SPRING HILL- It’s something that has never been done in recent memory within the tri-county areas along the Gulf of Mexico with Citrus, Hernando and Pasco counties.
The first-ever North Suncoast Media Day will be hosted by Springstead High School on August 6th. The event will kickoff at 7 pm and last throughout the evening, according to event organizers. Every public and private school from the three counties was invited to attend the event, with so far good reception from schools in each of the three counties.
Amongst the schools that have already registered to attend the event are Anclote, Fivay, Wiregrass Ranch, Sunlake, Nature Coast, Springstead, Hernando, Citrus and Lecanto. Many more schools from each of the counties are planning to attend and the head coaches and players have shown great support and interest for the first of its kind media day.
Numerous media outlets have given a commitment to attending the North Suncoast Media Day event, which includes the Hernando Sun, The Suncoast News, The Laker/Lutz News, Dade City News, Zephyrhills Free Press, Varsity Sports Network, Gulf Coast Sports Network, Pasco County FB, Citrus County Chronicle, Florida High School FB’s Joshua Wilson, Spectrum Sports, Prime Time Preps and 247 Sports.
Each team will be permitted to have three players come to the event and one coach, which can be either the head coach or an assistant of his choosing. Teams will get specific times when they will be speaking and then have photo opportunities afterward.
The Hernando Sun’s own Andy Villamarzo helped create the idea and concept after much deliberation with other reporters and media outlets along with head coaches in Citrus, Hernando and Pasco counties. Villamarzo working closely with Springstead athletic director Dustin Kupcik, has in a short time put together what looks to be a fun first media day event for high schools in the North Suncoast.
“Anclote High School’s head coach Antony Smith actually had the idea of doing it for the Sharks but I just wanted to expand on it beyond just one school,” Villamarzo said. “I wanted to get all the schools involved and Anclote was willing to host, which was great, but I wanted to somewhat centralize it to Springstead and my hopes are we can look at improving the event annually. This is our first chance to make this happen and I’m happy everyone has come together to make this thing happen.”
High school football practices start the first week of August and preseason classics take place on August 20th, with the regular season kicking off the following Friday.
Andy Villamarzo can be reached at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @avillamarzo.
