The PIT began as a hometown solution for athletes who needed a safe, reliable place to train long after the fields iced over. What started as a community passion project soon outgrew the “pen and paper” system that once held it together. By adopting Gym Insight’s automated door access and digital keytag check-ins, owner Jeremy Schmeidler freed himself from the daily scramble of unlocking doors and managing sign-ups—so the facility could focus on what it was built for: giving small-town athletes a real shot at big-league dreams.
“Our center is giving kids a chance to catch up …” to the ones in the big cities who have access to practice facilities, he explains.
Schmeidler installed Gym Insight’s Insight software and digital key tags in 2024. And, although we can’t take credit for his center’s success, our technology has made it easier for this all-volunteer staff of one.
“The organizational capability with Gym Insight has been a giant help,” he explained.
For example, with Gym Insight’s digital key tag access, Schneider remotely opens doors to waiting athletes from the mobile app. His facility also enjoys increased revenue from its easy online sign-up capabilities. Locals can sign up for day passes, month-to-month packages or yearly terms, and then immediately let themselves inside for practices.
Schmeidler discovered Gym Insight from another of our clients. Now his center, which swings between 100 and 200 members, runs itself — with the help of his mother, who handles the billing and revenue reporting.
How Hays, Kansas’s only sport practice center started.
Premier Indoor Training in Hays, Kansas, began as a tool to serve local high school athletes. The town boasts fewer than 22,000 residents. Each year, once a high school sport’s season ended and the snow flurries arrived, anxious young athletes had nowhere to practice.
Mostly, they were left to play in garages and industrial shops, said Schmeidler, with parents praying the fast-ball pitchers wouldn’t kill someone as they attempted to best each other. Usually, local baseball, basketball, and softball players — the trinity of small-town sports leagues— just waited for the thaw. The lack of opportunity and playing time thwarting athletic talent.
In 2017, Jeremy decided to address the issue. He and fellow residents opened the 501(c)(3) nonprofit Hays Baseball Club to boost local high school ball programs. But they still did not have a place to play year-round.
In 2019, after deciding to build a playing facility on his parents’ land, he opened Premier Indoor Training. The enormous steel structure features:
- 120’ x 120’ turfed, fully netted practice area,
- six batting cages for baseball and softball,
- regulation, six-goal basketball court,
- regulation volleyball net,
- conference room for events.
It’s become the community’s foremost — and only — sports training facility for the town.
Staff is made up ofl volunteer coaches from the Hays Baseball Club and other sports teams who run practice programs.
It is not a money maker, Schmeidler explains. It is a true nonprofit, although not structured as such. There’s no payroll. Just 24-7 access and flexible membership terms.
Digital keytag access eases the daily grind
After opening, he ran the facility by paper with a three-ring binder,, managing members and door access on his own — all while working his day job as owner of Log-Tech, raising a family, and overseeing a recreational hunting real estate property.
Getting the door under control was crucial, he said. With their original fobs, members would cancel but the fobs continued to work until he personally disconnected them. Word spread quickly and non-paying members took advantage. At the same time, there was no consistency with liability waivers. After a time, he gave up trying to get members to sign them.
He finally automated in 2024, installing Gym Insight software and issuing digital keytag access via our free Members App to all his members. Now, club keys synchronize with their payments and waivers are digitally signed up registration.
Running the center is not easy for Schmeidler. Yet as with many thankless tasks in life, the payoff arrives slowly and sweetly.
Today the PIT boasts a roster of professional athletes as digital keytag access makes it simple to practice hard.
Eight years after its founding, the center celebrated its first softball player signing to a division one college. Then in 2024, left fielder Dylan Dreiling was named College World Series Most Outstanding Player while at the University of Tennessee.
Today, three athletes from Hays are in the minor leagues, while multiple kids play division-one and -two ball. Just as amazing, high schoolers regularly receive college scholarships. On a personal note, the University of Kentucky recently recruited Schmeidler’s son to play baseball. For a small town somewhere between Denver and Kansas City, those stats are a big deal.
“We are turning out some athletes…our kids are going places they’ve never gone before.”
Now that is the sweet taste of success.
Gym Insight
Good luck, Jeremy Schmeidler, on your mission to raise the bar — and opportunities — for athletes in Hays, Kansas. We are a gym management software company located in the not-so-small town of Las Vegas, but we understand the sweet taste of success. Gyms and facilities like yours are enjoying our club management solutions, sales sign-up software, and digital keytag access tools, as their businesses grow through their hard work. We also provide robust reporting tools, U.S.-based customer service, and an ever-evolving software product designed and built by our own team of tech wonders. Call us today for a demo and we will show you why we are #1 in customer satisfaction. 855-FOR-GYMS (855-367-4967).