{"id":189,"date":"2026-05-11T23:04:04","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T23:04:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tampamovingjournal.com\/?p=189"},"modified":"2026-05-11T23:04:04","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T23:04:04","slug":"florida-poly-prepares-for-first-ever-sports-season-as-athletics-program-takes-shape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tampamovingjournal.com\/?p=189","title":{"rendered":"Florida Poly prepares for first-ever sports season as athletics program takes shape"},"content":{"rendered":"

LAKELAND, Fla.<\/strong> – <\/span>Florida Polytechnic University is gearing up for the first season of its new athletics program.<\/p>

Read more Tampa police brace for more \u2018teen takeovers\u2019 after downtown violence, arrests near Curtis Hixon Park<\/a><\/p>

The backstory:<\/p>

The university is starting with eight men’s and women’s sports,\u00a0including cross-country, basketball and soccer.<\/p>

Florida Poly in\u00a0Lakeland is moving into its 12th year as the only public STEM university in the state. It built its academic foundation in the first decade, and now it is focused on the student experience.<\/p>

<\/div>

What they’re saying:<\/p>

“The president went out to the students and asked, ‘Would you be interested in athletics?’ And we got a nice ‘yes’ from them,” Derek Lower, director of athletics and recreation, said. “Every decision that’s made has a student focus to it. So, as soon as students said yes, we plunged in.”<\/p>

Women’s soccer head coach Jack Paris says it’s extremely exciting to be able to build the culture of the program from the very start.<\/p>

Read more Bradenton police detail tragic pool party drowning that led to a mother\u2019s arrest: \u2018No one was watching\u2019<\/a><\/p>

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\"\"<\/figure>\n <\/div>

“That was a big sell for me: an all-STEM school and the only one in Florida,” Paris said. “Having intellectually smart players and correlating that onto the field.”<\/p>

Paris is recruiting players both in-state and internationally. Ideally, he’d like to have 28 players on the team.<\/p>

Dig deeper:<\/p>

Lower says the goal is to join the NAIA and the Sun Conference in the future.<\/p>

“We want to win some championships and have some high-quality student-athletes,” Lower said.<\/p>

What’s next:<\/p>

The university’s first game will be held in early August.<\/p>

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All games and training will be off-site at nearby sports complexes, and the university may add more sports in the future.<\/p>

Read more Several hospitalized after possible boat explosion in Miami: MDFR<\/a><\/p> <\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Florida Polytechnic University is gearing up for the first season of its new athletics program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":186,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[83,84],"tags":[85,86],"class_list":["post-189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lakeland","category-sports","tag-lakeland","tag-sports"],"yoast_head":"\nFlorida Poly prepares for first-ever sports season as athletics program takes shape - Tampa moving journal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tampamovingjournal.com\/?p=189\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Florida Poly prepares for first-ever sports season as athletics program takes shape - 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