Jan. 11, 2007

Back in 1995 when the final plans for building a sporting event on the campus of Northeastern Junior College were being seriously kicked around, the skeptics were very vocal. Fortunately for northeastern Colorado, the visionaries were much louder and now the Bank of Colorado Event Center is one of the biggest assets in this part of the state. Today, the facility--which caters largely to the volleyball and basketball venues--is home to more than 300 events per year and an estimated 200,000 people are in and out of the building annually. Many of these are athletic teams who arrive in town, stay in local hotels and dine at area restaurants, brining a steady and significant chunk of new dollars into northeastern Colorado's economy. Imagine then, what it might mean to this area if another similar facility were built for the sport of baseball.

Yes, the visionaries are making plans again. Big plans! The Northeastern Junior College baseball program and its supporters announced this week that it will be the catalyst at the center of a combined effort, which if it is successful, will result in a new, big, indoor baseball facility. The state-of-the-art facility will be built to accommodate the needs of the entire five-county area and its youth baseball community. It will include batting cages, portable pitching mounds and locker rooms. Currently, players from this part of the state must travel two or more hours to Greeley in order to have access to professional, indoor training.

While NJC makes a slow recovery from several years of budget cuts, there is no funding readily available for this envisioned baseball complex. With this in mind, Bryan Shepherd, who heads up the baseball program at the college, has teamed up with the college's grant writing office to begin aggressively pursuing applications to appropriate Colorado Foundations.

And this week, NJC is launching a letter writing campaign called "Home Field Advantage." In order to move forth to apply for the significant grants needed, the college must gather letters of support from individuals throughout the five county area. The letters will be used to help demonstrate a strong level of community support for such a facility. The new facility, which would be built for the entire five county area to use, will give players from Logan, Phillips, Sedgwick, Yuma and Washington counties a place where they can take advantage of year-round indoor training. "The intent of the facility is to further our instruction of the youth baseball players in Northeastern Colorado," Shepherd said. "This will ensure them the best opportunity possible to move forward as far as possible in the game. There is a ton of talent out here in this part of Colorado--we see it when we do our summer camps. As a community, we need to help cultivate this talent. Having a year round training facility would be huge for the players as far as being able to prepare to compete with others for college scholarships or careers in professional baseball."

Shepherd explains that the letters of support are critical for the process. "We need letters from current and past players, their parents, their grandparents, coaches, restaurant owners, hotel managers, convenience store operators, economic developers, bankers, realtors and those who just love the sport of baseball," Shepherd said. "The letters need to state how a new baseball complex would have a positive impact on their lives, or their operations and this area."

The indoor facility will create unlimited possibility for players to train and improve throughout the winter months. Winter youth camps, private lessons, team participation camps and youth tournaments are among the activities being planned for the facility. "You have to have a certain level of activity going on in order to justify the expense of such a facility. We see this facility being available to our area players and teams to use, and like the event center now on campus, also being available for others to rent," Shepherd clarifies. "Many may not realize it, but there is a growing number of private groups from other areas who bring their camps to Sterling and rent space from NJC. These groups are here eating, sleeping, filling their gas tanks, shopping and putting dollars into the local economy."

Shepherd is excited about the possibilities. "Home Field Advantage is a win-win situation for the community. We would have a baseball facility comparable to the Bank of Colorado Center that would involve kids of all ages. And we would improve the strength of youth baseball." Plans have been drawn up for the new baseball complex and he is happy to show them to any interested parties. Recent visitors to campus to see the plans and hear about the effort being made for the facility were State Senator Greg Brophy and State Representative Jerry Sonnenberg.

In addition to putting in a new indoor facility, NJC plans to add a new fence, scoreboard, lights and permanent chair back, expanded seating to the NJC baseball complex. Also, the campaign would call for the field's playing surface to be re-done with synthetic turf on the infield and new sod on the outfield. All upgrades will make the complex more usable for youth tournaments and activities.

The turf is projected to save one million gallons of water per year and thousands of dollars in upkeep costs over natural grass. "There is so much traffic on the field with youth tournaments and activities that synthetic turf is the way to go," Shepherd said. "And it makes the outdoor field also accessible on a year-round basis because it eliminates the wear-and-tear and upkeep of the grass surface."

"I think that this regional facility has so much potential," Greg Brophy said while looking at the plans. "We really need to support it. I know that I stayed in school because of sports and if encouraging local students to play baseball and softball keeps them in school, that will be great." He said he was most impressed by the idea that the facility will be designed to meet the needs of all of northeast Colorado. Jerry Sonnenberg agrees. "You know, there are so many opportunities like this that are usually reserved for metro kids," Sonnenberg notes. "This is a great chance for all of this area to combine efforts to provide something extra for our young people."

Letters of support for this new, improved northeastern Colorado baseball complex may be sent to the following address.

Northeastern Junior College

Attention: Grant Writer's Office

100 College Drive

Sterling, CO 80751