Editor's note: This article has been updated to include some clarifications provided by Olympus.

CLERMONT, Fla. — The Florida Regional District of the Amateur Athletic Union on Monday announced plans for the 100,000-square-foot Event Center at Olympus by late 2025.

The Event Center at Olympus is expected to feature basketball, volleyball, martial arts, cheer, pickleball, climbing, futsal (indoor soccer), baseball and softball (pitching and hitting), as well as AAU offices, retail pavilions and cafés.

It is designed to include a range of traditional and emerging sports across indoor and outdoor training and competition venues. 

At full build-out, the sports campus also is expected to include a 5,800 seat, multipurpose arena, an international soccer center with a 3,500-seat soccer stadium and multiple soccer pitches; a 4.5-mile trail system for triathlon and other special events; a beach volleyball pavilion; an Ice Center (twin ice pads for ice hockey and figure skating); and the largest authentic red-clay tennis center in the United States, Olympus Orlando said. It is located at the highest elevation on the Olympus property in the Wellness Way area in Clermont.

The cornerstone will be the Athlete Center and Performance Institute, which will offer sports training and conditioning, nutrition services and broadcast/media technology.

The plan is to offer a year-round schedule of amateur, collegiate and elite events, onsite hospitality and entertainment.

“Olympus is creating the most impressive environment for athletes, fans and the community, and we are thrilled to be a part of it,” AAU Florida Governor Kim Fessler said. “To think that we can now host, for example, the largest volleyball event in the world at Olympus — with on-property hotels and entertainment, and a special Performance Institute for the athletes — is just beyond exciting.”

Many Clermont youth instructors and coaches are excited for the facility to go up in their backyard.

"Right now, in Central Florida, we don’t have the venues like that at that level," said Anibal Cruz, owner of the U.S. Tae Kwon Do Institute. "We’ve competed all over the U.S., and now we’re highly competitive all over the world."

Cruz trains about 100 kids in his studio and over Zoom — many of which are highly competitive.

He said the events center will allow locals who can’t travel to tournaments to still compete in their sports. He said he hopes it will also include rental space for AAU Florida teams to practice and compete in smaller competitions.

EDGE Sports Group, athletic ecosystem specialists, will lead development and management of the events center, the Ice Center and other venues, Olympus Orlando said.

“We look forward to welcoming AAU to the Olympus community and destination, and to the Clermont-Wellness Way area,” Clermont City Manager Brian Bulthuis said. “With today’s announcement, Clermont is truly solidifying its reputation nationally as the ‘Choice of Champions'.”

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