There is a new opportunity for athletes in the Westman corner of Manitoba, as Triple Crown Sports recently opened the doors to TC365 Indoor Hitting Facility, located on Third and College Avenue in Brandon.
There is no better person to bring the Westman area an indoor hitting facility than a man with an impressive baseball background, Faron Asham.
“I have been thinking about an indoor facility in the Westman area for quite some time,” said Asham. “ I am involved with the indoor facility in Winnipeg, so we thought maybe a smaller scale version of it out here might fly as it is a gap of the service area. So far the community has embraced it.”
With the cold, long winters in Manitoba, it is often hard for baseball/softball players to get the batting practice in that they require during the winter months, without driving to Winnipeg.
“We have officially been open now for three weeks, but we had some test runs prior just to see where things were at; what is the best utilization of the space and the best way to conduct business in the hour that you are allotted and to make some improvements. We had some teams come in and do some test runs for us and give us some feedback – both positive and negative – we have acted on those comments and we are very happy where the facility stands right now.”
The indoor hitting facility is currently operating under hours of operation – on the weekdays 5:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. and weekends 10:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m. – but would prefer people to call and make appointments.
“We are very happy with the way the community has embraced the concept and utilized the service. I don’t want to say we exceeded our expectations because our expectations were high based on the fact that it is a strong baseball and softball community in the Westman area. We are very happy with the amount of use it has had to date.”
With the indoor hitting facility in place and ready for use, Asham says that he has plans to make it a multi-use facility moving forward.
“This is the first one [batting cage] in the Westman area that I am aware of,” continued Asham. “We have got a lot of positive feedback from our customers, players, and teams that are coming in. This is something that was really needed in the area. We are happy with that so far and we have some plans moving forward. Our cages later this week are going to become fully retractable, so it’s not just an indoor hitting. At the flip of a switch, we will be able to draw them up to the ceiling and people will be able to come in and do pitching and throwing and some catching clinics. It will really be a multi-use facility and not just a hitting facility.”
