{"id":361988,"date":"2026-08-01T15:40:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T15:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/alabama\/how-cooper-smitherman-turned-curiosity-into-community-at-stars-and-strikes\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T15:40:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T15:40:09","slug":"how-cooper-smitherman-turned-curiosity-into-community-at-stars-and-strikes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=361988","title":{"rendered":"How Cooper Smitherman Turned Curiosity Into Community at Stars and Strikes"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Cooper Smitherman left Huntsville for love, not for lack of it. He and his wife were both still in school when she started at the University of West Georgia, so the two of them packed up for Carrollton, Georgia, and spent two years there. It was, in his words, \u201ca great little small-town community.\u201d But something happens to a lot of people who leave North Alabama and come back to visit: they start noticing what they\u2019d been too close to see. Every trip home, Huntsville looked a little different. A little bigger. A little more worth bragging about.<\/p>\n


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What Cooper wants more people to understand is that this feeling isn\u2019t a fluke, and it isn\u2019t nostalgia talking. It\u2019s the whole reason he does what he does.<\/p>\n


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Cooper is the community outreach representative for Stars and Strikes Family Entertainment Centers here in Huntsville, a published writer with bylines in The Huntsville Blast, Huntsville City Lifestyle, and the Encyclopedia of Alabama, and a UAH graduate with a master\u2019s in English. On a recent episode of Unexpected Adventures in North Alabama, he joined me to talk about telling this region\u2019s stories, what his job actually looks like day to day, and why a bowling alley off the highway has quietly become one of North Alabama\u2019s favorite places to gather.<\/p>\n


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\"outside<\/p>\n


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A Writer Who Refuses to Specialize<\/h2>\n


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Before Stars and Strikes, and honestly still alongside it, Cooper is a writer with a genuinely wide range \u2014 profiles of local business owners, a piece on NFL star DeMarcus Ware, public health campaigns, and, most recently, a deep dive into the history of ice hockey in Alabama for the Encyclopedia of Alabama. Ask him why he jumps around so much and he\u2019ll tell you it\u2019s simply how he\u2019s wired.<\/p>\n


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\u201cI try to come at things \u2014 I\u2019m never gonna be the expert, even if it\u2019s something I am very knowledgeable about, like sports,\u201d he told me. \u201cI like to come at it and try to learn something from it.\u201d He calls writing a process of discovery, and it\u2019s clearly what he enjoys most about it.<\/p>\n


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Leaving Made the Coming Back Mean More<\/h2>\n


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Cooper grew up in Huntsville, went to high school at Sparkman, and got his start at UAH before marriage took him and his wife to Georgia for two years. When they moved back, he came home with something he didn\u2019t have before: an outside perspective.<\/p>\n


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\u201cJust being gone and coming back to visit family, every single time I came back, I just kept seeing more and more coming to Huntsville,\u201d he said, \u201cand realizing more and more that \u2014 yes, I did appreciate growing up here.\u201d<\/p>\n


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What a Community Outreach Rep Actually Does All Day<\/h2>\n


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I asked Cooper what his job title actually means in practice, and the answer is a lot more door-to-door than you\u2019d guess. He stops into churches to talk about VBS support, tells daycares about reduced rates, and works with schools on spirit nights and fundraiser events. He shows up at field days to hand out free stuff to kids, and he attends community events across the region \u2014 most recently the Camp to Amp festival at Mid-City, where he spent the day telling people about bowling, laser tag, axe throwing, escape rooms, and the arcade.<\/p>\n


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\u201cThis role has really lent itself to helping me discover local stories,\u201d he said, \u201cjust getting to go out and meet people.\u201d Which, if you know anything about Cooper\u2019s writing, tracks perfectly.<\/p>\n


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\"arcade<\/p>\n


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150 People, One Banquet Room, and (Once) a Funeral<\/h2>\n


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One of the things that sets the Huntsville location apart, Cooper told me, is its banquet and event space \u2014 a room big enough to host a little over 150 people. It\u2019s booked for youth sports banquets, church events, and graduation parties. It has also, once, hosted a funeral reception.<\/p>\n


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\u201cWe\u2019ve even had someone hold a funeral reception there,\u201d he said, \u201cwhich went a lot better than you might expect.\u201d The through-line, he explained, is that Stars and Strikes wants to be a family-first gathering place \u2014 for families, but also for \u201corganizations that want to have team-building activities and build a work family.\u201d By the end of the conversation, I was already drafting the email to my boss. Cooper didn\u2019t discourage me. \u201cWe would love to have y\u2019all,\u201d he said. Consider it noted.<\/p>\n


