More News

When Flint Hill School senior Stephen Thompson first walked into the Prospects Sports Training facility in Vienna, he was in awe.

"It's just unbelievable what you can do here," said the Huskies' 2009 All Mid-Atlantic Athletic Conference selection. "There is nothing else like this."

That's the kind of reaction that owners Matt Avery, Troy Allen and Joe Helisek are hoping for when people walk into their new 24,000-square-foot, year-round multisport complex in the Tysons Corner area.

"When kids come in and their first reaction is 'wow,' that's what you are looking for," said Allen, the senior hitting instructor and co-founder of Prospects. "We're pretty ecstatic with how it's turned out."

Last September, Allen got together with Avery and Helisek -- all three were then instructors at Players Edge Training Center in McLean -- to discuss starting up their own business. Allen, a South Lakes High School graduate and former 27th round draft pick of the Atlanta Braves, was interested in branching out on his own.

"There were things that we wanted to do that we couldn't do at our old place," he said. "We took control of our own ship."

Avery, a McLean resident who graduated from Landon Prep in 2002, had recently been released by the Washington Nationals and was planning the next stage of his life.

"I was not really sure what I wanted to do," said Avery, who was drafted in the ninth round of the 2005 Major League Baseball draft by the Chicago Cubs. "We had a lot of big ideas. It seemed like I couldn't pass it up."

In Prospects, Helisek, a highly regarded development specialist with more than 100 clients in Northern Virginia, saw an opportunity to fulfill a dream years ahead of schedule.

"I always had a goal of doing this, but I thought that it would be six or eight years down the road," said Helisek, a graduate of Towson University. "When the opportunity came, it was a dream come true. I was like a kid at Christmas, being able to pick out your own weight room. It turned out better than we thought."

Prospects Sports Training officially opened on Feb. 1 with a grand opening fundraiser featuring Washington Nationals All-Star Ryan Zimmerman with proceeds going toward the third baseman's Zims Foundation. The group estimates around 400 people got their first look at Prospects during the opening.

"We started in September and here we are five months later," he said. "What we put on paper is reality."

On paper, the Prospects Sports Training facility is a team training and rental facility with an indoor turf field and training area. It has four pitching lanes, six hitting tunnels and two drill areas. In addition, the facility boasts a 50-by-25-yard playing area that can be utilized by baseball, indoor soccer, lacrosse, field hockey and football teams.

During an afternoon last week, Avery was pitching to the McLean High School junior varsity baseball team, while Helisek was working in the weight room with some Langley High School athletes. Thompson, who set the single-season hit record at Flint Hill last season, was getting one-on-one training with Allen. On the other side of the facility, a youth girls' soccer team was starting practice.

"We hope that it is something that the community is proud to have," said Allen, surveying the facility. "[These kids] are all like little brothers to me. We have all been there. We've all made the same mistakes. For us, it is passing the knowledge down."

"I have had a lot of great coaches along the way and it's fun for me to be on the other side," added Avery. "I don't know everything but I have learned a lot about hard work. The earlier these kids figure out the dedication that it takes to play at the higher levels, the better."

But Prospects Sports Training is not going to be all about hard work, as evidenced by Avery's wide smile while pitching to the McLean players.

"At the end of the day, it's still going to be fun," he said. "If you play sports long enough, it's gonna become serious. A lot of this place is still about fun."