About The Edwards Family Training Center

Ever since her father took her to see a baseball game at Royal Athletic Park at the age of three, Helen Edwards has been hooked on the sport.

The lifelong baseball and longtime HarbourCats fan and her husband, John, were mainstays in the Victoria stands. When John died in 2020, Helen wanted to do something to honour his legacy.

That’s why she contributed to the indoor baseball facility at 1821 Cook St., now called the Edwards Family Training Centre.

“I’m really excited that we have local kids, coming out of this (facility), that are going to play for the HarbourCats,” Edwards said at the centre’s official opening on April 7. “Anything that has kids and sport together, that’s what I support.”

The HarbourCats and collegiate Golden Tide will train at the site, while almost 300 young athletes have used the centre since it first opened in the fall of 2020. The official unveiling was put off due to the pandemic.

The turfed facility has multiple batting cages and pitching tunnels, a fitness area and the latest in tech and digital analysis equipment, such as a simulator that shows how a hit in the batting cage would translate out on a real diamond.

“It’s just outstanding that this is here,” said Jim Swanson, managing partner of the HarbourCats. “This is just a gamechanger for the community.”