Ryan Petrone's training complex, Energy Athletics, born while rehabbing from baseball injury

WORCESTER — After suffering a serious leg injury early in his junior baseball season at Merrimack, Ryan Petrone spent the rest of that spring stuck on the couch in his family’s Leicester home, occasionally moving around with the aid of crutches or a knee scooter.

His physical mobility may have been limited, but that only sent his always forward-thinking mind into overload. Petrone used the down time to expand, enhance and market his Mini Warrior Baseball Clinics, a program he started four years earlier to teach kids in the area basic mechanics and fundamentals, throwing, fielding and hitting drills.

Out of the clinics, Central Mass. Energy Baseball Club was born, and now, the 23-year-old is onto his latest endeavor, Energy Athletics, a 14,000-square foot baseball, softball and multi-sport training complex located at 243 Stafford Street.

“When I first walked in, I envisioned a full soccer field,” said Petrone, who took over the space, which was previously occupied by another baseball organization, July 1. “The vision has continuously evolved, we’ve finalized a plan and everything is coming along nicely.”

The facility features 30-33-foot nets and a large turf field. The finished product will include six hitting cages and two pitching tunnels. Strength and conditioning coach DJ Reed, a former Becker baseball player, will run the 3,000-foot sport specific training center. Terrance Turner of Turner Sports Training will work with athletes on speed and agility. Worcester Union Softball will run its program out of the facility.

Construction of a reception area, parents lounge, office and locker room is also underway.

A camp for 6-12-year-olds was going on in the building last week. The official opening of Energy Athletics is Sept. 10 and the grand opening celebration is Sept. 23.

Petrone returned for his senior season at Merrimack and earned his degree in business management and mass communication in May 2017. Playing professionally was not in his future, but the opportunity to work with kids and share his passion for baseball seemed like a natural career path for him.

“We all have stuff that drives us,” Petrone said, “so I think we (at Energy Athletics) all work together with the concept of making these kids better. Some of us didn’t get the opportunity we wanted, whether it’s because we didn’t work hard enough or something happened or, in my case, injury.”

Petrone fractured his right fibula in two places as well as his tibia at the connecting point of his ankle when his toe got twisted in the turf when he was making a play at second base.

“I worked damn hard on the field,” Petrone said. “I didn’t work hard enough in the gym. If I did, that injury may have never happened. I got hurt on something that should have never happened and the way it did happen, I wasn’t strong enough in certain parts of my body, and boom! I’m done.

“Now, it’s how do a I get kid to get to that point I was at and have that gym aspect covered, that speed aspect covered?” Petrone said. “And also other kids who may have the strength and speed aspects but not the baseball aspects.”

Petrone, who has been at Energy Athletics from 12 to 16 hours a day all summer, is fine tuning the marketing, web site (energyathleticsworcester.com), and signage for the building. Reed, who graduated from Becker with a degree in exercise science in 2014, is overseeing the construction and renovations.

The pair met when Reed coached Petrone one summer. They were reacquainted after Petrone’s injury when he was rehabbing at Kinetix Athletic Training & Fitness Center in Worcester, and they later joined forces for Energy Athletics.

“We’re all working toward the same goal,” Reed said. “Our focus is our players, our families, our exclusivity. When you buy into one thing, you’re buying into this building, you’re buying into the program, whether it’s with Terrance for speed and agility, coming in with me and working out, or doing lessons with Ryan. It’s fully encompassing. We’re invested in the kids and if we don’t push them to succeed, we’re not going to build anything ourselves.”

Excited kids clamors, the pop of baseballs hitting leather, the whirr of drills, the tap of hammers were the sounds when Petrone recently gave two visitors a tour of Energy Athletics. His enthusiasm was evident. Through his hard work, dedication and ambition, kids will get the chance to learn, grow and develop.

It’s almost a dream come true.

“My dream is coming true,” Petrone said. “It’s getting there. It’s not true yet. My dream is I wanted to play in the major leagues, so it will be true when I get a kid there.”