Photo Above: Congratulations to Walter Wahle, Troop 61’s 50th Eagle Scout. Walter earned Eagle in early July. For more information on Troop 61, visit www.bstroop61.com.
Compiled by Michelle Colesanti, michelle@ospreyobserver.com
14 Year Old Vocal Powerhouse, Estacia, Releases First Album, I Am Estacia
Local fourteen year old singer/songwriter, up and coming Pop artist Estacia, released her first album titled I Am Estacia on her birthday, July 5. The album includes Speak to Me, her first original single released in 2016, plus another seven original songs co-written with her producer, Grammy® Award Winning Pianist, Lannie Battistini who owns and operates Hands In Motion Music Productions and Advertising Media Agency.
One of the songs is a bilingual crossover with Estacia singing parts of the song in Spanish. I Am Estacia will be available on iTunes and all major online music stores worldwide. “Estacia has put in long hours and nights into this new album. Balancing her career with school, athletics, and community involvement has been no easy pathway. At such a young age, she is a focused, determined, and hard worker.
She really has pushed the envelope stepping outside of her own comfort zone vocally. My team and I have been working very hard for the past two years to do all we can do to get her name out to the world,” said her producer, Lannie Battistini.
Watch for her official CD Release concert which will be in the fall in the Tampa Bay area, specific date and location TBD.
2017 Nutcracker Auditions
Announcing Theatre Arts & Dance Alliance (TADA) in conjunction with Tampa Bay Dance Theatre’s audition for its 10th annual production of The Nutcracker. Auditions will be held at Theatre Arts and Dance Alliance located 16711 Fishhawk Blvd. on Saturday, August 26. TADA’s annual production features a cast of 100 aspiring dancers, acrobats and actors as well as Hillsborough County Teachers and Administrators.
Those interested in auditioning can go to www.tadance.com to find audition information and times.
Performances will be at Howard W. Blake High School on Saturday and Sunday, December 9 and 10. Visit www.tadance.com or call 571-0901.
Tryouts Coming Up For Hurricane Volleyball Academy
Two local teachers, Victoria and Brian Adams are heading into their second season of Hurricane Volleyball Academy (HVA), a club created to encourage students and families to focus on teambuilding, community and healthy activity. Tryouts will be held at Central Baptist Church, 402 E. Windhorst Rd. in Brandon on Saturday, August 5.
This husband and wife duo got the idea to start the club by seeing the impact that team sports have on the youth in their schools. Both currently work at East Bay High School and have been teaching in Hillsborough for over 10 years. When a teenager is a part of a proactive and positive sport, those teens have higher self-esteem, higher goals, and a better sense of connection to their community.
“This is absolutely something we wanted to get behind.” Victoria said on why they started HVA. The Head Coach and Club Director Brian played competitive volleyball since age 18 and has been a head volleyball coach for the past seven years at East Bay High School.
Visit hurricanevolleyballacademy.com for registration times which vary per age bracket.
Charity Golf Tournament Will Benefit Traveling Baseball Team
The Bloomingdale Bandits (12u), a travel baseball team, is hosting a Charity Golf Tournament on Saturday, September 9 at the Bloomingdale Golfers Club, 4113 Great Golfers Place in Valrico. Registration begins at 11:30 a.m. with a shotgun start at 1 p.m. Dinner and awards will take place at 6 p.m.
The cost is $100 per player or $375 for a foursome. Lunch and dinner are included.
The team is looking for sponsors. For more information or to register for the tournament, call Jessica Hinson at 924-8642.
Florida’s Fish Hawk Dynasty Shooting Team Wins At SCTP National Championships
Florida’s Fish Hawk Dynasty Shooting Team won the Bunker Trap title in the Intermediate Division during competition at the 2017 Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) National Team Championships in July at the Cardinal Shooting Center in Marengo, Ohio. Over 2,300 athletes representing 29 states faced over one million clay targets during eight days of competition in the shooting disciplines of Trap, Skeet and Sporting Clays.
Combining for a total target count of 174, the FishHawk Dynasty squad was led by Trevor Hinton of Riverview who broke 64 of 100 targets, followed by Abigale Wigh of Dover with 63 and Trentin Hagan of Riverview with 47.
The Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) is a youth development program in which adult coaches and other volunteers use the shooting sports of Trap, Skeet and Sporting Clays, as well as the Olympic disciplines of Bunker Trap, Trap Doubles and International Skeet to teach and to demonstrate sportsmanship, responsibility, honesty, ethics, integrity, teamwork, and other positive life skills.
For more information about SCTP and SSSF, visit www.sssfonline.org.
Brandon Elks Lodge Labor Day Picnic
Join the Brandon Elks for its annual Labor Day Picnic on Monday, September 4 from 12 Noon-4 p.m. Enjoy chicken, hamburgers, hot dogs and all the fixins’ for lunch from 12 Noon-2:30 p.m. The cost is $6 for adults and $3 for children.
There will be games, a checkers tournament at 1:30 p.m. (register by 1 p.m. – $2 entry fee). The children will enjoy a slip and slide (bring towels and lawn chairs).
The Brandon Lodge is located at 800 Centennial Lodge Dr. in Brandon. For more information, call Rita at 966-9002 or the Lodge Office: 685-6469.
