10 minute read
Sports & Recreation
SPORTS / RECREATION Explore The Great Outdoors
This is the perfect time of year to learn a new sport or embrace a favorite pastime. Not all of us are ready to go back to the gym, so here are dozens of outdoor adventures to explore solo or with a friend, or a group you find on Meetup. You can start simple, with badminton in the backyard or pickleball on your tennis court. Looking for an athletic club? Check out the Arts & Leisure guide and learn more about Tampa Bay Beach Bums for volleyball, Mad Dogs Wednesday swim and St. Pete Roadrunners.
GAMES & GET FIT
There’s an outdoor fun fit for everyone from team sports (softball, rugby), to games such as bocce ball and shuffleboard (Pass-A-Grille and downtown St. Pete). Let your feet do the walking to these adventures.
OHM My: Yoga on the beach from the DTSP Pier (which also hosts some pop-up cycling) to Madeira and Indian Rocks beaches are everywhere. Check Facebook and city rec centers and the Y for listings. You can even do goat yoga in Largo at DK Landscaping and Farm April 24th.
Outdoor Fitness Zones: You can stretch, do sit ups and work on your balance at the parcours in some local parks with peoplepowered exercise equipment in Gulfport (R.W. Caldwell Park, Tomlinson Park), Largo Central Park, Clearwater’s Northeast Park, St. Pete’s Azalea Park and Riviera Bay Park.
Disc Golf: Using the same scoring system as traditional golf, disc golf is played with a frisbee or “disc” on nine and 18-hole courses at parks in Clearwater’s Cliff Stevens Park, Oldsmar’s Sheffield Park and Largo’s John S. Taylor Park.
Walk/Hike/Bike: The Pinellas Trail is excellent for all these activities, www.pinellascounty.org/trailgd
There are dozens of county and city parks to explore, such as Walsingham, Boca Ciega Millenium, Brooker Creek and Weedon Island. Download the brochure for all the details. www.pinellascounty.org/PDF/greenways_brochure.pdf
Horseback Riding: Giddyap pony at Pinellas Park’s Cypress Breeze Farm! You can take a ride on the beach or a trail whether you are a beginner or experienced equestrian. You can even do equine yoga. Volleyball: Join a club or pick up a game at Gulfport Volleyball Courts, North Shore Complex, near the Postcard Inn or The Toasted Monkey, Upham Beach, Treasure Island Beach or Bayhead Action Park in Largo.
Skate The Ream Wilson Trail: When completed, this 11.5-mile paved trail (also called the East-West Trail) will link Safety Harbor to Clearwater Beach, giving in-line skaters the opportunity to skate from Tampa Bay to the Gulf. This seldom-used trail is a secret spot for in-line skaters who want to open up and unwind. Only 4.4 miles of trail are open, connecting Safety Harbor’s Bayshore Drive westward to the City of Clearwater’s Long Center. On the opposite end of the trail (to the west), a 1.2-mile section crosses the Memorial Causeway Bridge and connects the Pinellas Trail to Pier 60 on Clearwater Beach.
Zippity Do Dah: Zip above the treetops at Empower Adventures Tampa Bay. The zip line canopy tour begins with a 60-foot-tall start tower that leads into five zip lines of varying lengths and a 200-foot suspension bridge – all with views of Florida’s natural terrain.
SWINGING TIMES
Tennis: Get your racket and explore Pinellas County’s local public and private tennis courts here: www.globaltennisnetwork.com/ tennis-courts/courts/city/4855-pinellas-park-florida
Golf: You can play Innisbrook if you hit like a pro, but one of my favorite things is the executive courses around paradise, especially the one in Largo and Treasure Island Bay Golf & Tennis for tennis, golf, pickleball and classes.
WATER ADVENTURES
Enjoy surfing, fishing, canoeing, parasailing and these aquatic adventures in the water sports capital of the world!
Boating: You don’t have to own a boat to enjoy one. There are many places locally to take boating or sailing lessons and learn safe boating practices. • If you have experience captaining a boat, you can join Freedom Boat Club and reserve one to take out. • Salty Water Tours can take you and up to six of your friends or family from Gulfport Marina on a dolphin watch, sunset tours, island explore trip to Egmont Key, Shell Key and Passage Key. Their 26-foot catamaran provides a smooth, quiet ride, and yoga experience on board can be added. www.saltywatertours.com • Hubbard’s Marina can take you fishing, dolphin watching, on a sunset cruise or over to Egmont or Shell Key, even get your out on a kayak or paddleboard. www.hubbardsmarina.com • Dolphin Landings out of St. Pete Beach provides sunset sails, dolphin watching and island adventures. www.dolphinlandings.com
Swim: Do water aerobics and laps at outdoor pools – Southwest Rec, St. Pete Beach, North Shore Aquatic Center and more. Take your snorkel and boogie board to the Gulf Beaches. Egmont Key offers some of the best snorkel views. You can skimboard or surfboard, even rent from Reno Beach Surf Shop, Nekton Surf Shop or Suncoast Surf Shop. Popular spots include Sand Key, Indian Rocks Beach, Redington Shores and Sunset Beach. Check out Gulfster.com for daily surf reports.
