R & D Baseball Academy
Vienna, VA
Research & Development Baseball Academy delivers a new & exciting experience to their players with HitTrax Online Gaming, while also giving a huge boost to their business.
Research & Development Baseball Academy in Vienna, VA built its reputation servicing serious athletes who want to become elite level pitchers. With a desire to expand services, they added HitTrax to their facility in 2016. The addition of this technology allowed them to build the Position Player Training program (PPT) focusing on elite hitting instruction. Advanced metrics such as exit velocity, launch angle, and point of impact are heavily utilized in the program for immediate feedback to the player and verification that adjustments are producing desired results.
By adding hitting instruction to their revenue stream, R&D was able to add new clients to their business and double their annual revenue.
To further enhance the value of their PPT program, R&D added a gaming component using the HitTrax Online Gaming feature (w/ SyncPlay). This feature allows R&D to connect with other HitTrax facilities and play a full 9-inning game in real-time. SyncPlay is the innovative method that allows both teams to bat simultaneously, eliminating any downtime while keeping the excitement level high. With SyncPlay, a full 9-inning game can be played in 15-20 minutes.
Players at R&D Academy playing an online game against a team located in Canada.
At R&D, PPT workouts are held every Friday from 3 to 7pm, and they have connected with a training academy in Canada that hold team workouts at the same time. Both locations arrange for 4-5 players to breakaway from the team workout at each 60 minute interval. Over the course of the 4 hour time period, each group will play 3-4 full games, allowing the players to take “game time” at bats, practice situational hitting, while injecting competition into their training regimen.
On top of augmenting their PPT program, R&D also hosts a full day of gameplay every Saturday. Beginning at 10 a.m. teams of 5-6 players play online games within 90 minutes time periods. 10am are the 8Us, 11:30am 10Us, 1pm 12Us and so on. These games will go until 8:30pm, and after hours the cage is occasionally opened up for a Men’s League from 8:30-11pm.
To participate in the game day, it costs $50 per player and teams are typically able to play 5 games in each 90 minute time period. Just the Saturday events alone have brought in an additional $1500-1800 in revenue PER WEEK.
R&D’s Hitting Director, Lansing Veeder, sees a huge benefit to online gaming. “It is easy for us to pull together teams for our Saturday events. Since we only need 1 team of each age group (5-6 players), we can ensure our schedule is full and the cage is in constant use.”
Players at R&D Academy playing an online game with SyncPlay, watching their Canadian opponents’ final at bat.
Online Gaming w/ SyncPlay also sparks competition in a uniquely fun atmosphere. “The players are more lively and engaged. When playing against their friends in-house they were a bit reserved, perhaps sensitive to their peers’ reactions. When playing against teams online, all bets are off and there is plenty of showboating, celebrations, and smack talk,” Veeder said.
Implementing HitTrax helped grow R&D Academy’s training program capabilities, while also unlocking a whole new stream of revenue through game play. They have since added a second HitTrax so they can offer gaming in one cage, while their PPT program uses the first unit for training data capture and analysis. R&D utilizes HitTrax to enhance all facets of player development, while expanding the value of their programs for their clients and creating new possibilities for their business.
