Enjoy Sports of All Sorts in Robins Region, GA
From pickleball and golf to baseball and physical fitness, you can find plenty of ways to stay active in Middle Georgia.
The call to play ball is popular throughout the Robins Region. The area dishes out a sports smorgasbord, from the traditional (baseball, basketball, football, volleyball) to the unconventional (pickleball, martial arts, disc golf).
And there are numerous ways to enjoy this buffet of sporting activities in the Robins Region, through a variety of leagues and classes that bring the community together. The Warner Robins Parks and Recreation Department alone has more than 100 official events on the calendar in 2023.
“We’re always trying to give the community more things to do that they enjoy,” says Jarred Reneau, Warner Robins director of recreation. “We run sports programs and conduct camps and clinics. And we’ve been renovating and upgrading several of our parks.”
Increasingly, parks and sports are intersecting in the Robins Region. For example, Ted Wright Park in Bonaire recently underwent a nearly $2 million renovation that included the creation of 12 pickleball courts along with a children’s playground and a splash pad.
“That park went from seeing maybe 10 people a day to now averaging 100 to 150 a day,” Reneau says.
A Plethora of Sporting Activities in the Robins Region
Literally the biggest addition to the Robins Regions sports scene in recent years was the 2021 opening of the North Houston Sports Complex. The 78,000-square-foot facility houses four basketball courts, eight volleyball courts, 12 pickleball courts, two fitness areas and an indoor track.
“It accommodates a lot,” Reneau says. “Everybody in the community can use it, and it’s also a rentable space. So, it helps local sports leagues and residents, but it also brings in people from out of town for tournaments.”
Meanwhile, golfers have several places in the Robins Region to get their swing on. These include Southern Hills Golf Club in Hawkinsville (recognized by Golf Digest as one of the best places to play for service and value), Southern Landings Golf Club in Warner Robins (with six different tee areas creating a total course distance of between 4,400 yards to 7,000 yards) and Houston Lake Country Club in Perry (providing picturesque views of its namesake 135-acre lake).
For those who prefer to flip rather than swing, the Central Pines Disc Golf Course has a trio of nine-hole courses, and a disc golf course can be found at Rozar Park in Perry as well.
Little League, Big Impact
In 2007, the Warner Robins Little League baseball team captivated the region by winning the Little League World Series. The show of community support so impressed Little League officials that in 2010 they placed their Southeast Region headquarters in Warner Robins at a new $5.5 million, 26-acre complex.
“People take pride in Little League here,” says Matthew Weber, director of the Little League Southeast Region. “There is a passion for youth sports here. People really embrace it, and it brings out the community.”
The field for the local Warner Robins American Little League is located near the Southeast Region office, and it offers local league play and tournaments throughout much of the year. The Southeast Region office provides support for many of those events and others.
“We hold community events on-site and act as community partners when requested,” Weber says. “It’s good for us and the community.”
But each year in late July and early August, the Little League Southeast Region tournament becomes the center of attention in the Robins Region, as the Little League champions from eight states in both baseball and softball gather in Warner Robins to compete for the Southeast Region title.
The winner of the baseball tournament advances to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa., while the softball tournament champion heads off to Greenville, N.C., for that World Series.
“It’s a chance for people to come out and have some fun, have a hot dog and some popcorn at the ballpark,” Weber says. “And for the players, it’s a chance for them to live out their dreams and do things that only a small handful of kids get to do each year.”
Dominating Demons
And the winner is … Warner Robins High School, which has captured 12 Georgia state sports titles in its impressive athletic history.
Leading the way is the WRHS football team, with the Demons winning six state championships. They took home the top football trophy in 1976, 1981, 1988, 2004, 2020 and 2021. The Demons have played in the Class 5A championship game an impressive six consecutive times from 2017 through 2022.
The Demons appeared in the 2017 and 2018 title games under coach Mike Chastain, then in the 2019-2022 championship games under coach Marquis Westbrook.
Did You Know?
Warner Robins High School has an enrollment of about 1,650 students, and the school will celebrate its 80th birthday in 2024.
In February 2023, the Demons announced that Shane Sams will be the new head football coach for the upcoming season. Sams is a former WRHS grad, who also served as the team’s offensive coordinator in 2017 and 2018.
Besides football, the school’s other state titles are boys basketball in 2018, girls basketball in 1965, boys golf in 1991 and boys track in 1986. In addition, the girls slow pitch softball program had a pair of championships in 1986 and 1997.
A total of 16 sports are offered today at Warner Robins High School, with unique options such as flag football, fishing and e-sports also offered to students.
Sports championships aren’t the only Georgia state titles earned by WRHS over the years. The school won the Georgia State Literary Championship in 1980 and 1993 and state titles for One-Act Plays in 2020 and 2021.
– Staff Writer Kevin Litwin contributed to this article.
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