Kiteboarding: Take to the sky near the Sunshine Skyway Bridge and Fort De Soto Park in windy weather. You can pick up gear and take a class at the Best Pro Kiteboarding Center. It’s not easy, but for me breathtaking to watch!
Diving: Gulfport Dive Center can get you started diving, providing both classes and equipment as well as trips to Curacao, Roatan and Key Largo.
Kayak: You can rent kayaks on-site without reservations at Fort De Soto Park, the Dunedin Causeway Sail Honeymoon and Honeymoon Island State Park as well as Sweetwater Kayaks at Weedon Island Preserve, Kayak Nature Adventures in Gulfport and Island Marine Rentals in Indian Shores.
Paddleboard Pinellas County Blueways: Pinellas County has miles of beautiful shoreline, providing paddlers with a variety of opportunities and experiences as they explore the coastline and the rich array of marine and estuarine ecosystems that make up Pinellas County’s waters. Check out the online guide for different paddle opps and where to launch. www.pinellascounty.org/blueways
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In the new documentary, “Little Satchmo”, we discover the behind-the-scenes story of Sharon Preston-Folta, whose 2018 memoir captivated my heart. “Little Satchmo – Living in the Shadow of My Father, Louis Daniel Armstrong,” reveals her life with mother Lucille Preston, 98, who was Louis Armstrong’s love and Sharon’s father.
Sharon is Louis’ only child, never publicly revealed. “This is a secret I could no longer keep,” says Sharon in the book and the documentary. “But now, it’s time to tell my story.” Sharon is both narrator and executive producer of this provocative film, started in December 2019. Produced during the pandemic using archival and b-roll shots of places where she, her mother and father lived in NYC, film clips of her mom and first husband dancing and a four-day shoot in Sarasota at Sharon’s house in September 2020.
Producers Lea Umberger and J.C. Guest, director John Alexander and Reel South Production Company had great material to work with. Sharon’s personal collection of Louis Armstrong correspondence, photos, audio tapes and legal documents were accepted into the Library of Congress. The film is a Southern documentary film project with support from PBS Reel South, and it has already picked up high praise from Rolling Stone and other media.
In July, the 50th anniversary of Louis Armstrong’s death July 6, “Little Satchmo” will have its world premiere in Europe at an Oscar-qualifying festival this summer (May 2021 announcement), and Sharon will be interviewed by Radio France as well. A U.S. debut is in the works. It’s not surprising that the documentary will first be shown in Europe, says Sharon. “Since the late sixties, jazz has been extremely popular in Europe. In America, rock has replaced jazz as the innovative music. In Europe, jazz artists past and present are honored, and swing music and my father are still extremely popular in Germany.”
What is a woman when no one sees that the blood of a legend runs through her veins, asks the documentary. That need to reveal her legacy drove her to write the book and produce the documentary.
“When I got to a certain age in my 50s, I started looking at my legacy and realizing that this secret, I needed to understand it more, but my mother wasn’t forthcoming with information,” she explains. “In researching the book, I understood why all the stories excluded my mother, but why his only child? The will said he had no children. It became clear to me that unless I found my voice and told my story the way it actually happened, I would be erased forever.”
Sharon’s mother met Louis Armstrong when she and her husband Luther were booked by agent Joe Glaser as an act Slim & Sweets. They opened for some of the great jazz performers of the day, including Louis Armstrong (who had the same agent). Louis liked them both and knew her family, so when she lost her husband to stomach cancer, Louis said after the funeral, “I am supposed to take care of you. And did.” Both fell hard for each other.
“The first four years were filled with a whirlwind of romance and secrecy. Mom would travel far and wide to meet Louis; they also would get together when he was in town.” Louis’s wife, Lucille Armstrong, knew about Sharon, but never acknowledged she or her mother.
Sharon and her mother’s relationship was complicated, and at first, she did not want Sharon to write the book or do a documentary. “My mom, who passed last March, thought about him always, loving him was part of who she was,” says Sharon. “We depended on him and he was very much part of our lives, but when he died, we were each other’s only resource.” When my mother found out the will said I didn’t exist, she opened up about their relationship and eventually agreed to be videotaped.”
Sharon hopes people will learn more about her beloved father, a serious artist and complicated man who loved both Sharon and her mother. “We were his family; he took care of us as if we were part of his public life. I want people to know he wanted to be a father, but he made choices to keep us a secret because of his fame and marriage, right or wrong.” ________
Pinellas County arts and culture mavens know Sharon Preston-Folta well as WUSF’s Senior Account Executive, Community Partnerships & Marketing. Previously, she worked for blockbuster NYC media companies (ABC Radio, CBS Radio, KISS FM) before relocating from The Big Apple to Sarasota in 2004; her mother joined her in 2006. A style icon and brilliant raconteur, Sharon hosts two radio shows on Sarasota’s WSLR: Town Talk Tampa Bay, a public affairs show that highlights issues affecting people of color and highlighting people doing great things in the community, and an arts/music show, Radio Reset.
