SARASOTA – It’s been a hard fought battle for the past 17 years for Sarasota Crew to finally have a place to call their own.
“It’s been a long time coming, a lot of hard work behind the scenes to make it happen,” said Head Coach Casey Galvanek.
On Friday Sarasota Crew announced the groundbreaking of a new boathouse in Osprey stretching from U.S. 41 to Little Sarasota Bay. Galvanek says the new headquarters will give new opportunities to the athletes but also for the community.
“This is going to open the doors for the community, not just – the whole point of this process and partnering with the county is to make this a community center not just a Sarasota Crew center,” said Galvanek.
Athletes currently hold their practices near the Bay Preserve at Osprey. The new state of the art facility will allow athletes to continue their practice rain or shine.
“[It] gives us more infrastructure, better indoor facility,” said Galvanek. “It’s 25,000 square feet of indoor usage.”
Assistant Captain for the men’s team Malakai Leon says it will be nice to escape the Florida heat and practice indoors and there’s no better feeling than finally having a place to call their own.
“My whole career I’ve at the other site and it’s ours because we purchased it, but to have a place that’s actually our that we own and maintain it how we like it is going to be amazing,” said Leon.
Galvanek says there is still a lot of work to do to get the boathouse up running and hopes Sarasota Crew continues to grow and mold the athletes of tomorrow.
