SNYDERSVILLE -- The cold weather usually sidelines a lot of athletes training for warm weather sports, but the Pocono Dome has changed that for many kids and community members in the Poconos.
It's hard to find a time at the Pocono Dome where there isn't a team warming up or doing drills on the massive turf field in Snydersville.
The indoor sports health fitness sports complex has only been open for a little over two years.
"From November until April it's pretty much all booked up. You can't even get in the door. Between leagues, we have rentals, we have trainings, we have our own training," said director of operations Daniel Lewis.
More than 22,000 athletes and coaches have practiced or played here at the dome.
David Van Solkema is a senior at East Stroudsburg High School. He's coming here while the weather is rough, hoping to keep in shape, and get recruited to play soccer at ESU.
"There's a ton of snow, we're going to be in here for a while at least. We're not going to be able to get on the fields for quite a bit," said East Stroudsburg High School senior David Van Solkema.
This practice is a combination of players from about five different Pocono school districts. Late evenings many community teams will hit the field as well.
Since the Pocono Dome opened in January of 2013 they've been through two harsh winters, and they've now doubled the amount of teams taking the turf here in Snydersville.
Minor league baseball player Joey Bennie is a Pocono native and helps train baseball players here during his off-season.
"It's incredibly important. I wish this place was open when I was growing up, learning to play baseball with my dad. We used one cage in our garage, that's all we had. Having something like this I don't think the kids realized how lucky they are," said Bennie.
"I'm used to going down to Allentown or down to different areas to try to get some indoor training and it's better to have something that's 20, 25 minutes away from the kids houses where we can all get together and play," said Pocono Mountain East High School senior Ricardo Garcia.
The facility has expanded to host up to eight different sports, from lacrosse, to softball, soccer, baseball and beyond.
The Pocono Dome is open year-round.
