Caged Athletics Inc
Nanaimo, Vancouver Island/Coast
Caged Athletics Inc
Nanaimo, Vancouver Island/Coast
Caged Athletics is a small business in Nanaimo BC that specializes in training youth baseball, softball, football and lacrosse players on Vancouver Island. Caged Athletics headquarters is at 341 Irwin St in Nanaimo B.C. They have a 5,500 sq/ft indoor & fully turfed facility. The facility has three batting cages, two HitTrax Motion Simulation Technology, two high speed camera's, two Hack Attack Baseball Pitching Machines, and two Jugs Softball/Slo-Pitch Pitching Machines. Caged Athletics Batting Cages are open to the general public and is used by local baseball, softball, and slo-pitch teams in the community for training and overall entertainment. Caged Athletics also offers facility rentals for birthday parties and company functions. Caged Athletics also runs Virtual HitTrax Baseball, Softball, and Slo-Pitch Leagues. The first company on Vancouver Island to offer Virtual leagues and tournament. Along with Virtual leagues and tournament they run slo-pitch, youth and adult football, and baseball tournaments on the Island. Caged Athletics also offers 8 week baseball, softball, and football programs along with camps, clinics and private lessons all up and down Vancouver Island. In only its 2.5 years of existence Caged Athletics has donated over $15,000 to local charities and non-profit organizations including: Boys & Girls Club of Central Vancouver Island, Nanaimo Minor Baseball Association, Mid-Island Pirates Baseball Organization, Bonaventure Support Services, Salvation Army, and Loaves and Fishes. Caged Athletics is looking forward to providing their products and services and being an outstanding member of the community for the long term future.
Caged Athletics Inc has been nominated in the following categories:
Click on the banners to find out why they deserve your vote in each category.
Business Impact Award
Tell Us Your Story. What motivated you to start your business? Why are you passionate about what you do?
The owners of Caged Athletics (Joey Sabo & Brady Rogers) grew up playing for the Nanaimo Pirates PBL Baseball Team as well as playing basketball, hockey, soccer and lacrosse in the community. After finishing High School Brady Rogers went on to play Collegiate Baseball and Joey Sabo went on to receive his Finance and Economics Degree from UBC. After coming back home after University and working we found there was a major need for an indoor facility and off-season training program on Vancouver Island. We have been coaching baseball in Nanaimo for over a decade (even though we are only 28 & 29 years old). Our families were also born and raised on Vancouver Island so we have very strong ties to the community. We decided in early 2021 to quit or careers and take on this business opportunity. Our passion for all sports and youth in the community was the main motivator in starting our dream business.
Describe and demonstrate, including metrics, your community support. How do you support and uplift your community, and how do they show that support in return? Minimum 25 words, maximum 2500 characters.
We take immense pride in our community support. Even thought we have only been open for 2.5 years we have donated or sponsored the following organizations with amounts attached. Nanaimo Minor Baseball Association ($9.500), Boys & Girls Club of Central Vancouver Island ($500 plus two used sports equipment drives), Salvation Army ($500 plus two winter clothing drives), Loaves & Fishes ($500 plus two food drives), Local Low Income Athletes ($500), Mid-Island Pirates Baseball Organization ($2,400), and Bonaventure Support Services ($500). We are extremely proud of our community and will continue to support our community in every aspect. The local organizations we have donated or sponsored have been incredibly supportive of promoting our business and helping us navigate through COVID and other external circumstances.
Why do you deserve to win the Business Impact award?
I believe we deserve to win the community impact business award because of three main reasons. 1. Our massive impact on the local sports community in developing local athletes in baseball, slo-pitch, softball, football and lacrosse. We have provided an affordable service to help young athletes and people stay active, healthy and out of trouble while developing their athletics skills. 2. Our impact as leaders and role models in the community. We have worked with Nanoose First Nations, Snuneymuwx First Nations, Boys & Girls Club of Vancouver Island and Bonaventure Support Services to provide affordable (sometimes free) options for these organizations for their kids to have active and healthy lifestyles and a role model to learn from. 3. Our community impact. We have donated nearly $15,000 in our first 2.5 years of being open. Even though we are a small business that had to navigate through COVID restrictions and other external issues we have still been able to donate a significant amount of money to help local organizations in the community. We take pride in providing financial contributions so that our community can flourish for years to come.
Tell Us About Your Culture. How are you creating a sustainable and healthy workplace where everyone feels welcome? Provide examples of leadership you show in interactions with clients, vendors, contractors, staff and others.
Our culture is everything to our business. We have worked extremely hard to create an energetic, positive and welcoming environment for our customers and employees. We take pride in providing a positive role models to youth in our community and it is imperative in our interview process for employees and coaches that they are inclusive, energetic, positive and empathetic to all of our clients. Leadership is key to our business. We hire many youth athletes from local teams and train them to become great role models to the younger generations. We also volunteer for the Salvation Army Kettle Bell, Coaching Youth Teams and High School Teams, and helping with any community activities that our time gives us.
People's Choice
Why do you think you should win the Premier’s People’s Choice Award?
I believe we deserve to win the Premiers Choice Award because we embody what it is to be a Canadian and British Columbian. Our business model focuses on helping all genders, races, and socio economical statuses in our community. We work with almost every child in our community and strive to provide leadership to our community youth so they can be the next generation to pass it down. I believe our mission and goals of providing leadership to the community in conjunction with our community donations makes us the perfect choice to win the prestigious Premier Peoples Choice Award.