Monthly Archives: May 2016

Go to the Games with a Soccer 6-Day Package

It’s not too late to get your tickets to the 2016 Reebok CrossFit Games.

Soccer 6-Day Ticket Packages ($125) are on sale now at AXS.com. The Soccer 6-Day Package provides access to all of the Teenage and Masters Competitions Tuesday – Thursday, as well as all Individual and Team events in the Soccer Stadium Friday – Sunday.

Exclusive fans of the Masters and Teenage Competition can get in Tuesday-Thursday with a Mid-Week 3-Day ($75).

All Access Ticket Packages ($225 – $500) have been sold out, but you still have a shot at getting into the StubHub Center Tennis Stadium. We set aside tickets for the Games qualifiers, and after they take their pick we’ll release any remaining All Access Ticket Packages (Red, $225) to the public. The last batch of All Access Red Ticket Packages will be released Monday, June 6, at 12 p.m. PT.

The 2016 Reebok CrossFit Games will be held at the StubHub Center in Carson, California, July 19 – 24.

Laura Phelps-Sweatt and Westside Conjugate Sanctioned

CrossFit has banned Laura Phelps-Sweatt from all CrossFit-sanctioned competitions for one year, and disqualified her team, Westside Conjugate, from the 2016 Central Regional due to a drug policy violation.

Collection agents from Drug Free Sport, at CrossFit’s request, recently contacted Phelps-Sweatt for the purpose of conducting an out-of-competition drug test. She did not meet with agents to provide a sample. Phelps-Sweatt’s failure to submit to the drug test constitutes a violation of the CrossFit Games Drug Testing Policy and carries similar sanctions as a positive drug test.

Phelps-Sweatt served as the affiliate manager of CrossFit Conjugate, and as a member of the Westside Conjugate regional-qualifying team.

All Access Games Ticket Release

All Access Packages to the 2016 Reebok CrossFit Games have been sold out, but it’s not too late to get into the StubHub Center Tennis Stadium. We set aside tickets for the Games qualifiers, and after they take their pick we’ll release any remaining All Access Ticket Packages (Red, $225) to the public.

Check AXS.com starting at 12 p.m. PT the following Mondays:

  • May 23
  • May 30
  • June 6

The larger capacity Soccer Stadium has not sold out. You can watch the vast majority of the Games at a discounted price with a Soccer 6-Day Ticket Package ($125). Fans who want to watch the Teenage and Masters Competitions exclusively can get the Mid-Week 3-Day Package ($75).

Learn more about how the Games tickets work this year.

Fresh shops at Freshfields Village

Freshfields Village has been updating its offerings and refreshing its look this spring.

Located at the entrance to Kiawah Island, Freshfields Village has grown into a community hub where everyone from year-round residents, off-Island locals, and vacationers enjoy the charm of a bustling neighborhood market, a multitude of dining options, and shopping. As Kiawah residents know, its architecture draws on the Carolinas’ rich coastal heritage, appearing to have arisen over time as a collection of charming structures. Vernacular exteriors with traditional rooflines extend a welcoming personality; open sheds with verandas, overhanging roofs, Bermuda shutters, and breezeways are interspersed with intimately scaled buildings set along shaded pedestrian lanes.

This spring, picturesque new road signs and landscaping improvements added to the charm of the Village, and new shops are in the works. Dolittle’s, a specialty pet store offering upscale foods and pet products as well as dog washing facilities, will open this summer at 352 Freshfields Drive. Scout & Molly’s boutique is scheduled to open this month between Indigo Books and GDC Home. Los Olas opened in February across the street at 455 Freshfields Drive. Started by a Charleston native with a traveling background and a desire to learn, it offers swimwear and lifestyle accessories for men and women. New construction currently underway behind White Hall, too, will provide further offerings.

In addition to other events, the Village’s summer farmers market will begin on June 6th and take place on the green from 4 to 8 PM on Mondays throughout the summer; see a PDF list of the vendors here.The Village’s free concert series, Music on the Green, will begin on June 3rd and take place from 6 to 9 PM on Fridays through September 2nd. See a list of the bands scheduled to perform here.

A directory of shops, eateries, and services, as well as a list of upcoming events, can be found at freshfieldsvillage.com.

2016: Awards and anniversaries

This March, the editors of Barron’s PENTA magazine ranked Kiawah Island #5 on their annual list of “Top Resort Communities” – a list that Kiawah has been on since the magazine first began such a ranking. Kiawah Island is no stranger to “Best” lists, and with 2016 marking the 40th anniversary of the first real estate sales in the Kiawah Island community (Sparrow Pond debuted in the spring of 1976) – we wanted to look back at two key Kiawah Island honors that are also “celebrating” anniversaries.

With golf’s first major in the record books, the 2016 golf season is upon us, and will culminate in September’s Ryder Cup matches. 2016 is the 25th anniversary of the event that brought Kiawah Island to the international stage, and brought the Ryder Cup back to prominence in the golf world.

While the Ryder Cup has been a highly anticipated event every other year for the past two decades, it was neither highly anticipated nor highly viewed before the 1991 event at the Kiawah Island Golf Resort’s Ocean Course. “The Ryder Cup had been on USA Cable with a taped version on ABC – it never was a big event,” stated Jon Miller, who in 1991 was president of sports programming for NBC. “We made a deal with the PGA of America for the Ryder Cup. We wanted to create a Masters feel. The plan was to show three hours a day on Saturday and Sunday.”

Miller continued, “We get to Kiawah.The first day’s matches were exciting. Seve and Azinger get into it. Then there was fog on Saturday morning. When we come on the air at 3, the afternoon matches just started. By the time we got to 6 (when the broadcast was scheduled to end), we knew we had an hour to 90 minutes left, and we decided we’d stay on the air. Since we ran all of our commercials, we ran last 90 minutes commercial-free. It was amazing television. On Sunday, it came down to the last putt (Bernhard Langer missed to give the U.S. the victory). The next thing you know, Kiawah became ‘The War by the Shore.’ The Ryder Cup went to another level.” The event – and the Island – would never be the same.

Five years later in 1996, Kiawah Island was one of the first destination communities to win the Award for Excellence from the Urban Land Institute (ULI), the development industry’s leading organization. From their website, ULI.org:

ULI began the Awards for Excellence program in 1979 with the objective of recognizing truly superior development efforts. The criteria for the awards include factors that go beyond good design, including leadership, contribution to the community, innovations, public/private partnership, environmental protection and enhancement, response to societal needs, and financial success. Winning projects represent the highest standards of achievement in the development industry.

Ocean Park’s Marsh House to open Memorial weekend

On the lush eastern tip of Kiawah Island, the Ocean Park neighborhood already seems to have it all. Filled with parkland, bike trails, and ancient oaks, Ocean Park borders marshes, an internationally renowned golf course, and a nature preserve.

To help enhance the new neighborhood into a true community, a centerpiece was needed: an indoor/outdoor gathering place for neighbors to meet and enjoy conversation, food, and drink while overlooking Kiawah’s vast southeastern marsh. From that vision comes a new amenity: the Marsh House, which opens Memorial weekend 2016.

Featuring an infinity pool, grill, and bar, the new Marsh House will offer a diversity of indoor, outdoor, covered, and uncovered spots for eating, drinking, and relaxing: beside a fireplace, atop a raised deck, by a bar overlooking the marsh.

While the rolling parklands and trails of Ocean Park are open to all Kiawah residents, the Marsh House will exclusively serve both Kiawah Island Club Members and property owners of Ocean Park – with owners in Marsh Walk, a collection of new residences adjacent to the Marsh House, having the most convenient access to this great new facility.