News: IMG Academies
Bradenton Herald
One of Bradenton’s prominent community assets just delivered an economic gift to our region. IMG Academies, one of the top sports training centers in the world, announced last week that national high school championship matches will be staged here.
Teaming with the National High School Coaches Association, IMG will host tournaments in football, lacrosse, boys and girls tennis and boys and girls golf starting this summer in the country’s first official high school national championships.
Kudos to IMG for this coup.
This pleasant surprise should prove to be valuable for years to come.
The tennis, golf and lacrosse will feature from 32 to 64 teams, with match-play golf tournaments in June and tennis and lacrosse play in August. The 32 seven-on-seven football teams will take the field in July.
With the NHSCA predicting each sport will attract 2,000 athletes, coaches and spectators to the area, the economic benefits become crystal clear. With summer typically a slow time for business and tourism, partly due to the migration of snowbirds back home, our restaurant and lodging industries and even retail should realize a good shot in the bank account from all the new visitors.
Not only will there be the immediate economic boost, visitors’ exposure to our region’s many charms could bear future fruit as well — as in return vacations, property investment, maybe business relocations. Plus, national media coverage will boost Bradenton’s standing.
The potential for growth exists as well. The NHSCA’s ambitious plans call for expanding the national championships into as many as 20 sports, including baseball, basketball, track and field, cross country, softball and soccer.
IMG’s sprawling campus in southwest Bradenton will host most if not all of the events. The nearly 350 acres hold 56 tennis courts, two professional-caliber baseball fields and three other diamonds, four soccer fields and two NBA-regulation basketball courts. IMG also owns a golf course, the former El Conquistador Country Club.
Launched by Nick Bollettiere as a tennis academy in 1978 and purchased by IMG in 1987, the sports training center works with more than 12,000 junior, collegiate, adult and professional athletes annually through full-time residency programs, weekly camps, other short-term sessions and clinics.
In tennis alone, the world-class alumni include Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Bjorn Borg, Maria Sharapova and Venus and Serena Williams.
With last week’s announcement about the addition of national high school championships, our appreciation for IMG and its contribution to our community shot up a few notches.