Tag Archive: Sports

Dec 13

The Sporting Life

Categories:

Tourism, Arts & Culture

by HR Partnership

This February 17-19, 2012, join over eight-thousand spectators at the Hampton Roads Convention Center for the Third Annual Hampton, VA Sports Festival & Expo. Featuring over 15 sports with simultaneous competition and a free expo, the Hampton Convention & Visitor Bureau-sponsored event is a must experience for any sports enthusiast.

“This is the third year we have hosted the festival,” said Hampton Convention & Visitor Bureau Group Sales Manager Kris Smith.  “Every year, the event continues to grow. The sports festival is helping to showcase our city as a dynamic sports scene to athletic planners from across the country.  We are also receiving great support from the region’s residents, as well as out-of-town guests that travel to Hampton specifically for our action-packed sports weekend.”

Last year, the festival featured participants and spectators from neighboring countries such as Canada and Mexico, as well as states such as California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.

The Third Annual Hampton, VA Sports Festival & Expo will feature over 15 sports, including:

  • Arm Wrestling
  • Bikini Body Building
  • Body Building
  • Boxing
  • Chess
  • Cornhole
  • CrossFit
  • Fitness Body Building
  • Gymnastics
  • Jiu-Jitsu
  • K-1
  • Kickboxing
  • Mixed Martial Arts (MMA)
  • Muay Thai 
  • No Gi Grappling
  • Power Lifting- Bench Press and Push Pull
  • Strongest Man and Woman
  • Taekwondo

During the festival, a free expo will take place in the main concourse of the building, directly in front of the convention center exhibit halls. The general public will have an opportunity to speak with local sports clubs, city departments, and area health representatives, as well as doctors specializing in sports medicine.

For more information, contact Craig Lenniger at (757) 728-5314 or clenniger@hamptoncvb.com. Like the “Hampton, VA Sports Festival” fan page on Facebook to become a fan and follow the developments.

Where:  Hampton Roads Convention Center, 1610 Coliseum Drive, Hampton, VA 23666

When:  February 17, 2012, 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.; February 18, 2012, 9:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m.; February 19, 2012, 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

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Feb 08

Three Days of the Best Sports on the Planet

Categories:

Tourism, Arts & Culture

by HR Partnership


Direct Video Link

With fifteen sports under one roof, the second annual Hampton, VA Sports Festival & Expo returns to the Hampton Roads Convention Center on February 18-20, 2011. Join over 8,000 spectators as they flood all three exhibit halls. Featuring sports with simultaneous competition and a free expo, the Hampton Convention & Visitor Bureau sponsored event is a must-see for any sports enthusiast.

“We are delighted for the return on the Hampton, VA Sports Festival,” said Hampton Convention & Visitor Bureau Group Sales Manager Kris Smith. “This event will allow us to showcase Hampton’s dynamic sports scene to athletic planners from across the country. In addition, the Hampton, VA Sports Festival will give our citizens, as well as out-of-town guests, the chance to view a wide range of entertaining and exciting competitions.”

Participants in this year’s festival are expected to travel from countries such as Canada and Mexico, as well as states such as Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Virginia.

Become a fan on Facebook.

The Second annual Hampton, VA Sports Festival & Expo will feature over 10 sports, including:

Muay Thai
Kickboxing
Mixed Martial Arts
Cornhole
Taekwondo
Chess
Boxing
Body Building
No Gi Grappling
Gymnastics

During the festival, a free expo will take place in the main concourse of the building, directly in front of the convention center exhibit halls. The general public will have an opportunity to speak with local sports clubs, city departments, and area health representatives, as well as doctors specializing in sports medicine. Select merchandise will also be available for purchase.

For more information, including passes, on the Second annual Hampton, Virginia Sports Festival & Expo, contact Craig Lenniger at (757) 728-5314 or clenniger@hamptoncvb.com.

Where:
Hampton Roads Convention Center
1610 Coliseum Drive
Hampton, VA 23666

When:
February 18, 2011
6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

February 19, 2011
9:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m.

February 20, 2011
9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Partially bordered by the Hampton Roads harbor and Chesapeake Bay, Hampton, with the 344,000 sq. ft. Hampton Roads Convention Center, is located in the center of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. Hampton is the site of America’s first continuous English-speaking settlement and is home to such visitor attractions as the Virginia Air & Space Center and Riverside IMAX ® Theater, Hampton History Museum, harbor tours and cruises, Hampton University Museum, Fort Monroe, Peninsula Town Center, award-winning Hampton Coliseum, The American Theatre, among others.

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Oct 04

Hampton Roads Superstars

Categories:

About Hampton Roads, Business & Economy, Tourism, Arts & Culture

by HR Partnership

Broadcast Event will Highlight the “People-Structure” that Produces Professional Athletes in Hampton Roads

National sports network, ESPN, once dubbed Hampton Roads, a “hotbed” of professional sports talent, and with over 25 professional athletes currently active in the NFL, MLB, NBA, and other major sports.

Hampton Roads continues to live up to that billing.

Hampton Roads Superstars: The People-Structure of Success is a broadcast event that will air on local public broadcasting station WHRO and intends to answer the oft-asked question, “What is it about Hampton Roads that produces so many professional athletes?”

