JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Ridgeview High School is home to the largest special needs program in Clay County. Tristan Autrand is part of their post graduate transition academy which gives students the opportunity to learn valuable job skills that will enable them to be successful in the workplace. Baseball has always been his first love. By title Autrand is the Panthers team manager but he’s easily one of the most popular guys on the Ridgeview Baseball team. Recently Panthers head coach John Sgromolo and Keystone Heights head coach Alan Mattox combined to give Autrand a chance to live out a lifelong dream.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Curling has been around the Winter Olympics of 1924. Over the past couple of years the sport has gained popularity and really took off during the PyeongChang Winter games where team USA brought home a gold medal. Thanks to the Jacksonville Granite Curling Club residents of the First Coast can try out this sport for themselves. The Jacksonville Granite Curling Club meets at the Jacksonville Ice & Sportsplex every Wednesday night. For more information on how you can join visit this link.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Saturday will mark the 54th Annual Bob Hayes Invitational Track and Field Meet. Over the years this meet has grown into the largest high school track and field even in the entire country. Over 2,000 athletes are expected to compete at Raines High School on Saturday. Washington founded the Bob Hayes Invitational and has never missed a single year. “When we started the Bob Hayes meet we were running from the sand to the gravel with no track and no equipment.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – As a kid we all had dreams of what we wanted to do when we grew up. Brad Clark always wanted to bring a professional basketball team to his hometown of St. Augustine. That mission led him to found the St. Augustine Glory. “Basketball has always been my passion as a kid,” said Clark who plays on the Glory in addition to owning the team. Augustine is my hometown so I know that the city has never had a professional team before and it’s exciting to be able to be a part of this history making event.”

All of those important aspects of his past came together with the Viktre Challenge, an effort to raise money to return electrical power to Puerto Rico. Davey and former NFL fullback Tony Richardson traveled to Puerto Rico to see the damage on the island, four months after Hurricane Maria devastated the U.S. territory. Davey is one of a number of former professional athletes who are competing to raise the most money for the Puerto Rico Foundation. "There are six of us, current and former pro athletes who are competing against each other to raise the most money to bring power back to Puerto Rico. "We're actually having a lighting ceremony in Puerto Rico in March," Davey said.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Right now the best high school basketball in Jacksonville is being played on the Northside where Ribault won both the boys and girls Gateway Championship. This was the sixth straight Gateway title for the Lady Trojans. Since losing back to back games at the Martin Luther King tournament earlier this month the boys are on their win streak including an upset of previously unbeaten Wolfson.

Now, every team employs an analytics expert, with some ascending to the General Manager spot, making decisions. A whole science, started by Bill James and called Sabermetrics has been created, dedicated to the study of baseball statistics. That kind of statistical analysis has now come to basketball, filtering it’s way down from the NBA to elite college programs to high schools like Providence here in Jacksonville where the Stallions are deep into the study of the game through a program called “Krossover.”“We used to have to go back and forth, fast forwarding through a DVD,” Brian Hoff, Assistant head coach of the Providence Boys basketball team said this week. “You have to get past the ‘Oh I look fat’ and the ‘Oh my hair’s messed up,” said Gigi Bistrow, the Providence Girls basketball coach. “You know you see yourself running down the court and you say, ‘Do I really run like that?” added Providence Jr. Guard Kaylee Davis.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – When Jennifer Steele took over the Jacksonville University softball program she wanted to make sure that her impact went beyond the batter’s box. In addition to a full course load and a demanding practice and game schedule, each player and coach also finds time to work with a cause or charity.