New White Sox camp coming to Glen Ellyn

When the Glen Ellyn Park District opens its new $10.5 million sports center early next month, athletes also will have access to a new Chicago Bulls/Chicago White Sox Training Academy.

Park officials said the baseball and softball training facility will open the first week of January, inside the new Ackerman Sports and Fitness Center, 800 St. Charles Road, which also opens then. Then training center is owned by the Chicago White Sox, which is leasing its space from the park district.

The academy will provide personal and team training for local players ages 5 to professional athletes; players will register for its programs through the White Sox, not the park district.

The White Sox approached the district "since they knew we were building these batting cages and wanted to see what the possibilities would be" said Dan Kroger, director of Ackerman Sports and Fitness Center. "We thought it would be a win-win for everybody."

In addition to individual and team training, the Sox Academy will conduct hitting, pitching and fielding instruction for both baseball and fastpitch softball players.

The park district does have an agreement with the White Sox, however, that will allow for some park district programs to happen in the batting cages. Glen Ellyn Park District baseball and softball teams will also have priority windows to schedule time in the cages for the following season.

"We didn't want to put (the academy) in there without our own community having access to it." Kroger said.

The Glen Ellyn academy is the fifth facility the Sox have opened. Another one opened in 2001 in Lisle, and others are in LaGrange, Tinley Park and Schererville, Ind.

In addition to the White Sox academy, the 89,000 square-foot Ackerman Sports and Fitness Center will house thee basketball courts; an elevated walking track; two 30-foot climbing walls and a bouldering wall; a 40-by-60 yard, multiuse indoor turf; a 7,000-square-foot fitness center; and several programming rooms.

The facility took 13 months to build and was financed through a tax increase that voters approved in 2006. Residents gave the park district permission to borrow $11.9 million to spend on projects, $2.5 million of which was designated for land acquisition.

For more details, visit bullssoxacademy.com or call (630) 324-8242 to book private lessons or cage rentals.