“The real story behind athletic success in Hampton Roads is the people,” says Marlin Adams, producer of Hampton Roads Superstars. “It’s something I noticed right away when I first started coming to this area. And now that I’ve been personally involved with youth athletics through my 9 year old son, I’m convinced that it’s the infrastructure of moms, dads, coaches, and civic leaders  – the people-structure — that is contributing directly to the incredible number of professional athletes coming out of Hampton Roads.”

The Virginian-Pilot’s Tom Robinson is absolutely on to something in his article entitled, “Vick Rises Again.” In that article, Robinson rightly focuses not on Michael Vick, but on the man behind the scenes, the man who helped Vick get back in pro football shape, Tom Anderson, a coach at Landstown High School, itself part of a network of area high schools like Great Bridge, Booker T, Hampton, Churchland, First Colonial, etc., that are continually producing great athletes.

WHRO, the local PBS affiliate and one of the area’s most prolific producers and broadcasters of local content, has partnered with Hampton Roads Superstars (HRS) in order to make this a true Community Broadcast Event.

“WHRO was a natural choice for this project, because of their function as a community broadcaster. This program is a perfect example of finding assets in your local environment and adding value,” says Adams.

“There is no better example of economic development that is efficient, effective, and relevant to the people in our region than film and television projects that highlight who we are, where we’ve been and where we could go with creativity and innovation,” says Jeff Frizzell, a producer on the project and Commissioner of the Hampton Roads Film Office (HRFO).

Hampton Roads Superstars is referred to as a Broadcast Event because of the long-lead marketing and promotional programs that will involve newspaper and radio cross-promotions as well as community input. Plans are for an annual award for “Outstanding Contributions to Youth Athletics” will go to those coaches, parents and civic leaders throughout the region that tirelessly give of themselves for little or no public recognition.

Additionally a youth athletics foundation is planned that intends to provide financial support to the various programs around Hampton Roads giving the youth of our region the training and experience that builds character, confidence, and, that could ultimately lead to greatness.

If you have an extraordinary story of a person that has been part of the success of youth athletics in Hampton Roads, please contact HRS at info@HamptonRoadsSuperstars.org.

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Jul 07

2010 AAU Junior Olympics kicks off in Hampton Roads

Categories:

Tourism, Arts & Culture

by HR Partnership

July 29-August 7, 2010

Less than a month to go until 15,000 athletes, hundreds of which are local talent, will showcase skills and sportsmanship at the 2010 AAU Junior Olympics Games to be held in various locations around Hampton Roads, Virginia.

Athletes, families and fans from all 50 states will be making the pilgrimage to our area again this summer, with a projected economic impact close to $50 million. Nearly 45,000 people are expected in total. This event has proven to be a sound investment in past years for both tourism and youth sports.

You won’t want to miss out on one of the largest amateur multi-sport youth events in the country. Hampton Roads has hosted previous games in 1998, 2001 and 2006 and is one of five areas in the nation to host the games through 2016. From July 29 to August 7, twenty events are slated for venues in Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, and Virginia Beach. The Games are produced by the Hampton Roads Sports Commission, an affiliate of the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce.

Fans can delight in more traditional sports such as baseball, basketball, beach volleyball, field hockey, wrestling and beach tennis, to more unique ones such as bowling, baton twirling, jump rope and trampoline and tumbling. Additionally, there are individual competitions such as gymnastics, weightlifting, swimming, table tennis and track and field events.

Download the full list of events and schedule.

Download a detailed track and field schedule.

Tickets and wristband/passports (includes admissions to all events throughout the 10-day course of the games) may be purchased at the registration centers at each competition venue. Free admission is available to children ages 6 and younger.

Volunteers are still very much needed! If interested, please contact Ashley Branum at abranum@hrccva.com, or call the Hampton Roads Sports Commission at (757) 664-2571. There are a variety of dates and times to fit even the busiest of schedules. Volunteers must be at least 16 years old and groups are always welcome.

For more information on the 2010 Hampton Roads AAU Junior Olympic Games, visit the Hampton Roads Sports Commission’s website, http://www.HamptonRoadsSports.org or the AAU Junior Olympics website, http://www.aaujrogames.org.

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Jun 21

Hampton Roads Virginia’s Boy Wonders

Categories:

About Hampton Roads

by HR Partnership

sportsilluStumbled across this archived Sports Illustrated article from September 28, 2008:

Virginia’s Boy Wonders
The southeast corner of the state was no hardball hotbed—until a pair of AAU programs produced six current major league starters, including five first-round draft picks, in a span of eight years

Chesapeake and Virginia Beach, part of the coastal region of Virginia formerly known as Tidewater and now called Hampton Roads, may be America’s most unlikely baseball hotbed. The combined population of the two cities is less than 700,000. Locals like to say that the temperature in the winter can drop from 70° to 20° in a matter of hours, making it difficult to schedule games year-round. For much of the 20th century, the most notable major leaguer from the area was Washington Senators lefthander Chuck Stobbs, famous mainly for giving up a 565-foot home run to Mickey Mantle in 1953.

“For a long time this was a place you could ignore,” says Billy Swoope, who scouts the Mid-Atlantic for the Chicago Cubs and is the majors’ only full-time scout based in Hampton Roads. “It was completely barren.” (The area, which also includes Newport News, Hampton, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Suffolk, has long been known for producing pro football and basketball players, including Kenny Easley, Bruce Smith, Michael Vick, Alonzo Mourning and Allen Iverson.)

Read the entire article HERE.

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