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LAPLACE — Based at 501 Hemlock St., Powerhouse Sports gives youth in St. James, St. John the Baptist and St. Charles parishes a sense of home as they develop skills physically and mentally.

Patrick Jackson, Jordan Poirrier and Rob Taylor offer training services including speed, agility, coordination and strength training transferable to any sport a child desires to play.

Since its inception two years ago, Powerhouse Sports has expanded to include a nonprofit organization for travel sports.

Jackson said Powerhouse Sports represents something that has been missing in the River Parishes.

“I think it’s going to offer a home base location for them to be able to develop themselves and to create new relationships with kids in the area that they may not attend school with. More importantly, it’s going to bring the community together,” Jackson said. “When I was growing up in the early 90s, we did a lot of activities between the three parishes. That doesn’t really exist anymore, so just bridging the gap will be something we can achieve.”

Having both a non-profit and a private sector has allowed Powerhouse Sports to expand opportunities for one-on-one personal attention to athletes through their formative years. The facility is open to individuals from age 5 through college and beyond.

The facility at 501 Hemlock St. in LaPlace features a 65×40 space covered with turf flooring, in addition to a 60×20 overhead outdoor space equipped with two batting cages and a training zone.

Powerhouse Sports comes to life in the evenings. Beginning at 4 p.m., coaches offer private baseball lessons to sharpen batting, fielding and pitching. Speed and agility training services are also offered at this time.

Team activities begin at 5 p.m., and adult fitness activities begin at 6 p.m.

According to Jackson, Powerhouse Sports offers a variety of athletic clinics and camps. Travel baseball and travel softball are currently underway, with travel football soon to come. Moving forward, the Powerhouse team plans to incorporate track, basketball and soccer into the lineup of travel sports.

“The intent of the nonprofit is to give kids the opportunity to be able to play competitive sports at a reduced rate. Inflation is real. Everything has gone up, all the way down to youth sports,” Jackson said.

As the father of four children ranging in age from 13 years to 10 months old, Jackson has seen a need to expand travel ball opportunities closer to home.

“A lot of kids were traveling all the way to North Baton Rouge just to have that experience. When we talk about our vision and our purpose, it’s directly connected to the community’s needs,” he said.

The coaches at Powerhouse Sports seek to positively impact the youth not just physically, but also mentally.

“We do sit-downs, speaking about character, attitude, the importance of school and education, and just being a well-rounded and grounded individual,” Jackson said. “We are currently in the process of creating a business plan for doing different types of charities for local schools within the parishes.”

Powerhouse Sports also welcomes local trainers and coaches who want to be part of building a foundation for the youth.

For more information about Powerhouse Sports, email lapowerhousesports@gmail.com or contact Jackson at 504-615-3855, Rob Taylor at 504-644-5145, or Jordan Poirrier at 504-462-1866.

Additional updates and activity flyers can be found on the Powerhouse Sports Facebook page.