MATTHEW BURNETTE

Staff Writer

November 14 will see the opening of Manchester’s newest recreation facility located on McArthur Street right next to Canvas Community Church.

The Fieldhouse Athletics is a new batting cage facility opened by Sarah Weaver and her husband Logan that features state-of-the-art pitching machines and lanes for both baseball and softball players to hone their skills but also anyone else searching for a new recreation activity.

“Anybody can come in and use it,” explained Weaver. “We’re trying to encourage people to be members, so people can come and rent a lane at their leisure, but the encouragement is for people to use it like a gym but for baseball and softball players.”

Non-athletes are also encouraged to use the facility for things like date nights, but Weaver explained that she and her husband started The Fieldhouse with young baseball players in mind.

“We’re trying to give kids a place to kind of take care of all of it because if you don’t have access to all of this at your school or your house, whatever that looks like, it gives them a chance to do it in a place that’s affordable, safe and clean where they can get extra work in,” she explained.

The couple’s son Harrison’s ever-growing love for baseball was the catalyst for opening the Fieldhouse.

“We have become completely obsessed with baseball,” admitted Weaver. “If we are not running our other businesses, we are doing baseball. Our daughter is also a travel volleyball player, but in order to do a volleyball training facility, you have to have a gym and this doesn’t have the ceilings for that. If we could have done dual sports, we would have done that.”

“This space became available to us, and we knew this was an opportunity for Manchester because we don’t have anything like this of this sizer that we can fit this many athletes in,” she continued. “The closest place is Murfreesboro, and we don’t want kids to have to travel outside of our town to go 45 minutes for a 30-minute lane. It makes smore sense for them to drive 10 or 15 minutes.”

Harrison has even been able to have some input as the Weavers have gotten everything together for the facility.

“I think it’s just the stuff that we’ve used with him, and we know what he likes, but he’s given his opinion the entire way,” said Weaver. “‘Oh that’s really cool’ or ‘Dad don’t forget we need to put that in there,’ so a lot of just the training tools that we’ve used for him is what we’ve put in here and implemented.”

Weaver says that they hope to pull people from McMinnville, Woodbury and Tullahoma who do not have similar facilities. They’ve opened up recently to some private sessions with local teams to see how things go and get their feedback before opening on the 14th.

“Even down to the snacks in the pro shop, we want to put things in here that people want to see whether that’s snacks, training tools, what kind of bats and all that stuff that they want us to have because that’s the other piece of this. It’s not just the lanes and the tools in each lane or in the training area,” she explained.

While walk-ins are welcome, Weaver noted that in order to ensure there will be a lane available it is better to book ahead through their app, website or over the phone, though there are comfy chairs available if you do have to wait for a lane.

Users will be given a code for the door when they book so they can come and go as they please without having to have someone available to let them in and out.

Weaver also added that lanes 3, 4, and 5 have softball pitching machines in addition to baseball if you are booking for a softball player.

Machines are able to be used without assistance from an employee, though children 16 and under should be accompanied by an adult.

Each lane is equipped with a tracker with an iPad attached where batters can see how far their ball would have gone on a regular field and pitchers can see how fast they are pitching in addition to the spin rate of each pitch.

Batters can also turn the iPad around so they can watch themselves swing and make improvements to their stance where they need to.

“A coach can tell a kid something and say, ‘Hey, you’re doing X, Y, Z’ but do they really understand what that looks like?” asked Weaver. “If they can see it live and slow it way down and watch them do it, then they can understand how to fix it.”

“We’re trying to be that place for every kid at every level from the kids that are just starting out and figuring it out to the kids that are trying to push themselves to the next level.”

Though The Fieldhouse is a place where players can fine tune their skills, Weaver also explained that they are opening the facility to give Manchester kids something to do.

“Unfortunately for Manchester there’s not a lot,” she lamented. “I’m hoping that it’s something the kids get excited about, parents get excited about and maybe encourage other people that are hesitant to bring business to Manchester that they see that it’s doable and it’s something that is going to be well received.”

For more information on The Fieldhouse Athletics, visit their Facebook page or their website at fieldhouseathleticstn.com.