This year’s 35th annual Special Olympics games were held at the University of South Florida in Tampa. They cost 350 thousand dollars. There are more than 2000 Florida athletes, competing in six events with one mission: To win.

Organizers say it was a tremendous success. And to keep the games successful and competitive in the future, state Special Olympics officials tell local chapters they better diversify their funding sources. John Sepulvado reports.

The Number 1 FGCU Eagles women’s basketball team is headed to Kearney, Nebraska after winning last night in front of a record crowd of more than 4000 fans at Alico Arena.

The Eagles face North Dakota State next Wednesday. This is the farthest any FGCU athletic program has advanced. If the team wins, it heads to the NCAA Women’s Final Four.

Head Coach Karl Smesko says name recognition coming from the winning team makes it easier to recruit.

“You know our university’s getting national recognition for academics. And then our athletic programs are helping get the name out there a little bit more. So now when we call recruits, especially in Florida, and we say hey we’re from Florida Gulf Coast they know who we are now. Before we were explaining to them who we are. So the name recognition is definitely been increasing every year. Now it’s very rarely that we have to explain to somebody where we’re at, or who we are, or how long we’ve been around. We’re starting to get ourselves established.”

This is only the fifth year for the basketball program at FGCU.

The South Regional Tournament is the last NCAA Division II championship the FGCU women's team will pursue because the school will move to Division I and join the Atlantic Sun Conference next season. Then, the school can’t pursue a national title until 2010.

The top ranked and undefeated Florida Gulf Coast University women’s basketball team is one win away from a trip to the Division II national championship tournament later this month in Nebraska.

A win would put the Eagles a step closer to the University’s first-ever national championship. Karl Smesko has been head coach since the program got started 6 years ago. He says while they were a solid 29 and 2 last season…this year’s success surprised him a bit.

“We lost our 2 starting guards…5th year senior starting guards…and we were going to be incorporating some new players, including a couple of freshman. So I knew we’d have a good team…I didn’t realize it’d be this good.”

Smesko describes the 31 and 0 Eagles as a balanced team – with a mixture of youth and experience. He says all the attention that comes along with being ranked number one in the nation is kind of nice…and good for the whole university.

“It’s been exciting to see the buzz created by us being numbers one. And the support we’ve had for these regional games. And we’re getting a lot of new fans, and a lot of people are checking out FGCU athletics for the first time…so that’s definitely a rewarding experience.”

Coach Smesko calls tonight’s game a ‘rematch’.

“Well Delta State is the one who knocked us out of the NCAA tournament last year. They’re ranked 4th in the nation – and are definitely a national championship contender. It’s going to take a tremendous effort on our part to stay in the game and hopefully win it in the end.”

The Lady Statesman…out of Cleveland, Mississippi…beat the Eagles 57 to 48 in the South Region Semifinals last year. So far this year the undefeated Eagles have beaten their opponents by nearly 40 points a game.

The winner of tonight’s game will advance to the Division Two Elite Eight Tournament later this month at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. Tip off’s tonight at 7:00 at Alico Arena on the FGCU campus. Tickets are still available.

The 26-year-old enigmatic Japanese superstar – Daisuke Matsuzaka - made his first official spring training appearance at a press conference Thursday in Fort Myers.

It cost the Boston Red Sox 51 million dollars for the right to even negotiate with Matsuzaka…better known as “Dice K”. And his 6-year contract is worth another 50-million-dollars...all for a guy who’s yet to thrown a pitch in the majors.

While Dice K got his share of baseball questions - he was also asked about his obvious international media allure. Of the 100 or so reporters on hand more than half were clearly from out of town.

Speaking through an interpreter – the jovial but matter of fact Matszaka said his massive contract has no bearing on his approach to pitching.

“The scale of the contract does not determine how I play baseball. And I feel responsibility…a little bit…but I am not pressured.”

Maybe the best indication of what the arrival of this right hander with rock star status means can be found in the large number of reporters who were interviewing other reporters…long after Dice K had departed the scene.

All eyes are now on Sunday when pitchers and catchers work out for the first time.

The deal to bring the Tampa Bay Devil Rays to Charlotte County for spring training was passed its final hurdle Wednesday. The twenty year old Charlotte Sports Complex will get a major facelife and then the Rays move in – to play ball by the spring of 2009. W-G-C-U’s Valerie Alker prepared this report.

The city of Cape Coral is renewing its efforts to attract a Major League Baseball team for Spring Training. The Cleveland Indians have said they’re NOT interested in the Cape. Cape Coral is the largest city in Southwest Florida and the mayor is making more pitches to score a team. Mayor Eric Feichthaler has written letters to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the Cincinnati Reds. He’s encouraging the teams to consider Cape Coral. But the catch is: the team and the state would foot most of the bill for a stadium.

