Indoor baseball training facility

HitZ Ithaca Batting Cages was formed in 2017 by a dedicated coach and parent in the Ithaca area, along with a solid volunteer core of coaches and parents of players, to provide a indoor baseball and softball training facility where none exists presently. The baseball and softball season is very short in upstate NY and our youth are very limited for places to go to develop in this great sport. Neighboring communities have indoor facilities and continue to develop their athletes in a more advanced and rapid fashion than we have in this area. This facility is being built to work with local non-profit entities like the Ithaca Baseball Association, Ithaca Youth Bureau, the surrounding schools from Elementary through High School and our general community around us to utilize. We plan to provide a opportunity for young athletes to work in our facility to build their resume for college application, for their involvement in honor societies and various teams they belong to, and to assist parents navigating the college enrollment and scholarship path. We will be able to serve kids from as young as 6 years old to boys and girls going into or in college. Part of our goal is to give them a facility that has the latest in training aids, is safe and a fun place to come. A place to be part of something larger and develop skills that would be otherwise difficult to develop given the limits we have to practice outside with bad weather. We want to give less priviledged kids the opportunity to be part of our programs through scholarships we will be able to offer. I am the owner and have volunteered many years coaching these boys and girls teams and decided it was time to open a facility like this to benefit our community. We're starting this faclity on a shoestring budget with the intent to grow this into something larger. We'd like to raise this money to buy equipment that can be used for training purposes, evaluation of players abilities for more accurate training and use by coaches and instructors to assist the kids as they grow athletically in the sports of softball and baseball and to continue to grow into other sports as we grow. We also want this to be a safe place for parents to bring their kids for the best training they can achieve and give the parents something to do while their kids are in our care (part of the reason we are located in a mall environment). We are also partnering with a local gym to promote programs we've developed like "HitZ Fit" where we couple baseball/softball training time with a personal trainer for small groups to learn proper fitness and training/conditioning to make them healthier athletes, prevent sports related injuries and build strong core fitness habits at a young age that will follow them in life. With this funding we intend to purchase a "Hit Trax" system which is both a training aid with high speed video analysis and sensors to measure metrics of the player but also is a simulator that can be used for winter hitting leagues and derbies to give the kids a fun way to continue their development in the off season in upsatate NY to work on their skills while having fun. We are also looking at a system from Pro Batter which gives the players a video interface to pitching machines so they can develop better timing and form with the consistency of a pitching system.  100% of this money will go into buying and installing these systems. We intend to provide scholarships for the local area youth that without this support kids may not be able to afford such training and wouldn't pursue the love of these sports. We don't want barriers for entry into baseball or softball for any of these kids. I have a very dedicated staff of volunteer coaches and instructors that are driven to contiue our efforts to teach the kids but have needed this facility to do an adequate job of accomplishing those goals. Help us to raise the money to benefit our facility, our youth athletes and our facility growth.  Thank you.

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