Page 12/The Sun and News, Saturday, November 20, 2021Max Effort Fieldhouse bringing local athletes inside
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
It doesn’t matter that there
is a 30 percent chance of
snow in Caledonia on Black
Friday, Nov. 26.
There are still plans for a
former Floridian, who did
spend plenty of her early
childhood making trips back
and forth to Montreal, to be
hosting a full day of softball
camps in Caledonia whether
or not there are flurries, a
blizzard or rain or shine for
that matter.
The gap between indoor
athletic facilities that exists
in the space west of Lansing,
north of Kalamazoo and
south of Grand Rapids is
shrinking this fall as Max
Effort Fieldhouse opens in
the former Scholastic book
warehouse near 84th Street
and Broadmoor Avenue in
Caledonia.
“People in Caledonia and
Middleville don’t have to
drive to Grand Rapids any-
more. It is right here,” Max
Effort Fieldhouse general
manager Chris Abid said.
“Even Hastings. We had a lot
of people come up to our
softball open house from
Hastings travel organizations
for baseball and softball.
There is nothing like this.
The big thing we did, pur-
posefully, was we didn’t lean
into any one sport. We’re a
multi-sport facility on pur-
pose. We have batting cages,
but our batting cages are also
on our soccer field. Our soc-
cer field can also be our
football or a lacrosse field.
We really didn’t want to
specify one sport and spe-
cialize.”
The focus will be on soft-
ball on Black Friday when
Max Effort’s new softball
director Kimmy Bloemers
hosts four different sessions
for young softball players.
There will be a hitting clinic
for players 11-and-up from 9
a.m. to 10:45 a.m.; a catch-
er’s clinic for 11-and-up
from 11 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.; a
softball skills camp for play-
ers ten and under from 1 p.m.
to 2:15 p.m.; and a catcher’s
clinic for players ten and
under from 2:30 p.m. until
3:45 p.m.
Bloemers was the head
softball coach at Palm Beach
Atlantic University from
2007-2017 where she guided
that program to the 2009
National Christian College
Athletic Association
(NCCAA) Championship.
She was named the NCCAA
Coach of the Year in 2009.
Bloemers led the Sailfish in
their transition into the
NCAA following that 2009
season and earned spots in
NCAA Regionals in 2010
and 2014.
Before coaching,
Bloemers was All-AtlanticCoast Conference in 2002 as
a senior at Florida State
University splitting time
between right field and also
catching – following in the
footsteps of her Baseball
Hall of Fame father, the late
Gary Carter who was an
11-time All-Star playing the
majority of his MLB career
with the Montreal Expos
and New York Mets. She
played in 272 games over her
four years with theSeminoles, putting together a
string of 247 consecutive
starts. She was second team
all-region in 2001 and 2002
and remains one of Florida
State’s all-time top ten in tri-
ples, RBI and games played.
Bloemers recently moved
to the Caledonia area with
her husband Kyle, who is
from Holland originally and
the cousin of Caledonia var-
sity girls’ basketball coach
Todd Bloemers, and theirtwo daughters. She got on
the phone to one of the Max
Effort Fieldhouse owners,
Nathan Pranger, to express
her interest in being a part of
the Max Effort team after
learning of the facility
through her daughters’
involvement in the CATS
soccer club in Caledonia.
She hosted a skills clinic
last weekend that included
16 softball players. There
were 12 ballplayers whotook part in the catcher’s
clinic that followed. She
started hosting lessons for
some softball and baseball
players last month.
“The facility is beauti-
ful,” Bloemers said. “Just
being an athlete myself my
whole life, we don’t have
anything like that in my
home town. A friend of
mine did open up a facility171712Notice of Drainage Board Meeting
For Determination of Practicability
DUNCAN LAKE INTERCOUNTY DRAIN
(Barry, Allegan and Kent Counties)
DATE: December 7, 2021TIME: 6:00 p.m.LOCATION: Duncan Lake Middle School Performing Arts Center
9757 Duncan Lake Ave., Caledonia, MichiganThe Duncan Lake Intercounty Drain Drainage Board will meet at the above date, time
and location to consider the petition, dated April 12, 2021, for maintaining and
improving an intercounty drain, located in Thornapple Township in Barry Coun-
ty; Leighton Township in Allegan County and Caledonia Township and Gaines
Township in Kent County, pursuant to Chapter 8 of Public Act 40 of 1956, as
amended, to determine the sufficiency of signatures on said petition, to go over
the route of the intercounty drain, and to further determine whether the mainte-
nance and improvement of the intercounty drain is practicable.Proceedings conducted at this public meeting will be subject to the provisions
of the Michigan Open Meetings Act. Public comment will be received at the
meeting from anyone owning lands liable to an assessment, or whose lands will
be crossed by the drain, or any municipality affected. Written comments may be
submitted prior to the meeting, or additional information may be obtained from
the following offices:Jim Dull Denise Medemar Ken Yonker
Barry County Allegan County Kent County
Drain Commissioner Drain Commissioner Drain Commissioner
220 W. State St. 113 Chestnut St. 1500 Scribner Ave. NW
Hastings Allegan Grand Rapids
Michigan 49058 Michigan 49010-1350 Michigan 49504-
269-945-1385 269-673-0440 616-632-Persons with disabilities needing accommodations for effective participation in
the meeting should contact the Drain Commissioner of their County at the num-
ber listed above or through the Michigan Relay Center at 7-1-1 (TDD) at least
24 hours in advance of the meeting to request mobility, visual, hearing or other
assistance.Dated: November 17, 2021
Jim Dull, Barry County Drain Commissioner Apparel is available for purchase in the lobby of the new Max Effort Fieldhouse
in Caledonia. (Photo by Brett Bremer)Kyle Thompson (right) works to put together some late-arriving weight room
equipment with Nathan Pranger (left) and Whitney Bell Thursday morning inside
Max Effort Fieldhouse in Caledonia. (Photo by Brett Bremer)Midwest United FC soccer players work on their game on the turf inside Max Effort Fieldhouse in Caledonia
Thursday evening. (Photo by Brett Bremer)Continued next page