Participants work out in a fitness class inside the Chattanooga Sports Academy, a 16,000-square-foot facility outfitted with a basketball court, batting cage, workout equipment and fake turf.Students in the Chattanooga area will no longer have to decide between sports or schoolwork if the venture launched by entrepreneurs Bob Chester and Tim Bone takes off.
Chattanooga Sports Academy, to be launched officially on Saturday, will rely on volunteers to help tutor and train children while charging less than comparable gyms, Bone said.
“It’s very economical; we have to keep things affordable,” Bone said.
The men said they have poured more than $400,000 of their life savings into renovating a 16,000-square- foot warehouse on Vance Road, and now they’re ready for prime time.
The cavernous building off Lee Highway includes a basketball court, softball practice net, weight/aerobic area and indoor practice field. The study area, which is separated from the play area by a wall, contains desks and computers where up to 15 students can study before heading out to shoot a few hoops.