So, You Want to Build Your Own Baseball Or Softball Training Facility? Part 1 of 3

By John Peter Pero

JP Note:

This is a very long article with some great ideas. Due to its length, It has been divided into 3 specific area of interest.

PART 1 - An Overview
PART 2 - Standard Components
PART 3 - Important Food For thought

PART 1 - An Overview

Why There Is a Need

The numbers of young ballplayers and the yearly growth of travel baseball and fastpitch softball have created a shortage of indoor training facilities in many or even most parts of the country.

The attendance in MLB (majors) and MILB (minors) has risen for the past 4 seasons as of this writing, the CWS (College World Series) is now a primetime ESPN event as is the MLB 1st year players draft each June... so we know the shear numbers of players who want to make this their prime sport is indeed growing and the future in baseball and fastpitch softball is growing.

Don't Forget Girls Fastpitch Softball

As players play more and better competition, the High School teams have become more competitive so it is the trained ballplayer, not just the better athlete who makes the team and continues on to the next level.

There is no McDonalds or Wal Mart in the training field, so certainly it is left to entrepreneurial-types who have "the baseball bug"... that passion for this game of ours that seldom if ever leaves us.

There is a very good chance that this describes you in some way (who else would be reading an article of this title) .

Can We Help You?

We began supplying various components for new and existing training facilities in 1999 and now help out new and perspective owners with most aspects of these ventures.

Along the way we have learned a lot from these experiences and the many owners who have become our friends and business associates.

We launched our "Pro Division" in 2005, headed by our own Coach Arnald Swift, a 34 yr coach (retired) and can now offer you a fulltime, seasoned professional in this field... and believe me, there is no industry of experienced professionals who do this... just scattered companies who offer various parts and pieces.

The Core of a Successful Facility... an improving return customer!

There are a finite number of ballplayers within your local geography in any given season. Your facility cannot exist for long without those customers wanting to return again and again. If they are happy about being there, they have a better chance of improving. If they improve, it stands to reason that they will be happier to come back... which fuels their future improvement and successes... a circle that you can easily see.... and so many have younger siblings who of course want to emulate their bigger brothers and sisters too!

Interested Coaches and a Sound Building-Block Approach!

The happy, improving player receives maximum benefit from organized, structured, weekly instruction from a "reasonably qualified" coach who knows his own curriculum and cares whether the player actually does improve!

I feel that coaches, like players must be interested and passionate about teaching and helping players reach their goals to truly help players improve, though more playing and coaching experience certainly can add to the student's experience.

I also feel that an organized building block teaching approach is actually more important than the pedigree of the coach... especially when teaching the younger levels where strong mechanics and fundamentals must be committed to muscle-memory first... in order for the player to stay around long enough to take on the more sophisticated training aspects that older players will eventually be learning.

The Common Products Found In Facilities

Here are the components found in most training facilities:

Batting cages, some of which share duty with pitching tunnels, barrier netting, turf floor covering, homeplate stance mats, mandatory if cage floors are not turfed, highly recommended if they are, L screen pitcher protectors with very heavy nets, highest quality adjustable batting tees, a supply of machine pitch dimple balls, and a good quality leather practice ball, misc items from a few batting helmets, a set of catchers gear and a mitt or two, to a few fungo bats and various mid-grade wood and aluminum bats. Video software and a small room for viewing can be added later when opening budgets are stretched.

Coach John Peter

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Peter_Pero








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