By Paul Post
Dan McQuay purchased the former Agway store on Upper Broadway in Fort Edward with the idea of flipping it for a profit.
Upon closer inspection, he quickly realized its 14- and 18-foot-high ceilings were just right for the business he’s always wanted to run.
The aptly-named All Sports Facility opened June 1 with training and competition space for a variety of activities including baseball, softball, pickleball, basketball, soccer, field hockey and lacrosse.
“I looked at it and said, I think we can make this work for just about any sport, not just baseball,” said McQuay, a Schuylerville resident and retired U.S. Marine. “Our big differentiator is that we’re catering to training in all disciplines.”
The building had been vacant for almost a decade when he bought it.
“Structurally it’s in great shape, but we replaced floors, plumbing and HVAC,” McQuay said.
Something “north of a million” dollars later, the gleaming interior has six baseball-softball cages, a basketball-pickleball court and a separate large indoor turf area for soccer, lacrosse and field hockey.
There’s also a strength and conditioning room with weights and exercise equipment.
Out back, behind the building are two lighted pickleball-basketball courts and a spacious fenced in grassy area for youth baseball or Pee Wee football practice. It may also be rented for special events such as birthday and graduation parties, “anything and everything you can think of,” McQuay said.
He adhered to a simple philosophy when pursuing his dream.
“Like they teach you in the Marines, if you’re going to do something, do it right!” he said. “I’ve been in a lot of different facilities. You know what you like and what you don’t. It’s got to be attractive. We’re not a gym. We’re a facility for space, so I wanted to make it appealing to the eye.”
Originally from St. Louis, McQuay is an avid baseball fan who grew up rooting for the Cardinals, but fell in love with upstate New York after marrying his wife, a Glens Falls native.
During the COVID pandemic, he helped found the Schuylerville Stallions youth baseball program. There are several indoor sports facilities in the Glens Falls area, Clifton Park and immediate Capital District, but McQuay wanted to put his own stamp on something, close to home.
Previously, he’d taken his son and daughter, Schuylerville High School athletes, to a training center in Latham.
“In winter you don’t want to travel an hour to go practice or play a game,” he said.
All Sports Facility Manager Brittney Sprague said, “Parents are investing so much time and money, sometimes you spend more time in a car than practicing. It gets to be a lot. Dan really wanted a place where kids didn’t have to go so far.”
“You have a place to come inside here and practice if it rains or on those super crazy-hot summer days,” she said.
The baseball-softball cages have automatic pitching machines. One tunnel is equipped with Rapsodo technology that measures a pitched or batted ball’s metrics. There’s also a HitTrax that simulates live baseball.
Eventually, McQuay hopes to add golf simulators, further enhancing the site’s “All Sports” reputation.
Sprague is in charge of softball instruction, and McQuay is seeking qualified individuals to teach other sports.
Currently open from noon to 8 p.m., plans for call extending hours from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. beginning Oct. 1.
The venture’s success will largely hinge on time management. For example, pickleball courts may be rented to adults in morning, while afternoons and evenings are catered more to youth team sports.
“I believe there’s enough teams in all sports and enough population in all these communities – Queensbury, Glens Falls, South Glens Falls, Hudson Falls, Fort Edward and Schuylerville – to really make this work,” McQuay said.