By Tamas Mondovics
The Brandon Sports and Aquatic Center (BSAC) officials were pleased to announce last month a partnership with the renowned Saladino Baseball Academy, one of the most recognized team sports organization in the Brandon area.
According to Chuck Burgess, executive director of BSAC, the partnership is not only a great fit but it is something that the center has been pursuing for some time in harmony with its goal to expand its team sports repertoire.
“We have been working on adding teams sports to our list of programs for years,” Burgess said. “The Saladino Academy is a great fit and will be one more thing that will fit the community’s need now provided through our well-organized and established facility here.”
The year-round baseball program will begin this summer with weekly summer baseball camps at BSAC on Monday, June 10, directed by Tony Saladino and Donny Scolaro and joined by Brandon High School Baseball Coach, Matt Stallbaumer, and Durant High School Baseball Coach, Butch Valdes.
“This camp provides the ultimate in baseball training that you have come to expect from the Saladino Baseball Academy,” Burgess said. “Nine weeks of camp are available for those that register now at The Brandon Sports and Aquatic Center as spaces are limited.
To complete the partnership, the Saladino Baseball Academy moved its base of operations to the aquatic center, leaving its South Brandon Little League location.
Burgess said that when finished, baseball will operate on three fields adjacent to the facility for 12 and under players, along an indoor batting cage, as well as a number pitching stations, while work on an outdoor batting cage is also scheduled to be completed by the end of the summer.
Established in May of 1963, BSAC has just celebrated five decades of serving the community.
On 12 acres, the center now serves hundreds of children per day through its array of sports, after school and early childhood programs.
Currently, BSAC is the home of Team TRIDENT, a physical education and academic program for intellectually disabled adults and youth. BSAC also features the Team Colwill Diving, Ten and Under Tennis, Strikers Pride Soccer, Pat Thomas’s Fit New Focus Living Sport Fit BOOT Camp, as well as cheerleading program just to name a few.
For more information on the Saladino Baseball Academy call 689-0908 or visit www.mybsac.org or www.saladinobaseballacademy.com.
