Facility Spotlight: All Stars Sportsplex in Altamonte Springs, Florida… the Lifelong Dream of the Late David Paul & His Daughter Stephanie to Give Back to the Community Comes True

Competitive sports, especially travel softball, have become an expensive sport to play.  Often it excludes kids who might not have the financial means to play at a competitive level.

Today we highlight one family who is carrying out a dream to help underprivileged kids and families, so they have the resources needed to play competitively and succeed in all areas of life.

Stephanie Mike grew up immersed in “ball” culture. Her father, David Paul, was a scout for the Baltimore Orioles and, as Stephanie recalls, “I was his sidekick.”

Being exposed to baseball made Stephanie want to give softball a try and it didn’t take long for her and her father to catch the softball bug and she began to play competitively.

Stephanie was recruited by the University of Maryland, but chose to forego a collegiate softball career.  Although her ball playing ended after high school, she never stopped loving the game and wanting to find a way to get involved in the baseball/ softball community.

The athlete and her father had a dream to one day open an indoor sports facility that would not only allow athletes to train but would be a tool to make a difference in their community.

It would, however, take some time and work before that goal would become reality.

Stephanie finished her undergrad and obtained not one, but two Masters degrees. Along the way she met her husband Roger and became a mom of three children.  As life often does, the years flew by, but father and daughter never stopped dreaming about their plans to open a sports complex.

Sadly, David Paul never got to see that dream come true. Stephanie’s father was diagnosed with cancer and lost his battle in 2004.

“It was a difficult time,” Stephanie recalls. “He was dearly loved and was very close to his family.”

David’s wife, Nancy Paul wanted to fulfill her husband’s wish to have a state-of-the-art facility with top-of-the-line equipment while offering affordable rates for people of all walks of life.  In late 2016, their dream became a reality when the All Star Sportsplex officially opened its doors in Altamonte Springs, Florida.

It was important to Nancy and Stephanie to make the dream a reality as they knew David would want it opened especially now that his grandchildren were at the age of playing baseball and softball.

Gabriella Mike, a sophomore middle infielder ranked as the #20 player at her position in the 2024 Extra Elite Position Rankings, is one of Nancy’s grandchildren and spends countless hours at the facility not only training but volunteering in all the outreach programs.

Today, the All Stars Sportsplex is much more than a popular training facility; the owners, employees, coaches and volunteers affiliated with the facility are committed to working together and pooling their resources to make a big impact in the community.

Impressively, every level of competition is represented in some way through the use of the facility: youth, travel ball, high school, intramural, college, pro and even those who are elderly or disabled can be found at any given time or day as part of the hundreds of athletes who enter through the doors to improve their physical skills and conditioning.

One softball player that has been involved with the facility from the beginning of its existence is Aleshia Ocasio, the former Florida Gator and current pro pitcher who was announced in September as the 2021 Athletes Unlimited Softball champion.

Stephanie had worked with Aleshia’s father, Anthony Ocasio, through a previous business and they kept in touch. When the facility opened Aleshia began to train at All Stars Sportsplex and soon, the pro athlete saw ways in which she could help further the mission of training softball players and meeting the community needs for productive programs at an affordable price.

Stephanie says the relationship with Ocasio has been beneficial for the community as well.

“Alisha has become a very good friend and will always be cemented as a part of our initial foundation and growth.  She attends any events her schedule will allow and provides food, sporting goods and apparel to the underserved youth in our community.”

“It is easy to see Aleshia is passionate about helping not only train our youth but impact their lives through mentorship and education,” Mike adds. “We are very grateful for the last six years of Aleshia being an integral part of the growth and community outreach of the All Star Sportsplex.”

The Sportsplex isn’t just a sports training facility today; it also offers a wide variety of programs and services to be recognized as a place of opportunity and hope for so many.

All Stars complex sponsors youth who are homeless by providing equipment, means and transportation to participate in local youth baseball and softball leagues.  The facility partnered with former MLB player and founder Jemile Weeks, also the founder of WeFam United and co-sponsor a youth little league, by donating the indoor space for practices and training, transportation and meal storage and prep.

Stephanie in recent years has directed her focus to softball efforts to help identify student-athletes that have given up on high school and college athletics due to lack of access to training, equipment, and mentorship.

For example, the owner met a young lady who wanted to play as a 12-year-old but could never afford the equipment or training before All Star Sportsplex saw the opportunity to change a life by providing the equipment and training she needed.

Fast forward a few years and she made her high school varsity team and as a current Junior she will play in college.

All Stars also has thriving afterschool and summer camp programs focused on multi-sports for youth ages 5-12 to try multiple sports and work towards scholastic goals to improve in school performance.

Perhaps most impressively, Stephanie and her staff arrange times at no cost for those with special needs to come to the facility to enjoy hitting off the pitching machines, playing basketball, dodgeball, kickball, and other fun activities along with their caretakers.

The Holiday season can be an especially painful time for those who are less privileged and hurting—perhaps physically, perhaps emotionally—but the complex also “raises its game” during this time of the year.

For Thanksgiving, the Sportsplex employees got together to make turkey baskets to donate to Family Promise Central Florida and, in December, they will host a Feed the City and Toy Giveaway event—just a couple more ways the Sportplex is used for more than just sports.

In addition to the outreach programs, there are opportunities to hold seminars helping to educate parents on the process of recruiting and helping their student-athletes be prepared for the leap to college both academically and in sports through private lessons with well-known current and former players such as Roman Nunez, a former MLB player; Isaac Nunez, a 2022 MLB draft prospect and Shelby Engle, a former DI softball pitcher for Georgetown.

— Joy Roeder, Extra Inning Softball contributor

If you know someone involved in the softball community that is giving back to the community or providing for those in need, feel free to send info for a potential story to [email protected].