One of the privileges of working with a cool college town is having choice spots for a stakeholder meeting. Such was the case when Sports Strategies presented the report of our Community Assessment for Sports Tourism to Visit Athens, Georgia and local stakeholders at the Terrapin Brewery on March 28, 2019.
The presentation at Terrapin was an opportunity to bring together the cross-section of community sports backers to discuss the assessment for which they all played a crucial role. As added incentive, Terrapin provided the attendees a pint glass, as well as a great selection of beers to fill the glass after the meeting.
Working with the Athens CVB was a complete joy. Jay Boling, Sports Sales Manager; Nick Arnold, Sales Director; and Chuck Jones, Executive Director were complete professionals who became great friends through this process. Athens has an abundance of world class sports facilities, as well as an enthusiastic community base who were all willing to give of their time as we pulled together the assessment. Holding the final meeting of the first phase of this project at Terrapin was a stroke of genius, and it was also a great way to celebrate a job well done by the team.
In keeping with the sports tourism theme, I extended my visit in Athens through the weekend to watch my son compete in the USA Swimming Northeastern Swim Divisionals at Gabrielsen Natatorium on the University of Georgia campus. We really do live what we practice, and it was satisfying to be among the thousands of swimmers and their families who added hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Athens economy during the swim weekend.
As a swim parent, it was a thrill to see the excitement of my son competing in such an esteemed venue. Athens has excellent sports facilities, and Gabrielsen Natatorium at Ramsey Student Center is one of the best. It was tremendous that this facility, which has seen performances by many Olympic greats was, for this weekend, a competition venue for a bunch of kids who felt that sense of history and swam as if they were chasing it. It was pretty cool for mom and dad, too.