
Coach Terry Smith, standing, instructs a group of three different age brackets on a drill.
Brandt Young|Sampson Independent
Indoor baseball, softball training coming to Clinton
In a building that once housed Lean Bodz gym for over 30 years, owner Greg Thornton has taken it in a different direction, transforming it into a space for baseball and softball training.
The property, at 212 Wall St., has sat vacant since Hurricane Florence came through the area. A combination of damage from the hurricane and the ensuing COVID-19 pandemic provided the perfect storm to make the gym less than viable, Thornton said.
Before the Sampson County businessman talked about how the baseball and softball training will work, though, he wanted to highlight something more important: the tutoring rooms at the front of the building.
“I want my parents and the kids that come in here and use this facility to understand that they’re student-athletes and the student comes first,” he said, adding that his hope was to get the help of teachers, mentors, or possibly even other students, to come in and tutor others in whatever subject they might need help.
Turning the corner past the dividing wall in the front of the building leads you straight to the newly-installed turf which lines the big, open space that once housed a gym.
“It’s about 30 feet to the wall,” said Thornton, pointing from the edge of the turf to the cinder blocks on the other side. “So anywhere between 30 and 40 feet, four or five nets, so that they can do teamwork. They can pitch and hit while having a pitcher throw to them. We can run lessons out of here.
“I can have Division 1 softball girls, Division 1 baseball boys. They can come give lessons.”
A local team is already taking advantage of the space, which isn’t complete, but has enough amenities to host some training. Coach Terry Smith, with the Clinton Colts, currently holds practice in the former gym at least twice a week, if not more. Thornton said Smith has about six teams he works out at the facility.
“I want them (the public) to know that if they need a place, there’s a place they can send kids. They can work with kids. They can work as a team,” he said.
“For me, this isn’t a retirement fund. This is all about the kids,” he added, the latter of which he repeated multiple times throughout the interview, highlighting that this project is truly for the student-athletes it will be serving.
With a budding soccer program in Sampson County, which allows kids to play together from a young age through high school, Thornton saw an opportunity to do something with baseball and softball. “We’re trying to rebuild our feeder programs, which is what we did with football eight or 10 years ago. That’s what I want to do with baseball,” he stressed
“Baseball has become important to me through my sons. I love to play it, too, but it’s really become important to me because of my kids. So, to see all the kids that go to Fayetteville, Wilmington, or to Raleigh and not have anything near — and the people that don’t (go to those cities) because they can’t travel much and go to other places — it was solving the problem by having them come here,” he continued.
A recent trip to Washington, D.C. led Thornton to the ABCA, or the American Baseball Coaches Association, which provided opportunities for the businessman to network and learn more about his new venture.
He noted that he got equipment as well, including pitching machines and nets that he will install at his Clinton training facility.
Included with the nets for the baseball training will be a golf simulator, so parents whose kids are practicing or training will have something to do, which Thornton noted was important.
“I’d like to have different things in here to pull in different kinds of people,” he added. “Because when it’s nice and sunny, they’re gonna play baseball outside, which they should. But, if they want to work at night or on Saturday and Sunday when they’re not playing, we’ll fill that gap.”
A nutrition area will be added later on, Thornton noted, as well as a workout area consisting of treadmills, weight training, and a TV to “keep your mind off of it (training).”
The back portion of the building will serve more for pitchers, with three long lanes that they can practice their craft in. Like many things in the building, Thornton noted that this was a “work in a progress,” with changes still to come.
Thornton said he is hoping to have the practice facility open to both the public and travel teams by March 1, a date that has been pushed back from the original goal of having it completed this winter.
Reach Brandt Young at (910) 247-9036, at byoung@clintonnc.com, or on the Sampson Independent Facebook page.