A-Game Sportsplex abruptly closes
By: Maren Angus
This morning, the site at the end of Gothic Ct., was devastating. Parents dropping their kids off for school at Southern Elite Sports Preparatory School, lessons and practice were greeted with a police barricade preventing them from going onto the property.
Josh Harrell, who transferred to SESPS from Page High School this semester, is a member of the 16 and under Nashville Jr. Predators had a weird and unsettling feeling this morning while at the facility.
“A-Game has always been a fun place to go and today there were police inside watching every move we made. Made me feel like we were the ones doing something wrong. There was one policewoman who told the us how much she hated it for us.”
Harrell’s mother Christy described the scene when she dropped her son off for school this morning.
“I arrived at 7 to drop my son off for school,” said Christy. “We got the word around 9 that we would be able to get the boys’ gear and school supplies. We were originally told they were not going to allow us to get our belongings until the tenants cooperated and signed off on their leases.”
Two days ago, Judge Michael Binkley of Williamson County’s chancery court denied an injunction sought by volleyball and hockey tenants at A-Game Sportsplex. Both rent time and space from the facility in Franklin.
As soon as word got out about the closing, Franklin Police Department released the following statement.
“We have had several citizen and media inquiries regarding the crowd gathered at the A-Game Sportsplex, 215 Gothic Court, where the business has closed its doors. In anticipation of people and teams who have personal belongings inside, A-Game hired an extra duty Franklin Police Officer to stand by to ensure things remained cordial during the retrieval of those belongings.
As word of the closing spread, the number of people arriving to get their belongings quickly grew. Four additional officers responded to ensure that people, parking, and traffic in the Gothic Court area remained orderly as A-Game management allowed people inside to gather their personal belongings. That process is currently underway without issue.
At the request of the building’s owners, the parking lot remains closed and only those with belongings inside are being granted access to the lot and building.”
Harrell said nobody was allowed to approach the barricade until the police gave the okay to send in one group at a time.
“They were pretty firm guarding the facility. Josh (son) helped the figure skater groups get their belongings. After one trip out to the street, he tried to re-enter through the barricade and the officer stopped him immediately. It was awful, sad. Lots of emotions this morning.”
As for the Nashville Youth Hockey League and Greater Nashville Area Scholastic Hockey (GNASH), Centennial Sportsplex and Ford Ice in Antioch are working on ice time.
The following email was sent out to high school teams this morning.
GNASH Players, Parents, and Coaches,
Many of you may have already heard or witnessed first hand that AGame’s owners have closed their doors this morning. They have issued a press release stating that they are continuing to work on reaching an agreement with the lease holders to reopen the facilities, but this may not come in time for any of the scheduled GNASH games for Friday, February 5th. Please bear with us as we work on coming up with alternate options for tomorrow night’s games, as well as play-off games that are currently scheduled to begin next Monday. We will up-date everyone as soon as we can.
Thank you,
Bethany Bennett
GNASH President
According to several Facebook posts and tweets, there will be a FRIENDLY protest tonight to open the building back up. Everyone will be meeting at Cool Springs Mall at 5:30 p.m. then walk over to A-Game.
-By Maren Angus – Follow @Maren_Angus
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