Business of the Week: Sportsplex West

Drive through Westgate Business Park off Alice's Road and you'll find Sportsplex West, a family-owned sports training facility on a mission to enhance every athlete's athletic abilities no matter the sport.

Sportsplex West offers a variety of leagues, camps, or lessons for basketball, baseball, soccer, softball, football and volleyball.

"It's a very relaxed, family environment," said Jesse Thompson, day camp instructor at Sportsplex West. "People come in, they know us and we know most of the families on a personal basis outside of work, too. It's nice, we have a very close-knit community." 

Mike Mahoney and Pat Yacinich are brother-in-laws and co-owners of the facility which opened its doors in 2004. Both men have a sporting background that more than qualifies them to have an influence on whomever comes through their doors.

Mahoney boasts a 13-year professional baseball career. He was a starting catcher with the Iowa Cubs and also spent time with the Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals.

Yacinich played ball in college and is the son of current Grandview University Hall of Fame Coach Lou Yacinich. He's also a former teacher and was the 2001 CIML Coach of the Year when Roosevelt High School's baseball team went to the state finals.

According to Mahoney, the objective of Sportsplex West is to prep youth for the next level in sports.

"The goal is that when the kids get to high school, we want them to be playing at their highest level," said Mahoney. "And now it's getting to the point where a lot of the kids who trained here when we opened are getting into high school level athletics and going into college and succeeding. That's probably our biggest reward is seeing that happen to the kids."

Mike Peterson has two boys, Cole and Drew, who play for Sticks Baseball which is the facility's club team. He says the Complex has been very beneficial for many different levels of growth.

"It's really great in terms of developing the kids, learning the fundamentals of baseball, developing physically and developing in terms of understanding teamwork," Peterson said. "It's just been an overall great experience for our boys. They've grown tremendously through Sportsplex West."

Although the complex deals mostly with youth (they have lessons and leagues set up for kids as young as 4 years-old), high school, college and even professional athletes are welcome as well.

According to Mahoney, former Hoover High School and current Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Jeremy Hellickson has spent time training at the Complex. Former Lincoln High School pitcher and pro player with the Kansas City Royals and Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Jason Cromer has also spent time there.

Hours of operation for the sports complex are Monday through Friday from 12 to 9 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sundays from 1 to 8 p.m.

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