SEBRING –– Championships have become a habit for Sebring's Chuck Detore. As member of the Florida Storm, Detore won his sixth International Senior Softball Association (ISSA) world championship in seven years recently and is going for yet another world championship later this summer. "It's really good to get a chance to play with and against the best players in the country," Detore said. "The competition is what we're all out there for. We want to play against the best. "To win, you have to compete against teams from all over the country. The tournaments are really intense and we don't hold anything back. We're all there for one thing in mind and that's to win." The Storm were the tops out of 40 teams at the championships and they recently won another world qualifier in the Amateur Softball Association (ASA). They'll compete for the world championship in the 55-over division in Burlington, NC beginning Aug. 29. ...more

June 23, 2008

Every time we realize we are being paid to golf, we chuckle. It's a dream come true, really, for both Joe and me. There's work involved, sure, but we're certainly not punching a clock, and most of the time it doesn't feel like work. ...more

June 23, 2008

A total body workout is the key for teenagers wanting to be in great shape, says Shawn Balow, a personal trainer at Tampa's Downtown YMCA. ...more

June 20, 2008

Highlands County Habitat for Humanity's loss is certainly a big gain for the DeSoto-Arcadia Habitat for Humanity. Jane Breylinger, a true believer in the monumental mission of eliminating substandard housing, is leaving her job as executive director of Highlands Habitat to take a similar job in DeSoto County. We hate to see her go, which is likely the sentiment others who are involved in Habitat have. Breylinger has done an an exceptional job and is apparently leaving Highlands Habitat in great shape. ...more

June 14, 2008

AVON PARK — Junior golfers in the Heartland will celebrate the first weekend of summer vacation by participating in the prestigious Bagwell Junior Invitational on Saturday and Sunday at River Greens Golf Course. ...more

June 3, 2008

Carl Crawford doesn't need to look at a stat sheet to know how much better Tampa Bay's starting pitchers have been this season compared with past years. ...more

June 3, 2008

A total body workout is the key for teenagers wanting to be in great shape, says Shawn Balow, a personal trainer at Tampa's Downtown YMCA. He should know, as Balow, 33, oversees conditioning for the student athletes at Plant High School, where he's a business education teacher and track coach. ...more

January 31, 2008

SEBRING — Maybe it was because he was in great shape. Maybe it was Darrel Smith's helmet that made the difference and saved his life after a car struck his bike in August. Perhaps, Smith thought, it was the thousands of prayers given for him from other park rangers, his fellow bicyclists and the entire community. In a little more than three months, Smith came out of a month-long medically induced coma, regained 20 pounds of lost muscle and just last Thursday took a two-mile ride on his tricycle for the first time since the accident. "Yes, it hurt like hell... I got nine pieces of stainless steel (in me) right now. Two of them are cables," he said, showing his right hip. His smile and his beaming optimism goes against the grain of the aches he described. Smith's trainer, Keith A. Bowyer Jr., thinks it was Smith's drive that got him where he is now. Smith's hoping by Friday that he will get back on his job at Highlands Hammock State Park. By Christmas, Smith's hoping he can try out a bicycle. ...more

December 11, 2007

At the tender age of 64, Larry Coyer feels born again. ...more

December 6, 2007

AVON PARK — Next to the tee: the resurrection of the Highlands County Women's Amateur golf tournament. The once popular annual event, which was last held in 1989 at SpringLake Golf Resort, is being brought back by Highlands Ridge North assistant director of golf Melissa Doorlag. Doorlag, an outstanding golfer herself, played in the last event and thinks that the time is right for a return. "The tournament was discontinued because of lack of participation, but there has been an increase in the number of women golfers in the county who play at a high level," Doorlag said. "There is a Highlands County men's amateur, and I think it's time for the women to have their own event." ...more

November 22, 2007