Rather than spending the summer break relaxing, this year one Cuba City High School freshman instead decided to lead an effort to give the community access to brand new batting cages.
A lot of work completed in a short period of time went into putting up the new facilities at Splinter Park.
Caleb Timmerman, 14, is the aspiring engineer who took the initiative to spearhead the efforts.
During the November Common Council meeting, Director of Public Works George Morrissey commented on the success of the project.
“It turned out really well,” said Morrissey, “...It’s a good addition to the park.”
Timmerman – a baseball player himself – saw a need for more batting cage space firsthand while practicing in town back in 2022. He decided to take matters into his own hands in May 2023, he said.
A Boy Scout since early elementary school, he set out to improve the batting cage situation as a project for becoming an Eagle Scout.
Timmerman found out he would have to get the concept approved by several layers of local leadership to proceed: the Park & Recreation Board, followed by the Common Council, and “it was kind of intimidating,” he said.
But he was determined to accomplish his goal, so he went to meetings and presented his idea to local representatives.
And that wasn’t the end of the public speaking required for this project, either. Since he had to raise money to fund the batting cages’ creation, he also presented his project plans to the Knights of Columbus and the Lions Club to request donations.
Timmerman said there was a lot of prep work involved to get ready for these ventures. He created handouts highlighting his vision for the project.
In total, Timmerman said he was able to raise about $16,000 – much of that in just a few months’ time – between donations he collected and what he had made selling popcorn and butter braids.
That sum left enough to purchase a ball-thrower and pitching machine for the site, said Timmerman.
He had dreamed of being able to buy these items for the park, but wasn’t initially sure the goal would be achievable, he said.
After the funds rolled in, the work on the new batting cages came together quickly, said Timmerman.
“Making it was mostly done in a week,” he added.
He and his dad, whose background is in solar panelinstallation, used a skid steer to level out the land. They brought in a crew to put down the cement, said Timmerman.
Once the cages were up, Timmerman had to go through several rounds of testing to get them just right, he said. At first, the ball was flying back toward him off the cage material.
After some adjusting and experimenting, everything worked, said Timmerman.
The six cages are now all ready for the public to use at any time.
Timmerman “was pretty relieved” that everything came together, he said. There were some challenging moments throughout the process, but being able to provide the community with the updated site has made it worth it.
