Randy Dunnett: A Baseball Man
Randy Dunnett is a baseball man through and through. He has been a player and a coach for many years, and has developed a deep understanding of America's National Pastime. Since establishing the Finish Strong Indoor Sportsplex in West Chicago in 2004 Randy Dunnett has worked with thousands of athletes, ranging from younger players to professionals. Dozens of his young athletes have finished his high school program and gone on to play college baseball, and every year, he says there are more of these success stories. Randy Dunnett has been a mentor to some of these players and one of them is now his current business partner. "There are countless young ballplayers that I have helped in this manner," he says. Randy Dunnett pitched at the college level for four years, first with South Suburban Community College, and then at Belmont University, where he led the staff with 102 innings pitched in the 1999 season. He also obtained a degree in Business Administration from Belmont. He opened Finish Strong as a multi-sport training facility specializing not only in baseball but in soccer training, too. The Force Elite Baseball Club grew out of Finish Strong in 2011. During his playing days as a pro, Randy Dunnett pitched for the Cook County Cheetahs in the Frontier League. And while coaching is his primary focus he remains active as a player. "I have played men's baseball since 2006 in the Chicago Men's Senior Baseball League, and I have played in several national baseball tournaments in Las Vegas, Nevada, Jupiter, Florida, and Phoenix , Arizona." As he marks ten years with the Finish Strong Indoor Sportsplex, Randy Dunnett has been involved in baseball instruction for nearly fifteen years. He started out at the Jack Perconte Sports Academy in Naperville, Illinois and stayed there four years before becoming the pitching coach for the Windy City Thunderbolts. Since opening the Finish Strong complex in 2004 Randy Dunnett has never looked back – with one exception. In 2007 he had the opportunity to pitch for the Schaumburg Flyers in the Northern League, who signed him to a contract to play over the final twenty games of that season. He appeared in sixteen games, all of them in relief. "This was a fun chance without a lot of pressure, he said at the time. "I jumped all over it."