Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Club all about fun and games

Most sign up to meet new people who share their interest in sports.

By BRYAN BURNS
Published March 24, 2006

BRANDON - As softball players from the Tampa Sports and Social Club congratulate each other after another game, a spectator asks what the final score was.

A few members look at each other quizzically. Nobody seems to know for sure.

Nobody seems to care for that matter.

Ask club director Grant Sampson, and he'll tell you the score is not important. What matters is giving athletic-minded people a forum to socialize with people they share common interests with.

"The sport is what gets it going, but it's just an excuse to meet new people,'' he said. "I love to see people have a good time, become more active, and also have more of a social life.''

Sampson has been running similar clubs since 2001, when he started the Miami Sports and Social Club out of his own desire to meet people and continue playing sports competitively.

When Sampson moved to Tampa in 2004, he saw the need for a club here and opened one in 2005.

A year later, Sampson expanded the Tampa club into Brandon.

"We started in Tampa, but there were so many people traveling from the Brandon area to Tampa that we decided to start one here,'' Sampson said.

The Brandon club, which kicked off its first league game on March 6, offers softball, flag football, basketball, soccer, and volleyball, although only the softball league has begun play. Plans are also in the works for kickball, dodgeball, and golf leagues as well.

"A lot of people sign up to meet new people,'' Sampson said. "Probably 60 percent of the individual signups are new to the area.''

Rita Montilla, 44, is one of those transplants. She moved to Riverview from Chicago with her husband, Frank, in October. Frank is captain of the Envy Me softball team; Rita comes to the games to watch.

"Frank is a baseball and softball freak,'' Rita said. "He loves the game. Me, I enjoy going to the bar after the game and socializing with everybody.''

Nick Franklin, a 25-year-old sales agent with Home Discovery Realty, got a club flier on his door and was intrigued because he liked playing softball. He started gathering people from his company to play.

Eventually he ended up with three teams, each with about 14 players.

"I'm single, so I wanted everybody to come out and have fun,'' Franklin said. "You work with all these people and never get a chance to really talk to them. This way we can have fun outside of work.

"I'm happy with the results,'' he added. "It definitely brought up morale in the office. There's a lot of trash talking around the office now.''

Sampson says that one of his greatest pleasures is watching strangers become best friends. Sometimes they become even more.

"It's nice when you're putting people on teams one day and later you get a wedding invitation from some of those people,'' Sampson said.

For more information on the Tampa Sports and Social Club, check out the club's Web site at www.playtampa.com or call the office at (727) 793-7529.

[Last modified March 24, 2006, 10:53:05]