coaches are absent. Recreational aides and specialists help the games run smoothly every Saturday and relay information throughout the season. Coaches also play a key role in the league. They are the leaders of their groups and go day-in and day-out to train the young children. 

Some coaches even played when they were young and wanted to come back and to teach the youth. 

“I grew up playing sports, and basketball was always my favorite and what I excelled in,” Hogan said. “Coaching is my way of giving back to the community. Now that my own kids play in the league, coaching allows me to bond with them through the game of basketball.”

The youth volleyball league debuted in fall 2022. The league originally was scheduled to start in 2020, but it was postponed because of the pandemic. The new gym and community helped grow the league from its long hiatus and brought 75 girls in 2022. 

The recreational leaders now expect to have more than 100 youth play this season, which will serve as a record high for Ocoee. Registration opened July 15, with the season starting in September. 

Due to the success of the youth leagues, Parks & Recreation was able to partner with the Ocoee Police Department to host a new program of late-night basketball and volleyball. The games are hosted once a month, from 7 to 10 p.m. on specific Fridays, and offer free food and games for ages 12 to 18.

The final addition to the growing recreational activities is the new 10,000-foot Ocoee Action Sports Park, with a pump track, ramps and a grind box, located near the Ocoee Bulldog football fields. It features activities for bikers and skaters to smoothly ride the walls and jump over ramps.