King Howard climbs a rope ladder on the playground at the Rocky Mount Sports Complex. (File Photo)
SPORTS complex By J. Eric Eckard For more than a decade, soccer parents
“The impact in Rocky Mount and the Twin
And 2020 was looking like another banner
and their equivalents in baseball, softball
County area is tremendous,” said Lynn Driver,
year, with state, regional and national events,
and other team sports have been flocking to
Rocky Mount’s sports complex supervisor.
such as the Top Gun Summer and Winter
Rocky Mount.
“And we look forward to continued growth.”
World Series tournaments on tap.
In 2007, the first phase of the Rocky
An economic impact study indicated
“The (Top Gun) events feature four
Mount Sports Complex was completed, with
that in 2019, the sports complex accounted
tournament weekends covering 12 days,”
11 baseball/softball fields. Later that year, the
for more than $8 million spent in the Rocky
Driver said. “Typical attendance is around
first tournament was held. In just the past five
Mount area.
400 teams for the winter event and over 330 teams for the summer event.
years, the complex has averaged 1,500 teams
Driver said the complex is in such high
accounting for 115,000 people entering the
demand, tournament directors and event
“Due to the size of this event, additional
gates each year.
schedulers book at least a year in advance.
fields from Nash County high schools,
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