The Factory Sports Complex to open on Nassau Commons
When The Factory Sports Complex opens Monday, June 30, visitors will find a basketball court with hardwood flooring, batting cages and a weight room, a facility designed for developing the skills of athletes in many sports.
The Factory owner Pat Woods also coaches basketball at Cape Henlopen High School and said he is opening his new facility to offer a venue for out-of-school training because school facilities are not always available for use.
"For the last few years, my friends and I ran basketball camps, and we worked out of the local schools a lot," Woods said. "It's hard to run a program not knowing if you will have a local facility."
Now, the basketball coach, who is also a part-time preacher and full-time father to three boys – the oldest is 7 – said he's designed The Factory as place for athletes to get their game on.
Woods said The Factory features flooring that once belonged to the New Jersey Nets basketball team. After the New Jersey Nets became the Brooklyn Nets, Woods said, he was looking around trying to find bleachers when he saw an opportunity to buy hardwood flooring from the Meadowlands.
At the time, he hadn't decided what kind of flooring to use at The Factory, but the chance to use professional hardwood basketball flooring at a drastically discounted price was an opportunity he couldn't pass up.
He had to bid against the Philadelphia police athletic department to get it, but after it was determined that they didn't need the floor, Woods said, the old Nets basketball court was loaded up, shipped south and installed at his new facility in Lewes.
The flooring installation team was a family-run business, much like Wood's new sports complex, he said, and they were very helpful. They added volleyball lines and hash marks in different colors, created lines for side courts, and carefully sanded off most of the old logo and replaced it with his own, he said.
Woods pointed out the official NBA 3-point shot line that remains on his flooring, along with 3-point lines for the high school and college athletes who will train at this new facility.
Still a work in progress, The Factory has a small weight room and training equipment such as plyometric boxes to help basketball players work on agility.
"With basketball, everything is quick, explosive movements, similar to jumping rope," he said. "So, I'm doing a lot of training like I did in high school and college."
The Factory Sports Complex will be open to athletes Monday through Saturday, the coach said, with designated times for open gym and other activities, including dodge ball tournaments, birthday parties and indoor soccer camps.
Opening this new sports complex has been a family affair in itself, said Wood's wife, Brandi. As their boys grow up, she's confident they will have a safe place to play.
"I'm really looking forward to our kids growing up here," Brandi said. "They are very active so this is just perfect, and we home school them, so our kids don't have an opportunity to run around the gym at school, but now we have this."
For more information about The Factory Sports Complex, 17543 Nassau Commons Blvd., Lewes, go to factoryhoops.com or call 302-745-0919.
