Club Meeting December 4th-Southern Oregon Sports and Your Role

Director of Sports Development, Travel Medford’s Darren Van Lehn spoke to club members about community sporting activities and the “Know your Role” movement. First Darren shared with us the amazing economic impact of the Lithia & Driveway Fields and the newly complete Rogue X.  Since the opening of Lithia & Driveway Fields in 2008, the site has produced over $100 Million dollars in economic impact. The ripple effect of this type of economic wheel is hard to grasp, but it impacts everyone from large hotel chains to small shops throughout the Rogue Valley.  The community anxiously awaits to learn over the next few years how the new Rogue X center will do as national corn hole tournaments are planned in the near future. Darren then turned the conversation to the familiar “Know your Role” movement to encourage adults that attend sporting events to understand the importance of keeping a youth game in perspective. Making sure to remember how disruptive behaviors affect the players, coaches, and referees.  It was a somber reminder that most of the kids playing will not become professional players and if they do, it won’t be because they were scolded and embarrassed by their parents. He ended the presentation with some goals; Travel Medford, SOSC and the City of Medford’s goal is to reach top 5 on the West Coast and top 20 in the United States by year 2030 in the Sports ETA Rankings. Southern Oregon has so much to offer outside of great venues to play sports at, it seems that this area can become a play and stay location. Allowing vacations to wrap around sports travel.