TRINITY — Gordie Zimmerman helped develop Center Ice in Wesley Chapel. It’s home to five rinks and hundreds of hockey players and skaters.
But with the growth of hockey in Tampa Bay, there is a need for more.
“So when I looked at Steve Griggs, the CEO of the Lightning, said what’s the next location? And we both said it at the same time- Trinity,” said Zimmerman who leads IceMann Development.
Trinity is the community in West Pasco that’s home to Generations Church, Generations Christian Academy, and now G-Sports.
“If we want to have influence in the community we need to serve the community. And the best way to do that is to get out there, and what are people doing? People are doing sports. It’s a great sports county. It’s Florida. We can do sports year round. And so we thought let’s just dive in with everything we have and serve our local community. It’s been fun,” said senior pastor Johnny Scott.
The first phase is three buildings housing five basketball courts, an NHL-sized ice rink, and more.
Developers say they’ll eventually house as many as 11 different sports including basketball, football, volleyball, hockey, figure skating, lacrosse, and coaches with pro and Olympic experience.
“Trinity is one of the highest demographics in terms of population, families- one thing that’s lacking is sports facilities,” said Zimmerman.
The hope is to build this sports academy into a program like IMG in Bradenton and attract athletes from around the country and the world.
“Any time that we are serving sports and having tournaments and having teams come in it’s not just about all of us that live here, but it’s jobs for the area, it’s tourism for the area, new restaurants for the area,” said Scott.
Developers of G-Sports say they are also in talks with professional teams that could train and play here in the future.
