A local Pennington couple, Shannon and Jonathan Schafer, recently broke ground on the new 39,000 square foot Schafer Sports Center in Ewing, along with elected officials and invited guests. The new sports center will feature gymnastics, dance, swimming, in-door soccer/lacrosse, a highly-reputed special needs training program and much more under one roof.
The Schafer family, which has run their school in Lawrence Township for the past 28 years, is creating the facility “to further their mission of providing educationally-focused sports programs to area youth,” according to Jonathan Schafer, CEO.
For John and wife Shannon, construction of the new school is the fruition of their dream and vision to expand their business and as they worked over the last 11 years to bring a top-of-the-line sports facility under one roof as a means for continual development of children, not only in gymnastics but in multiple sports.
The Schafer’s philosophy that “kids are first and families always matter” becomes reality with the new sports center, which features more than 9,000 square foot (sf) devoted to gymnastics; 1,000 sf to dance; 13,400 sf to soccer and lacrosse; 5,100 sf for swimming; and approximately 1,000 sf for special needs sports programs, along with designated birthday party rooms, a café, and youth fitness.
Additionally, private birthday parties, facility rentals and winter/summer camps will be offered.
“It has been our family’s dream to create a facility that would serve the youth and families of Ewing, Lawrence, Pennington, Hopewell, Trenton and surrounding communities, with sports, educational and recreational programs that put developing and educating children first while fostering the health of our youth and building community,” CEO Schafer said.
The new Schafer Sports Center is scheduled to open in late Spring 2016. The current Schafer School of Gymnastics will remain fully operational until the new facility is completed.
Updates on the new sports center, future program announcements and current programs may be found at www.schafergymnastics.com.i
