Sports Zone Academy History

Sports Zone was established in 1995 but our grass roots started in the spring of 1992 when Dick Woodridge Sr. started training, mainly pitchers, outside on available baseball fields within Central New York.

Dick , a former pitcher on one of the lasts teams Syracuse University had was asked by players if he would help them train to develop the necessary skills they would need to improve and play at the next level. In his spare time, Dick trained 21 players and it soon became obvious that the success of those early players was gaining some local publicity.

By the Spring of 1995 we had 200 players in our program and we decided to grow and create a new business focused on training and developing youth players at all positions year round. Now called Sports Zone, Inc., our program seemed to expand rapidly. We spent one year at our first indoor facility on Genesee Street near Crest Cadillac and then later moved for more space in 1996 to our Burnet Avenue location near Bristol Myers Squib.

After four years at our Burnet location, our program now included over 300 players with classes and instruction being held on everyday of the week. The growth would force us into finding a new home at Westvale Plaza in the winter of 2001, where the old roller skate arena once was located. In the summer of 2003, we took the opportunity to relocate our program to the newly constructed indoor facility called SportsCenter 481. In 2008 we decided to leave SC481 and open 2 smaller locations, one on the East and one on the West end of Syracuse.  In the fall of 2011, we opened our newest facility and our largest in Camillus, NY.  The new facility allows us to play games indoor during the winter months.

Now in our 26th year of existence, Sports Zone has established itself as the premier place for local area players to participate in a baseball and softball program designed to teach the necessary fundamentals and skills of the game. By utilizing our unparalleled instructional staff, made up of current and former collegiate and professional players, we have escalated our area talent into national prominence.