Spotlighting Carmel Dads’ Club Brand-New Sports Complex

Spotlighting Carmel Dads’ Club

Brand-New Sports Complex

Writer // Janelle Morrison • Photography // Submitted

It took what felt like forever for me to see the Carmel Dads’ Club’s brand-new sports complex that opened last February, but it was well worth the wait. The CDC Sports Complex is an impressive 150,000-square-foot fieldhouse that houses four full-size basketball courts with six goals on each court, automated volleyball standards, three batting cages, indoor turf field and a track area that is open to the public. Located at 5459 East Main Street in Badger Memorial Park in Carmel, Indiana, the facility is already a huge hit for local and traveling teams who have already enjoyed practices, camps and tournaments within the facility.

The Next Chapter in CDC’s History

Itoured the facility with CDC President Jack Beery and Athletic Director Bethany Burchill, who shared that this sports complex has been a long time coming and wouldn’t have been possible without the supporters of CDC in combination with the support of the Clay Township administration who financed the project.

This facility affords the CDC and the community an abundance of opportunities, and Beery and Burchill are excited to share this amenity with the community that has and continues to support the organization both financially and through dedicated volunteerism.

As we toured the facility, Beery shared with me that it will offer an athletic training room for its members and visiting athletes that will be fully functional this fall, and there will be a cafe for guests to enjoy while they’re using the facility. It will offer coffee, beverages and concessions as well as a place for parents to relax while their young athletes are performing on the field or courts.

“One of the things we’re focused on is the flexibility of this facility and the flexibility of having different groups,” Beery stated. “We can put these big dividers down on the field and it divides both ways on the field so we can have a kindergarten soccer match on one side and a high school lacrosse on the other side, playing simultaneously.”

In addition to hosting CDC sports and Carmel Clay School athletics, Beery shared that the facility is being utilized by other community groups, including the Carmel Police Department and Carmel Fire Department for training purposes. While we were touring the basketball courts, a CCS Special Education group was shooting some hoops and enjoying one of their last days as students at CHS before transitioning from high school to adulthood.

Beery and Burchill expressed that their plan is to continue to expand on programs for the community as they continue to

build upon their current offerings. It’s all about scheduling—a task that Burchill does with great skill and commitment.

What’s On Deck This Year?

This summer, the CDC Sports Complex will host the Carmel Clay Parks summer camps—a partnership that CDC is very excited about. Indy Eleven will be enjoying the facility with its summer camps as well. “We’ve never had a facility that we can utilize for referee and umpire training/classes to generate interest for refs and umpires,” Beery shared. “We can get them certified in our programs, and we’ve been doing more kickoff events than ever before, which includes training and development for coaches’ education, and that’s been outstanding.”

The CDC’s rec and travel programs are utilizing the facility equally.

Burchill added, “We’re rotating all the age groups through so they get exposure to being here. That was the big effort when it opened in February to get all of our basketball programs in, as many as we could each weekend, so the rec families can see this as something we can use all season long. It’s been great!”

According to Beery, the stadium field is making progress—it was recently excavated and seeded. He said they hope to be able to utilize the field—that has lighting—this fall.

“The sports complex is a game changer for our program and for the community,” Beery said. “We are not only looking at traditional sports, but we’re also looking at nontraditional sports. Later in June, we will host a tournament for one of the fastest growing nontraditional sports in the country, which is a game called quidditch. And we’re exploring ultimate frisbee and other nontraditional sports. We have 13,000 participants, but there’s a network of kids out there that maybe quidditch is something that they would enjoy and would keep them active. It’s another way for people in our community to use this facility.”

Stay tuned for more exciting announcements and updates from the Carmel Dads’ Club! For more information about the CDC Sports Complex and hours of operations, visit carmeldadsclub.org.

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