Kendrick Family Ballpark at the Monongalia County Baseball Complex will receive a major upgrade in the upcoming offseason. A state-of-the-art indoor pitching and hitting facility will be built beyond the outfield fence.
It’s the type of building some of the top programs in college baseball have. It will come equipped with technology that can take players to the next level and attract highly rated recruits.
“It’s really hard to survive in college baseball recruiting right now without those types of bells and whistles,” ESPN and D1Baseball’s Mike Rooney said on a recent edition of the Gold and Blue Nation Podcast. “I think for a program like West Virginia, where players have to improve — and have — to get to where they want to go, it makes a ton of sense.”
According to information released by WVU in March, the baseball team’s new facility will be an 8,200-foot structure next to the current clubhouse beyond right field. Inside will be two regulation-size pitching lanes, two full-size batting lanes and a soft toss area. [WVNS]
A new fitness court will open this month in north Wichita, the city said Friday.
Alongside Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas, Wichita Parks and Recreation and the National Fitness Campaign, the city announced a partnership to bring an outdoor Fitness Court to Pat Garcia Veterans Memorial Park.
The Fitness Court, located at 2640 N. Wellington Place, will officially open at 1 p.m. on May 10 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, the city said in a news release.
The Fitness Court was developed by BCBSKS, Wichita Park & Recreation and NFC to expand free access to high-quality workouts and create equitable access to exercise for communities around the state, according to the release.
The city calls the Fitness Court "the world's best outdoor gym" that allows people to use their own body weight to get a complete workout using seven exercise stations. [KAKE.com]
On Monday, Smyrna High School opened a new 8,000-square-foot athletic facility that houses a weight room, indoor turf section, locker room for coaches, trainer room and a kitchen.
This new space will allow for the old weight room to be converted into a new locker room for varsity football.
“We have a state-of-the-art weight room,” football coach Matt Williams said. “It’s really unbelievable. We have been dreaming of a space like this for about ten years.”
The next phase of construction will include installing a new industrial washer and dryer, along with the new team locker room.
The new $5 million facility was funded by a donation from Smyrna Ready Mix and was constructed by Dow Smith Construction. [RCSchools.com]
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