{"id":24757,"date":"2024-11-20T00:14:04","date_gmt":"2024-11-20T07:14:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/new-sports-training-facility-opens-on-main-street-in-cortez\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T23:00:38","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:00:38","slug":"new-sports-training-facility-opens-on-main-street-in-cortez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/new-sports-training-facility-opens-on-main-street-in-cortez\/","title":{"rendered":"New sports training facility opens on Main Street in Cortez"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Matt
Matt Betts, the owner of Off the Bench, a new sports training facility in Cortez, poses with his baseball bat. (Cameryn Cass\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

The new business inside the old Sears building at 1 E. Main St. called Off The Bench is a sports training facility, not a sporting goods store.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to get \u2018training facility\u2019 painted out front, so many people had no idea what we are,\u201d said Matt Betts, a baseball coach for the past 18 years and owner of Off the Bench.<\/p>\n

When people step inside, \u201cthey\u2019re shocked\u201d because it wasn\u2019t at all what they were expecting, Betts said.<\/p>\n

Most of the facility has 2-inch turf covering the floor, recycled from a field in Washington, D.C., something \u201ca team of family and friends\u201d helped him install.<\/p>\n

Along the left side, there\u2019s three batting cages for both baseball and softball players, equipped with machines that mimic all sorts of pitches, from curves to sliders.<\/p>\n

Beside those cages are hitting stations with soft toss machines, something Betts said is important because a bad toss equals a bad swing.<\/p>\n

If you have a bad swing, fear not, because there\u2019s a television where Betts can display a blown-up video of a swing to show a player how to correct it, where to make changes.<\/p>\n

\"A
A view of the old Sears building at 1 E. Main St., when Matt Betts bought it to turn it into Off the Bench. (Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A
A view of Off the Bench, the new sports training facility open at East Main and Market streets in Cortez. (Cameryn Cass\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Betts\u2019 nephew, an all-state player who will be teaching lessons at Off the Bench, used to go to Farmington two or three times a week to practice in a batting cage.<\/p>\n

And in his role as president of Southwest Colorado Youth Baseball and Softball, in addition to being a coach for so long and a father to kids who play sports, Betts said he got inspired to open the facility.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw the pitfalls of not having something like this,\u201d said Betts. \u201cAnd I want Cortez to have more state championships.\u201d<\/p>\n

The whole right side of the turfed space has workout equipment and a soccer net, too.<\/p>\n

Walking to the back of the space, past toilets and what will soon be a concession stand, there\u2019s a hardwood floored room with a volleyball net and basketball hoop.<\/p>\n

Betts said that because so many kids in the area play more than one sport, he wanted to try and cater to everyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone can come in here and make themselves better,\u201d Betts said.<\/p>\n

He also said it\u2019s a good space to try a new sport, since they have the gear and space for it. Plus, they\u2019re building up an arsenal of used gear and starting a Play It Again Sports-like thrift store so kids can get gear at a discount.<\/p>\n

And for those already in a sport, it\u2019s a great space to come a month or so before the season starts and get a leg up on your opponents, Betts said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope to get them in great shape so when they step on the field, they showcase everything they\u2019ve done right,\u2019 said Betts. \u201cA game showcases how hard you practice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hardly anything that\u2019s set up is permanently in place; it\u2019s \u201cmalleable\u201d to meet a player\u2019s needs and to also host other events.<\/p>\n

Betts said there\u2019s a cornhole league happening now, and they had a haunted house during Halloween. Santa will be there sometime next month, and he plans to set up an Easter Egg hunt in April.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also want to be a place where you\u2019re thinking what to do with your kids today, and the first thing you think of is here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

And it was named \u201cOff the Bench\u201d with the help of his son on their way to a game.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just for the sport you play,\u201d said Betts. \u201cIt\u2019s the couch; it\u2019s about getting up and being active and getting work done in something you\u2019re passionate about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drop-ins start at $20 an hour, and there\u2019s a tiered membership with different levels of access to the space and one-on-one training sessions.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. It\u2019s closed on Mondays.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bench welcomes athletes of all ages and most sports <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24758,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[21,28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-24757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cortez","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24757"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24757\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78663,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24757\/revisions\/78663"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24757"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=24757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}