Lapped by the Pacific Ocean and blessed with dozen of miles of uninterrupted golden beaches, hundreds of miles of cycling paths and some of Southern California’s best hiking trails, Orange County, the “Land of the Endless Summer,” is a heavenly place for all kinds of sporting fun and games.
From major league sports action to surfing schools, groups can choose from a deep roster of athletic and other outdoor experiences across the region to create winning agendas and build group enthusiasm.
ANAHEIM
Opened in 1966, Angel Stadium of Anaheim is the fourth-oldest ballpark in the major leagues behind Boston’s Fenway Park, Chicago’s Wrigley Field and L.A.’s Dodger Stadium. With a buyout capacity of 44,050, the “Halo” offers behind-the-scenes tours and multiple versatile “Red Carpet” event spaces, including the field, Diamond Club and Centerfield Patio.
Baseball fans will note that Jack Norworth, who wrote Take Me Out To the Ballgame, is buried within eyeshot of Angel Stadium at Anaheim’s Melrose Abbey Cemetery.
Created by the Walt Disney Company in 1993, the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks play at the multipurpose Honda Center. With a maximum capacity of 18,900 for center stage events, the venue, ranked among the world’s top arenas by Pollstar and other industry publications, offers private function space that includes the 15,000-square-foot indoor/outdoor Grand Terrace and Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7 Club.
The venue also hosts the LA KISS arena football team co-owned by Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley of the legendary band KISS.
The rockers are also opening their popular restaurant Rock & Brews in adjacent Buena Park by the end of 2016. With origins dating back to the 1920s, the center of action in this fun-loving city just west of Anaheim is Knott’s Berry Farm. Covering 160 acres, the historic amusement park offers thrilling rides along with dining and entertainment options for groups.
COSTA MESA
The “City of Arts” is also known for golfing, with local and area options such as the Costa Mesa Country Club. Featuring two municipal golf courses, the club’s historic clubhouse offers two spaces for weddings and special events, the Mesa Linda banquet room, seating 185 guests, and the Los Lagos room, seating 350 guests. Some seven miles from Costa Mesa, the Tustin Ranch Golf Club offers four meeting rooms seating between 80 and 100 people.
Tennis anyone? The Costa Mesa Tennis Center offers group and private lessons year-round.
IRVINE
With its vast network of on-road and off-road bike trails, centrally located Irvine is prime territory for two-wheeled adventures.
Conveniently located with a dedicated bike path right outside its front door, Pedego Irvine uniquely combines bike rentals and trail maps with a technology-connected 12-person conference room and an adjacent pub and wine bar.
“I am currently using Go-Pro to video and map the network of amazing off-road trails that run through the city, which groups will be able to access on our website and use to plan their rides,” says owner Robert Bibee. “We are a popular option for all-day group excursions,” he continues, “which mix teambuilding rides with catered meetings and functions.”
Local groups can take advantage of Team Up! programs at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). Customizable activities include warm-ups, icebreakers and challenges on the 50-foot-high, 360-foot-long Odyssey Course challenge, which features a 120-foot zipline.
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UCI’s 5,000-seat Bren Events Center hosts an array of sporting and other public events. Groups can also watch the Orange County Blues Football Club of USL Pro Soccer play at UCI’s Anteater Stadium.
COASTAL ORANGE COUNTY
Complementing its allure as an upscale meeting destination, Newport Beach is also an Eden for nature lovers and outdoor enthusiasts. Amid abundant wildlife, including some 35,000 migratory birds and 200 endangered species, the vast coastal wetlands of the Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve and Ecological Reserve, known locally as the Back Bay, supports hiking, biking, stand-up paddleboarding and programs such as guided weekend kayak tours with the Newport Bay Conservancy.
With meeting space included in its 18,000-square-foot facility, Newport Aquatic Center rents equipment and offers programs in the Olympic water sports of rowing, canoeing, kayaking and outrigger canoeing.
After moving to Huntington Beach from her native Canada, Natalie Kotsch fell in love with the local surf culture. In 1987, Ms. Kotsch, who passed away last year, founded the International Surfing Museum to preserve and showcase the history of the city’s signifying brand stamp. Dedicated to Duke Kahanamoku, the “Father of Surfing”, this downtown treasure filled with surfing memorabilia is ideal for small corporate gatherings and group visits.
Huntington Beach groups can also “carve” their own memories with lessons at the Banzai Surf School or Corky Carroll’s Surf School.
During his 1939 sojourn in Laguna Beach, legendary writer Tennessee Williams wrote that “there was constant volleyball, there was surfing and surfers, there was an artist colony…and all of it was delightful.”
Today, the pleasures awaiting groups include sea kayaking eco-tours with La Vida Laguna (www.lavidalaguna.com); hiking, biking and horseback riding in the vast Laguna Coast Wilderness Park; and docent-led explorations of tidal pools followed by an art workshop with Laguna Outreach for Community Arts.
In his 1840 journal Two Years Before the Mast, Harvard-trained lawyer and sailor Richard Henry Dana Jr. chronicles his sea voyage from Boston to California aboard the merchant ship Pilgrim. In his writings, Dana describes an area then known as Capistrano Bay as “the most romantic spot in California.” Renamed in his honor as Dana Point, this coastal gem remains one of the state’s prettiest locales.
Teeming with marine life including whales, dolphins, seals and California sea lions, the waters off Dana Point Harbor are ideal for a range of sea-going adventures, with longtime operators such as Dana Wharf Sportfishing & Whale Watching and Captain Dave’s Dolphin & Whale Safari offering group tours, excursions and charters.
Born in Pasadena, Calif., longtime Meetings Focus contributor JEFF HEILMAN has fond memories of skipping school to go body surfing at Newport Beach and Laguna Beach.
