PDF - California Showcase

THE CENTER OF
COMMUNITY IN
ORANGE COUNTY
Community+Family | Parks+Nature | Creativity+Culture | Homes+Neighborhoods | Education+Sports | Growth+Opportunity
Some of the nearly 600 high
school football players from
across the state who took part in
the California Showcase tryouts
at the Orange County Great Park.
BUILDING A BETTER
PLACE FOR SPORTS
The Orange County Great Park will offer fields
of dreams for athletes of all ages and abilities
BY KEDRIC FRANCIS
This spring, Santa Margarita High
School alum Klay Thompson is preparing for another NBA world championship run as one of the stars of the
Golden State Warriors. Mission Viejo
High School grad and NFL quarterback
Mark Sanchez will join the Super Bowl
Champion Denver Broncos and compete for the starting job. And Carson
Palmer, also a Santa Margarita grad,
will again quarterback the high-flying
Arizona Cardinals.
Orange County has long been home
to an array of world-class athletes,
including Misty May-Treanor, a threetime Olympic gold medalist in volleyball, and Irvine’s own Olympic champion swimmers Amanda Beard, Jason
Lezak and Aaron Piersol.
Future OC champion athletes may
well hone and display their athletic
prowess — or even be discovered — at
the Orange County Great Park, an
emerging destination for young athletes in the heart of Orange County.
Already a regional attraction for
soccer and lacrosse tournaments, the
vision of the Great Park as the premier
venue for players of all ages and abilities in the region is on its way to being
realized. Centrally located in youth
sports-rich Southern California, the
Great Park is fast building a reputation as a top choice for leagues, games
and tournaments.
That’s why Terry Donahue, the football coach at UCLA from 1976-1995
and now a successful Orange County
businessman, hosted The California
Showcase at the Orange County Great
Park recently.
Drawing nearly 600 high school
football players from across California
and neighboring states, the free event
held on the Great Park sports fields
was an opportunity for players who
had been overlooked in college recruiting to display their talents and to meet
150 coaches from 55 four-year universities and 14 junior colleges.
Players participating in the annual
Showcase have earned more than $8
THE DUCKS SKATE INTO IRVINE
WITH A COOL NEW ICE COMPLEX
Irvine is set to become
a destination for hockey,
figure skating and
other ice-centric sports
activities with a planned
270,000 square foot
community ice facility
at the Orange County
Great Park. Planned
to debut in January
2018, the new facility
will also be home to
activities in addition to
hockey, including public
skating, competitive
and recreational
figure skating, curling,
broomball and
community events. Plans include four sheets of ice, one of which is to feature
seating for 2,500 spectators, giving the area’s high school hockey leagues a
location to host games.
The facility will be managed by THE RINKS Ice Management Team, which
currently operates four Southern California ice facilities. The newly formed
Irvine Ice Foundation, a nonprofit organization established by H & S Ventures
(the owner of the Anaheim Ducks) to promote ice hockey and other icebased youth sports in Orange County will lease the land on which the new
ice facility will be located for an initial term of 30 years, with ownership of
the ice facility transferring to the City of Irvine at the end of the lease.
IMAGE IS ARTIST RENDERING
million in financial aid packages since
Donahue and his brother Pat became
involved with the event in 2013.
“Opportunity is one of the most precious gifts of life,” Terry Donahue says.
“How we respond when it is given to
us, and how often we can provide it to
others, can define our lives.”
One of those opportunities Donahue speaks of is to learn life lessons
from participating in sports and
recreation. It’s an important part of
living in Irvine. The city manages
some 40 soccer fields, 41 baseball
and softball diamonds and 87 tennis
FIVEPOINT’S COMMITMENT
TO SPORTS AND FITNESS
Artist’s rendering of the 2,500seat Soccer Championship
Stadium planned for the Orange
County Great Park.
FivePoint recognizes the strong
connection between wellness
and happiness and an active
lifestyle. FivePoint builds
communities and supports
initiatives that promote regular
activity and fitness whether
it’s walking, riding bikes or
competing in organized sports
at all levels. Collaborating with
the City of Irvine to construct
the highest quality sporting
venues at the Orange County
Great Park is the type of publicprivate partnership that benefits
residents and visitors alike.
CONSTRUCTION TO BEGIN SPRING 2016
Let’s make Irvine the very best it can be. Let’s keep our eyes
and minds open to new ideas. Let’s go beyond the status quo.
Let’s surprise ourselves with what happens next. Let’s go.
CREATED BY FREEDOM CUSTOM CONTENT | SPONSORED BY FIVEPOINT
courts, including athletic fields used
by 25 non-profit youth sports organizations, throughout Irvine.
The Orange County Great Park is
already a prime location for sports and
recreation in the city, and its key role is
expanding. Currently, athletics at the
Great Park take place on the Sports
Park North Lawn, a 19.5-acre sports
and recreation field, and the 30-acre
South Lawn Sports + Fitness Complex,
which opened in 2013. It’s becoming
a hotbed of sports in OC, with everything from soccer leagues to yoga and
flamenco dancing classes. But that’s just
the beginning.
The future of the Orange County
Great Park includes a 176-acre sports
park approved by the city and to be
built through FivePoint, with soccer
fields, volleyball and tennis courts,
as well as baseball and softball fields.
Construction of the sports park is to
begin Spring 2016. The city also has
plans for a 185-acre golf course and
practice facility.
“Sporting venues become gathering
places for the community, encouraging
us to know more of our neighbors,” says
Lynn Schott, Irvine Mayor Pro Tem.
“That the Orange County Great Park will
soon include a world-class sports complex to serve generations of young people
is a testament to the careful planning
and commitment to families that makes
Irvine such a great place to live.”