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\"bowling<\/p>\n


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Build Your Own Experience<\/h2>\n


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Between bowling, the arcade, laser tag, axe throwing, escape rooms, and VR alongside classics like Skee-Ball and air hockey (Ms. Pac-Man\u2019s presence remains unconfirmed \u2014 Cooper is checking), there\u2019s a lot to choose from, and that\u2019s on purpose.<\/p>\n


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\u201cWe like to have it where you can build your experience for yourself,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s why we offer so many different things.\u201d For first-timers, he recommends weekends for the full party atmosphere and midweek for something calmer, checking out the birthday packages with a dedicated party host, and \u2014 for families \u2014 the nationwide Kids Bowl Free program, which gives kids two free games of bowling a day all summer.<\/p>\n


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\"Little<\/p>\n


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The Wings Are Better Than You Think<\/h2>\n


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I asked Cooper what would surprise even a longtime local about Stars and Strikes, and his answer was immediate: the wings.<\/p>\n


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\u201cSomeone might say, \u2018These are the best wings in Huntsville,\u2019\u201d he said, \u201cand I think ours honestly have a good spot on that list. I wasn\u2019t surprised, but I was pleased.\u201d It\u2019s not just wings \u2014 the food lineup runs from pizza to hot dogs to a taco bar, backed by a restaurant staff he says makes every visit worth it. And zooming out to Huntsville as a whole, Cooper \u2014 who grew up in Toney, a suburb about 30 minutes north \u2014 says the biggest surprise is how many people still think there\u2019s nothing to do here. \u201cI feel like there wasn\u2019t as much of that when I was growing up,\u201d he said, \u201cbut now I feel like I could spin a bottle and find somewhere new to go every single day, and it\u2019s wonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n


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\"picture<\/p>\n


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What Sets the Huntsville Location Apart<\/h2>\n


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Stars and Strikes has 17 locations, most of them in Georgia, but Cooper is quick to point out what makes Huntsville\u2019s stand out: axe throwing, which is especially popular with the adults around here, and the staff. Every location has its own restaurant team and dedicated party hosts, he said, but what he\u2019s most proud of is the location\u2019s involvement in the community \u2014 which is, not coincidentally, his entire job.<\/p>\n


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\u201cIt\u2019s really just our incredible staff,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have dedicated party hosts who are going to make sure your birthday is as fun as it can possibly be.\u201d<\/p>\n


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\"ax<\/p>\n


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Why He Keeps Showing Up<\/h2>\n


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Underneath all of it \u2014 the writing, the door-to-door visits, the community events \u2014 is a simple belief Cooper kept coming back to throughout our conversation: you never know who\u2019s listening, and you never know who needs to hear it.<\/p>\n


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\u201cYou never know who\u2019s going to benefit from me talking about Stars and Strikes, or just mentioning something in passing, right?\u201d he said. \u201cSomeone might benefit from that, and that\u2019s what really drives me.\u201d He calls it a way of giving back \u2014 through writing, through outreach, through getting to meet, as he put it, \u201cmore like-minded people who are trying to build more community in Huntsville.\u201d<\/p>\n


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Come Say Hello<\/h2>\n


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If you want to connect with Cooper, LinkedIn is your best bet, and keep an eye on coopersmitherman.com \u2014 a portfolio site he\u2019s still building out with his newest writing. He also promises he\u2019s easy to spot at community events around town, so feel free to say hello.<\/p>\n


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As for Stars and Strikes: look them up, follow along on Instagram and Facebook, and if you\u2019re bringing kids this summer, ask about Kids Bowl Free. Cooper\u2019s whole job is convincing people there\u2019s a reason to stop by. Consider this your reason.<\/p>\n


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Listen to the Full Conversation<\/h2>\n


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There\u2019s quite a bit more from my conversation with Cooper, including his take on why Huntsville\u2019s growth sneaks up on even the people who live here, his favorite arcade games (Donkey Kong, for the record), and what it\u2019s like to balance a master\u2019s degree in English with a job that occasionally involves handing out free arcade tokens at a field day. To hear the full episode, tune in to Unexpected Adventures in North Alabama on your favorite podcast platform and search for the episode featuring Cooper Smitherman of Stars and Strikes.<\/p>\n


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