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Coaches, I'm looking for some help.
We have recently been given a generous donation to build an indoor baseball complex. The building will be two stories, long and wide enough for two cages, maybe 100 feet long and 45 feet wide, one floor with lockers, coaches' office and bathrooms. Bottom floor will be shared with other sports for locker rooms.
My question is this. If you could build your own indoor facility what would you make sure you had space for? What are the essentials you made sure were included? If you have an indoor facility already, how did you lay the plans out? What would you have done differently after the fact?
How would you use the space, etc?
The size of the building is pretty well set by the land available.
Just trying to make sure we design the building so we can get the most out of it.
Thanks for your help.
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Coach, my first suggestion is that you see if you can build that building at my ball diamond. Failing that, when you have your locker room built, you need to think of where you can have a permanent screen on the wall for video review. I know a lot that have done it and they all complain that lockers and/or seating prohibit seating the team in a film review area. Also, chairs and not benches.

Coach, having the cages is great but you need to plan a space for soft toss, t-work etc. If you have two cages and two kids hitting, make sure you have other opportunities for kids to improve their game instead of just waiting for their turn to hit. We have a small balcony. However, we took a 70 foot cage divided it into then created 6 other hitting stations on that small balcony. It keeps everyone involved.
Last edited by CoachB25
I agree with CoachB25 about having it built at my place - how in the world did you get such a huge donation? I would have to sell my soul to get something like that.

CoachB25 also makes a great point about space for other drills. In our facility (a barn the county lets us use) we hang two nets in the corner and next to the wall. In one cage we split it in half and have two hitters going at once. One side hits and the other works on bunting. That leaves a huge chunk of space to put two indoor mounds for our pitchers and catchers. At one end of the cages is an open space we put a sock net and do tee / soft toss work and use the golf ball sized whiffle balls. Around the sides of our cages we set up soft toss / tee stations. On one wall he hung a tire and use an old bat to work on driving through the ball.

Best thing to do is draw something out according to scale and try to plan accordingly.

Good luck with it.
Last edited by coach2709
A double-door or small overhead door is a great thing because it allows you to move larger equipment such as hitting screens, L-shapes etc. You may also want to park your Gator or 4-wheeler you work the field with sometimes.
Video projectors have really come down in price and so if you have a blank space on wall or a screen to show video it is great.
Congrats on getting your very own "Hack Shack"
My assistant coach suggested that you install those nets that are on cable. Then, you can push the nets back and clear up space for fielding work. Not a bad idea. A former player of mine installed a similar net in his "garage" and he loves it. I say "garage" bacause it has a living quarters, 2 cages, enough space for 5 hitting stations, a pool table and weights area. Needless to say his Mom and Dad love him. LOL!

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