What happens when four dads put their heads together, looking for something constructive for their kids to do? They combine their love of family with their love of sports and create Bats and Balls Etc.
Located in Addison, this spacious, well-lit 30,000-square-foot sports facility is a dream come true for its owners as well as for those who want to hone their sporting skills on a year-round basis.
There are six indoor batting cages, two slam-dunk basketball courts, six instruction tunnels with 16 professional instructors on staff, a volleyball court, aerobics classes and a quickly growing sporting equipment store, along with arcade games. There is even an area indoors for infield practice.
“We wanted to do more-and sooner-but we ran out of money,” said co-owner Joe Wrzsinski, who with wife Gail, Sam and Mary Daddano, Joe and Rita Christopher, and Paul and Jean Schrilla opened the facility last April. All four had been involved with the Addison Recreation Club baseball programs. Over the past eight years the families and their sons were together on either the same or competing baseball teams, which the dads managed or coached over that period of time.
“The pitching machines in the batting cages will not pitch to the exact spot each time,” said Wrzsinski, “even in the strike zone. It’s just like having a live pitcher.”
In addition to pitching, there is individual space for practicing all aspects of baseball, including catching and hitting. The pitching machines throw 12-inch softballs-hitters can face fastballs, curves or sliders-at varying speeds and arcs. High school and college coaches are available to provide lessons through Bats and Balls Etc.
Helmets are always available and must be worn in the batting cages. Tokens operate the pitching machines, or cages can be rented for $23 per half hour or $39 an hour. There are several token options available if one chooses not to rent a cage; those options range from 16 pitches for one token (the tokens are $1 each) to six tokens for $5 to 165 tokens for $100.
“Baseball is no longer seasonal,” said another co-owner, Paul Schrilla. “You need to train all year-round.”
But Bats and Balls Etc. is not just focused on baseball. It also provides a Slam Dunk Basketball area as well, with half courts available for rental. The basketball nets can be raised to the 10-foot regulation height or can be lowered to 3 1/2 or 4 feet for tykes who want to play. Basketball court rental is $13 per half court per half hour, or $19 per half court per hour. Full courts can be rented for $21 per half hour or $29 per hour.
Volleyball courts can be rented at $13 per half hour or $20 per hour.
A parent area is also available, where people can sit and relax or eat or have a party. Pizza, snacks and pop are available.
“We had a graduation party here of 70 or 80 kids,” said Wrzsinski. “I never ran into a group of boys and girls at the 8th-grade level who behaved more like gentlemen and ladies in my life. It was a pleasure on our part to watch them enjoy themselves!”
Connie Chester of Elmhurst threw that party for her daughter’s class. “My daughter really likes sports, especially volleyball and basketball,” Chester said, “and we wanted to be somewhere where all the kids could be in one building. This was a real nice alternative.”
But it is not a place just for kids. It is also an alternative to other facilities.
Bill Check, 35, of Addison rents weekly basketball time for a group of 10 men. Ranging in age from 21 to 42, they play every Thursday. According to Check, “The park district is pretty well packed. The schools have to share their time between all the activities like basketball and volleyball, so you can’t use the gym there. If the gym is booked, we always have this to turn to. It’s great, relaxing and a nice workout.”
Open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, the facility is meeting the expectations of its owners. According to Schrilla, “We had people willing to provide us with financial backing, but we resisted using any money except that out of our own pockets. We aren’t in this to make a bunch of money. We’ve done every stitch of this ourselves and we’re proud of that. There’s really nothing in town for the kids unless you drive all over creation. We want to make friends here in town, and if we make some money on top of it, that’s great, too.”
According to Schrilla, another hitting league session will be offered after the current one ends on Dec. 19. It will run from Jan. 3 through Feb. 13. Evening aerobics classes are being planned after the first of the year.
Bats and Balls Etc., 150 S. Church Street, Addison. Call 708-543-0270.
