Gateway Sports Academy set to open

As workers hustled to put the final touches on the Gateway Sports Academy in Saukville’s Northern Gateway Community Collective development last week, Joe Chapman looked around and smiled.

“It’s so fun just to see it come together,” he said. “This is so exciting.”

The 45,000-square-foot building, the first business to open in the Mel’s Village portion of the Gateway Collective, will be open from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day of the year.

It has something for everyone — four basketball courts, nine shooting cages, six volleyball courts, 12 pickleball courts and a concessions area. Indoor soccer can be played there, and soccer camps and tournaments will be held.

The courts have floors donated by Milwaukee Bucks guard Pat Connaughton and created by ProStar Surfaces, which did the floor on the Bucks’ court, Chapman said.

The courts are named — there’s the John Armbruster court, named after the longtime Special Olympic basketball coach; and the Aidan Onopa Little Warrior Court, named for Chapman’s 8-year-old nephew, who died of cancer.   

There’s a players room where teams can chill out, with players doing homework, getting tutoring or even taking mental health classes.

Before and after-school care will be offered.

There’s also an orthopedic hospital, where players who are injured can get care.

Television sets throughout the facility allow people to watch games being played on the courts — or those being played by the teams like the Bucks and Green Bay Packers.

While many businesses open slowly, don’t expect that of Gateway Sports Academy.

The facility will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 4 p.m. Friday, followed by a grand opening at 5 p.m. complete with an open gym, Steve Novak’s 2’s Frees 3’s shooting competition, $10 shooting cage sessions, music and refreshments.

And over the weekend, the facility will host two basketball tournaments — the first of many to come.

The Academy is expected to host a multitude of tournaments that will draw thousands of athletes and fans to Saukville every year. It will also serve as a home for adult sports leagues, open gym nights, birthdays parties and summer camps.

Gateway Sports Academy will be home to Chapman North Basketball Academy, one of four divisions of Chapman Basketball Academy, and Premier Volleyball Club, which will handle the volleyball end of things at the facility.

“This is impressive seeing where I came from,” Chapman said.

Chapman, who played basketball at Marquette University for four years, then played overseas for 11 years, started Chapman Basketball Academy nine years ago.

He came home during summers and operated basketball camps at Marquette, then began doing workouts with Chloe Marotta, a Homestead High School star and Marquette player, and her sister, serving as their personal trainer.

From there, his client base grew and eventually he branched out to run Amateur Athletic Union teams.

“We worked out in people’s basements, people’s yards, local high schools,” Chapman said. “We kept working our way up to our current facility.”

Chapman Basketball Academy, founded by Chapman and his wife Carolyn, has 126 AAU teams that hail from throughout Wisconsin. It runs tournaments and camps, offers individual lessons and provides team takeovers where they demonstrate skills and drills.

The building is Chapman’s second — his first is in Mequon — but he said it wouldn’t be possible without people like Mike Ansay of Ansay Development, which with Three Leaf Partners and Mel’s Charities is creating the Northern Gateway Community Collective.

“From where I was to now, 20 years late, is a testament to the people I met and the hard work we put into it,” Chapman said. “Mike Ansay had the vision (for Gateway Academy). He saw my vision, my passion and helped show me what we could do. Without him and his team, none of this is possible.”

He met Ansay through his work with Special Olympics and Mel’s Charities, Chapman said, adding he was impressed by Ansay’s desire to create a community dedicated to offering amenities, activities and opportunities to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

“We want to bridge that gap between that community that doesn’t have the access to having the access,” he said. “There’s a stigma there. People don’t know how to talk to people who are different from them.

“We want to make sure everyone here is comfortable,” he said, and from there they can take it into the real world.

It’s not just about sports, Chapman said, it’s about developing the community.

“Over a weekend there can be 200 teams coming here. They’ll go to restaurants, supermarkets, stores, the lake — and everything people do while they’re here will benefit the community,” he said. “That’s really the fun part. We’re just the beginning.”