“A spring training facility that the city has to pay for in full and not have use of—that’s not a deal we’re going to support. But I think a great deal for our people is something we’re always looking for. And one can be obtained, I believe, from the right teams. It’s just a matter of getting that right match and the right dedication for that team to be part of our community.”

Cleveland Indian officials say they have great interest in Southwest Florida but are already in advanced negotiations with a city in Arizona and another in Florida. Two teams hold spring training in the Fort Myers area: the Minnesota Twins and the Boston Red Sox.

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Cape Coral’s Mayor sent letters to the Cincinnati Reds and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays Tuesday. Mayor Eric Feichthaler wants the teams to consider moving to the city for their spring training games. The Cleveland Indians have already said NO. Feichthaler says he plans to try to keep generating interest in Cape Coral.

“I just want to make sure that everyone throughout the state knows that we’re the largest city between Miami and Tampa and we do have a major economic force here that can really benefit businesses, sports teams [and] anybody who wants to relocate here.”

Feichthaler says he’d only consider the ‘right’ proposal with the team and the state footing most of the stadium’s construction cost. He says if Cape Coral’s residents are asked to pay for a team, the most he’d support would be about 8-dollars per homeowner a year.

Cape Coral’s Mayor is moving ahead with efforts to attract a Major League Baseball team to his city for spring training. Cape Mayor Eric Feichthaler has written a letter to the Cleveland Indians and will send another one to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. He wants the teams to consider Cape Coral to host spring training games in February and March. The Fort Myers area already has the Boston Red Sox and the Minnesota Twins. Speaking on Gulf Coast Live, Feichthaler said it’s time for the Cape to get some of that prestige so its residents don’t have to cross a bridge to see baseball.

“It will lead to the attraction of some really quality jobs to this city. And again will give us an identity. It will put us into the news. It will bring a tax-base that we clearly don’t have today. And most importantly a place that our kids and our families could use twelve months out of the year for all sorts of projects.”

Feichthaler says he won’t raise taxes for a stadium. Instead he wants the team and the state to foot the bill. Cities have until October to request a special pot of state money to attract baseball teams. Feichthaler says a new stadium could be built at Festival Park.

The Collier County Public School System unveiled new rules Monday to crack down on over-age students playing sports. The move comes after several adults played soccer and football at Immokalee High School. Before Collier public school athletes take the field this year, they must be able to prove their age with an original birth certificate or an official copy issued by an authorized agency. If they don’t have one, they don’t get to play. State athletic bylaws permit foreign students to use a passport or official immigration card. Barron-Collier High School activity coordinator Joe Kemper says the district promises a good-faith effort to verify everyone.

“We want to make sure that we’re looking at the dates correctly and that we’re looking at authentic records. So to the best of our ability we’re going to ascertain the proper age of every child that represents our schools athletically.”

One Immokalee High School soccer player was 30 years old last year and another was 23. The school has since has had several district sports titles taken away and the principal received a reprimand.

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With just weeks until school starts, the Collier County school system released new guidelines Monday to prevent over-age students from playing sports. The district sent a letter to all high school athletes – requiring them to provide an original birth certificate or an official copy. If they don’t have one, they can’t take the field. The crackdown comes after several Immokalee High soccer and football players lied about their ages. Barron-Collier High School activity coordinator Joe Kemper says the new rules apply to everyone.

“In the past, I think some of the athletic departments have accepted copies of birth certificates. In order to stay in strict compliance with the letter of the law we’re now going to require a review of an original birth certificate or an authorized copy.”

Kemper says the district will use guidance office counselors to help translate foreign documents. He says administrators promise a good-faith effort to verify all student-athletes.

Immokalee High School’s principal has received his punishment for allowing overage students to play sports. Immokalee High principal Manny Touron won’t get a merit raise, can never coach a public school team in Collier County again and his contract will have to be approved annually…not every few years like other principals. Those are the among the punishments from Collier Assistant Superintendent Eric Williams. Williams says at least three students including one who was 30 played soccer and football at Immokalee High.

“It was a serious failure in terms of not fulfilling his responsibilities as a principal. And so because it was viewed as serious, we wanted the consequences to be serious.”

Touron will also have a written reprimand kept in his file. The school district also wants to know whether other Immokalee High staff members should be disciplined.

All public high school athletes in Collier County will now be required to prove their ages before they can take the field. School Superintendent Ray Baker announced the change this morning during a news conference after several Immokalee High students were found to be too old to play sports. The superintendent also says he hasn’t made up his mind what punishment the school’s principal, Manny Touron (tour-ON), will get besides a written reprimand. But Baker says Touron will keep his job.

“But you don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. This is an excellent principal, an excellent principal. And that community, I believe, needs Manny Touron.”

Touron says he made a mistake in not fully investigating the age of several of the football and soccer players when he learned they may have been overage.