Although COVID-19 threw everyone a curve ball and caused disruption across all industries, many fitness facilities are now permitted to reopen and are getting back in the game. And with the MLB season in full swing, baseball is on a lot of minds right now.
We recently caught up with our friends at Smith Brothers Baseball Central to see how they’ve been faring, what new policies and guidelines have been implemented, and which of our features have been most helpful in navigating the evolving business landscape.
Here’s what Casey Zordan, Facility Marketing and Administration Manager at Smith Brothers, had to say:
1. Are you currently open? If so, at what capacity?
We are currently operating. We re-opened on May 25th with limitations to private lessons only.
We have also just slowly added clinics back into our offerings at less than half capacity. We hope to be back to full capacity soon—here’s to hoping!
In short, I believe we are working currently at around half capacity. However, we have been very busy with private lessons over the last few months.
2. What type of social distancing policies and cleanliness guidelines are currently in place?
We are following all of the rules put into place from our municipality, province, and federal guidelines, as well as our local health unit recommendations.
This includes:
- Having markers on the floor to visually represent how far apart our patrons should be.
- Having a limited number of chairs for viewing (4 max in our lobby area).
- We clean our lobby regularly, and have staggered private lesson times to have a 15-minute gap between lessons just to be able to clean the lobby for our next clients.
- We have staff wearing masks while coaching and maintaining physical distancing between them and their athletes. They also wash their hands between lessons.
- All of our baseballs are washed between lessons, and we ask that all our patrons wash their hands with soap and water upon entering the building.
3. What are the primary ways you’ve been communicating this information to patrons?
Our main way is through email. We also tell everyone our precautions when they are booking lessons over the phone. We also have signs on our doors and tables to remind people of our policies.
4. Are there any EZFacility features you’ve found particularly helpful at this time? If so, what are they?
The reminder emails, and online booking have been a fantastic way to keep everyone up to date.
It has also been helpful managing who is in attendance for private lessons and clinics, and to communicate to those participants.
5. Is there anything else you’d like to add about how your business operations have changed since COVID-19?
Our business has seen the upside to have a 10-15-minute break in between lessons and clinics. We would typically go back-to-back and risk the chance of the last lessons of the day running late. However, with a break in between it keeps the schedule running smoothly and on time—instructors have time to debrief at the end of the lessons as well as to get ready and prepare for their next sessions.
On the administration side it has been easier to maintain who is in the building and knowing what is going on around the facility with fewer people being inside the building at a given time.
Bringing it Home
COVID-19 came out of left field and created a number of unforeseen challenges for businesses, but we’re here to help. Our all-in-one software solution offers a number of benefits, including the ability to streamline the scheduling and management of your baseball facility, coaches, batting cages, athletes and more.
To learn more about the benefits of using a management software, click here. Or, to schedule a personalized product demo for your baseball facility, click here.