The dark horse, it turned out, was a thoroughbred all along.
Expectations were muted when Bartram Trail graduate Steffi Sorensen stepped onto the University of Florida hardwood as a 2008 walk-on.
Despite a four-year high school bucket binge, major college recruiting letters hadn’t gorged the family mailbox as expected.
But when Sorensen’s downtown daggers began to fall in Gainesville, she would soon snatch a scholarship, become a starter, and ultimately be named team captain.
“I was a dark horse,” the ESPN college basketball broadcaster told The Citizen. “I wasn’t supposed to be at Florida and wasn’t supposed to be a key player.”
The longshot metaphor can also apply to her ascent in television. The 5-foot-11-inch Floridian didn’t get into broadcasting school in college. “I thought to myself that I’ll never be able to do TV,” she said. “But I’ve done it for 10 years now.”
So when it came time to name her newly proposed 12-acre athletic facility, the choice was clear — Dark Horse.
The project, she said, hopes to inspire the next generation of local athletes to decimate doubters through resolve and hard work.
“I think the name really resonated for me and I just kept proving people wrong,” she said. “You can do what you set your mind to, That’s kind of my back story.”
Following a stint in fitness modeling, Sorensen embarked on a successful broadcasting career, patrolling the sidelines as a reporter and providing studio analysis for Fox Sports and now ESPN and the SEC Network.
After many years away from home, she eventually returned and settled in Rivertown after COVID. The rustic county of her youth had all but vanished during her absence. “I had to use a map,” she said, with a laugh.
Roads that once yawned with inactivity were now screaming thoroughfares. Publix was stocked with as many Northern transplants as local old-timers.
For Sorensen, a longstanding business vision began to coalesce.
“When I came back, there were all these new people who suddenly lived here,” she said. “And you sort of realize that there’s nowhere really to train in this area. I’ve been an athlete my whole life and wanted to build something for everybody that I never had in the county growing up.”
The center will offer sport-specific youth training, classes for the elderly who want to remain nimble, and a wellness center with a sauna and cold plunge.
While the site is expansive, Sorensen stressed that much of the land will be preserved.
“I understand why residents don’t want all the beauty of St. Johns County to go away and become shopping centers,” she said. “My vision for Dark Horse is that you can’t even see the facility from the road. Some of the nature that exists will be part of the gym and that’s by design.”
Big box gyms, she said, are inevitably eyeing St. Johns as a promising target. “Why wouldn’t you want a more local spot?” she said. “I could see them coming. So I saw my opportunity and went for it.”
Judging from their collective portfolio, the entrepreneurial gene appears dominant in the Sorensen clan.
Steffi’s father, Chris Sorensen, worked as a Jacksonville firefighter before establishing the popular Firehouse Subs chain.
Her sister and brother-in-law run the popular St. Johns restaurant Ember & Iron and recently opened Gemma Fish & Oyster in San Marco.
While she’ll continue with her broadcasting career, Sorensen said she foresees a future rooted in her new venture.
“It’s my long term plan in life,” she said. “I love TV. But what was missing for me is purpose. I’m ready to bring something valuable to the community.”
And help some fellow dark horses find their gallop.
