Main Street Sports Center opens in Lake Zurich
An interview with Tony DiJohn, general manager of Main Street Sports Center in Lake Zurich.
Q: Tell us about Main Street Sports.
A: Main Street Sports Center is a community based, family friendly sports center offering youth classes, birthday parties, field rentals, baseball tunnels, fitness classes and futsal leagues.
Q: Is there some connection to Kids Sports Complex down the street?
A: I was the athletic director/general manager at Kits for more than 13 years.
Q: What is the most difficult part in starting the business?
A: The most difficult part of opening this business has been getting the word out to the public that we are open for business and what we're offering.
Q: What do you enjoy about the business?
A:I enjoy dealing with our new patrons and witnessing their excitement when they visit our facility for the first time. We put a lot of effort in designing the building to be flexible to meet the needs of many different sports and when we hear the positive feedback from the various people participating it makes us very proud.
Q: What did you want to do when you were young?
A: As a youth, I wanted to be a professional baseball player. I never imagined that a job existed where you could coach children in a variety of sports and still stay active yourself. Looking back to my childhood, I think I could have pictured this life for me and been very excited about the future.
Q: What keeps you up at night?
A: Trying to think of new and exciting new programs for our customers sometimes keeps me up at night.
Q: If you could give one tip to a new business owner, what would it be?
A: If I could give any advice to a rookie business owner, it would be to always add some time to expected completion dates given to you by contractors. There are always little things that come to cause delays and push back any opening date plans you may have.
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Main Street Sports Center
Address: 143 E. Main St., Lake Zurich, IL 60047
Phone: (847) 438-6960
Web: www.mainstreetsportscenter.com
Owners: Matt Menges & John Einarsen
Established: 2013
General Manager: Tony DiJohn