Starkville Sportsplex to be site of football camp this weekend instead of a baseball tournament
Starkville’s Parks and Recreation Department has shifted its focus from baseball to football this weekend.
After the Grand Slam Baseball State Tournament out of Starkville due to weather concerns, SPRD learned on the heels of that news that former Mississippi State defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons of the Tennessee Titans had changed the site of his football camp from Macon to Starkville.
There were 60 teams set to participate in the Grand Slam State Tournament at the Starkville Sportsplex, so for obvious reasons, Starkville hated to lose that event. The trade off is the Simmons camp, which is expected to have 350 children involved per session over the next two days. Today is reserved for first through eighth grade students, while Saturday is devoted to ninth grade and up.
“It’s disappointing not to have the Grand Slam Tournament here, but we look forward to having the football,” SPRD interim director David D’aquilla said.
Simmons has an All-star lineup helping him with the camp that he is trying for the first time.
D’aquilla has watched the amount of preparation that Simmons and his staff have put in for the camp. He knows they want it to be a success.
“They want to do it right,” D’aquilla said.
Even though Starkville won’t have the benefit of having a three-day state championship baseball event, there will still be economic impact because of the football camp.
Campers from as far away as Texas and Tennessee have registered for the event.
As far as the Grand Slam Tournament, it was announced Wednesday that it was going to change location from Starkville to Winona and Brandon because of the potential for rain to produce poor field conditions at the Starkville Sportsplex.
There was a heavy thunderstorm in the area on Thursday and the forecast called for more rain today, Saturday and Sunday.
“After a lot of thought and prayer about what to do with the 8s, 10s and 12s in Starkville, we have decided the best thing to do is move them unfortunately,” Grand Slam State Tournament director Mike Narmour said in a statement on Wednesday.
Simmons Football Camp. (Photo by Danny P. Smith, SDN)