The Capstone Athletics is a new sports training facility located in Madison on Amtico Road and will open its doors Dec. 6 with a grand opening at 9 a.m.
The 18,000-square-foot indoor facility will allow athletes in various sports, including baseball, soccer, and softball, to train on-site and participate in weekend clinics.
Brandon Fish, owner of Capstone Athletics, is a University of Alabama alum and named the new business in honor of his alma mater, calling it “an ode to what gave him an opportunity in life.” He said he got the idea for the facility after countless drives to neighboring cities to help his son train for travel ball.
“The concept really came from trying to have a place close to home that kids could use to train and work,” Fish said. “It wasn’t in the beginning about having teams and refined instructors to come here, but it was just that kids needed a place to go.”
Fish said that “a big field area” was a key component for finding the right space to open the facility. He noted that the 18,000 square feet will accommodate 70-foot base paths, which applies to roughly 80 percent of age groups.
Fish explained that he plans to add multiple technologies to the facility.
“We’ve got cages here and different sizes to work on different things, along with technology for refinement from gaming aspects to high-level tracking-type stuff and pitching, catching,” Fish said. “In one of the machines, you can load 50 pitching sequences in it, and it’ll give you things like a fastball, curveball, etc.”
In more recent months, Fish decided to reach out to local sports organizations about using the facility in the future. He approached Corey Schachter, owner of the Lake Oconee Wild Things of the Sunbelt Baseball League, who is now an investor in the business.
“I remembered someone telling me about a Wild Things program over in Lake Oconee, and at the time, I didn’t know exactly what it was; I’d heard talk about things like youth training, development, and so on, so I looked it up on social media; found the website, and sent a web inquiry saying, ‘Hey, let’s talk,’” Fish said. “He did some background, I did some background, and it seemed like a really good match in terms of vision and opportunity.”
Schachter is currently planning for the team’s second season in Lake Oconee. He said the two organizations are separate and intend to have the summer team collaborate with the program during the following season.
Overall, Fish said he is excited about his partnership with Schachter and believes Capstone Athletics will be an important addition to the community. He emphasized that “sports build a strong foundation and character, and develop people into who they are.”
“I’m a believer in sports, not just what it means to be athletic, play, and be professional like a small percentage of people that go do that,” Fish said. “Sports sets people up for the world that they’re going to be living in, to handle adversity and overcome challenges.”
The Capstone Athletics 9 a.m. grand opening on Dec. 6 will kick off with a clinic featuring athletes from the University of Georgia softball program.