By Zack Peterson
Last year, Michael Davis had a vision of a place where the community could have something active to do. His vision culminated in X-treme Indoors, the newest activities center in Wesley Chapel.
Along with two others, fellow neighborhood friends Glen Samuels and Jermaine Perkins, Davis opened X-treme Indoors on May 9.
“It took us about a month and a half to build,” Davis said. “But we’d been thinking about the concept for about a year.”
Davis explained that he, Samuels, and Perkins all live in the neighborhood and have little ones.
“There’s typically nothing to do in the area but go to the movies or travel elsewhere to do something,” Davis said. “We built what we think is something good for the community.”
Now that it’s completed and open for business, X-treme Indoors offers a variety of activities.
Upon first entering the building, adventure seekers will see the batting cages that allow both baseball and softball players to practice their hitting.
“The speeds go as low as 20 miles an hour and as high as 85 to 90 miles an hour,” Davis said. “It accommodates for all skill levels starting with Little League and traveling all the way up to semi-pro ball.”
Where X-treme Indoors takes a turn is with its state-of-the-art racing simulators.
“We were looking to do a different venture with our project, saw a racing simulator at a trade show and thought it would go over well,” Davis said.
The racing simulators are single seating race cars that plant the driver in a virtual setting where they can race other opponents or friends.
But according to Davis, they can offer another dimension of game play.
“The race simulators allow you to race against someone with you or with others elsewhere across the country,” Davis said.
Wired to the Internet, the simulators allow for global game play. Someone may just be sitting in X-treme Indoors, but in the simulator they’re the driver of an Indy car, a stock car or Rally Racing, a form of auto racing that spawns over a large course with multiple checkpoints instead of a traditional circuit-style race.
Someday, Davis and his business partners also want to see X-treme Indoors serving as something more than just game play, something inspiring even.
“Honestly, most business people will tell you that they want to make a lot of money. We’d like to do the same and survive the economic crisis,” Davis said. “But it’d be real nice if one day we hear someone say to a camera, ‘ the time I spent in the cages at X-treme Indoors really helped my career.’ With the racing simulators I’d like it to be an activity where people get other people to do virtual racing as a big friendly, family activity.”
“In a way, I’d like to give back to the community through this.”
For those interested in the activities at X-treme Indoors, prices are set according to the blocks of time that can be spent on either virtual racing or in the batting cages. The batting cages are measured in 15-, 30- and 60-minute time blocks starting at $15 and ranging up to $50. Virtual racing is measured in the same increments at $8 to $29.
Discounts are available for customers who become members of the organization.
For more information, call X-treme Indoors at (813) 929-7254.
X-treme Indoors
27233 SR 56, Wesley Chapel
Monday through Thursday 2-10 p.m.
Friday 2-11 p.m.
Saturday 8 a.m.-11 p.m.
Sunday 11 a.m.-7 p.m.
