CANAL FULTON – When Velocity Sports in Jackson Township got so busy that it was difficult to book training time, the owners faced a tough decision.
Should they move from their location at 7530 Tim Ave. NW into a larger space? Should they build a new facility?
“We had to shut down renting our space,” co-owner Mike Oliveri said. “We were filling up with teams, and members didn’t have enough time to get in. We had concerned parents that love our facility but they had a 10-year-old son and the only time (to come in) was 9 p.m.”
The problem prompted Olivieri and co-owner Mike Grady to consider their options. A survey of their members concluded the best action was to keep the Jackson facility open and build another building in western Stark.
“Our members from Louisville, North Canton, Hartville, and Uniontown said they might not continue their memberships if we moved,” he explained. “People in Canal Fulton, Tuslaw (area), Navarre and Massillon were interested in a closer facility.”
The pair decided to build a new facility in Canal Fulton.
Velocity Sports opened its second location on Oct. 1 at 2511 Locust St. S, nearly six years after opening its first location. The new facility doubles the space of the original site.
A grand opening celebration is planned for noon to 4 p.m. Saturday that includes a ribbon cutting and giveaways every half hour. Kona Ice will be on hand. The public is invited to check out the space and see what they have to offer.
Canal Fulton officials are excited to welcome Velocity Sports to the city.
“We’re really happy to have them come to town,” Mayor Joe Schultz said. “We think they are a great fit for our small economy.”
The business will bring people from outside of Canal Fulton into the city which means all of the city’s businesses have an opportunity to capture new customers, he said.
“They’re getting a chance to see what we have to offer. They might have never had a reason to come (to Canal Fulton) before,” the mayor explained. “Now when the kids are working out for an hour, parents that have to find something to do can grab something at Giant Eagle or dinner at a local restaurant, and dessert at Dairy Queen. We see it as a real benefit to all of our businesses.”
Local teams and especially Northwest will now have an alternative place to practice, he added.
Velocity Sports provides a training space for baseball and softball players, as well as individual hitting and pitching instruction.
Besides baseball and softball training, the facility offers personal training, camps and clinics. The space can be rented for a variety of activities, including birthday parties, team building and corporate events.
The Canal Fulton location offers a full commercial gym. The Jackson location offers a smaller space with free weights, Olivieri said.
The new 10,000-square-foot facility has a large turf area that can be divided for individual training. The facility is equipped with radar guns and utilizes the sports analytics software, Rapsodo, to measure ball velocity, the spin rate of a pitch, and the horizontal and vertical break of the ball.
The facility is also equipped with a kitchenette and a large room for events.
The training facility is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Family memberships are available. Members are welcome at any time but can reserve a tunnel to guarantee a spot to train, Olivieri explained.
Members can purchase a premium membership which provides a 30% discount on camps and clinics and a reduced rate for individual lessons.
Individual instruction from any of the company’s 10 instructors is available at an additional cost.
“They can come in and hit and pitch with mom and dad and they can use the weight room,” Olivieri said. “The whole family can come.”
Chiropractor Emelia Bracken is bringing her practice to Velocity Sports’ new location.
“She’s focused on working with athletes,” Olivieri said. “Unfortunately, injury is part of the game. She’s here to help them with treatment but she is also very good at recognizing problems before they happen just by watching how they pitch or bat.”
Trevor Harris, who has worked with the San Fransico Giants minor league program, will be coming on board Nov. 1 and join personal trainer Matt Noel in working with the VIP athletes.
Grady, a former Frontier League pitcher and Malone University coach, runs the VIP Program, a pitching school designed to help pitchers improve their game from proper warm-ups and recovery to developing pitchers’ movements and strength to improve their velocity and target accuracy.
In a 2016 interview with The Repository, Grady, a former Hoover baseball standout, said he always wondered if there had been a local training facility and program whether he might have been able to improve his pitching and get himself in a Division I school. Grady pitched at Division III Ohio Wesleyan.
As a private pitching coach at Hall of Fame Fitness Center, Grady was busy working with more than 100 pitchers, some who drove more than two hours for instruction.
Olivieri, who had two sons training under Grady, pitched the idea of teaming up for a training facility.
Reach Amy at 330-775-1135 or amy.knapp@indeonline.com.
On Twitter: @aknappINDE