The single good thing about Champions Park in Newberry is that it has 16 fields.
Champions Park in Newberry, Florida is a softball/baseball park that hosts many tournaments throughout the year. After visiting this park with an 18U team playing in a softball tournament, this reporter hopes to never visit again.
The facility itself feels like a “want to be” park that either ran short on development funding or the private owner figured it was good enough. It certainly is not good enough. Champions Park fails in so many ways that it really doesn’t even deserve to be reviewed. The reason why this review is here, however, is to warn teams and tournament production companies.
Champions Park is owned and possibly managed by a private company called RADDSports. The park itself is located 20 miles west of Gainesville, Florida in the small village of Newberry. There is nothing, except for a Circle K convenience store and a Dairy Queen restaurant, in Newberry. Be prepared when visiting this park: There are limited area amenities and park concessions. The best bet for lunch or dinner is to take the 35-minute drive back to Gainesville.
The park is in the midst of farmland and ranches. The parking lot is not paved, and is a mixture of sand and dirt. There is extra parking available in the farm fields that surround the park, with zero organization.
The single good thing about Champions Park is that it has 16 fields.
And then the not-so-good:
While the park does boast the 16 fields, they are terrible fields. Infields are turf, outfields are a combination of grass and dirt. All fields have a hard transition between the turf and outfield, making ground balls take very unexpected hops. We witnessed several defensive players trip on these transitions.
Each field hub is poorly designed. The fields are much to close together, making it difficult for visitors to walk between them. There is no protective overhead netting on the hubs, so moving between fields is not only difficult due to the crowds, it is dangerous. In fact, fields are so close together that signs are posted noting that setting up chairs and watching a game from the base sides and behind the backstop is not allowed.
Home plates on the fields at Champions Park might be eight feet, at best, from the backstop. Umpires have to stand so close to the backstops that you can hear them breath. Structures on the field are run down and poorly maintained. What appears to be pitching lanes have cement floors – These are not used for obvious reasons.
The closest lodging to Champions Park is in Gainesville. Give yourself plenty of time for the 20 mile drive, as the single direct route to the park can be very congested. And watch out for farm implements and trucks entering the road, along with the locals’ four wheelers.
Overall, softball teams and tournament production companies should avoid Champions Park. If a team is looking for a fair-weather tournament in the cooler months, there are plenty of options instead of one being held at this facility.
Champions Park
24617 SW 30th Ave, Newberry, FL 32669
Champions Park Rating: 1 – Single.
PARK RATING SYSTEM
- 0 – Strike Out: Lowest rating; Avoid the park.
- 1 – Single: Not up to par; Good luck at the park.
- 2 – Double: Has potential; County and/or City Parks & Rec department could easily improve.
- 3 – Triple: Not a bad park; Could use some additions and upgrades to make it a great park.
- 4 – Home Run: Park that is excellent; Great fields, family friendly, and well taken care of.
