Phillies MLB Urban Youth Academy looks to the future

SOUTH PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- It's the home of the Anderson Monarchs in South Philadelphia and it will soon be equipped with an extraordinary baseball facility: the Phillies MLB Urban Youth Academy.

Mayor Michael Nutter and the Phillie Phanatic teamed up to help break ground at the Marian Anderson Rec Center.

It will soon be the site of a state of the art indoor baseball practice facility for inner city kids.

The MLB Urban Youth Academy already has well maintained playing fields.The kids will soon be able to hone their skills indoors all winter-long and not just baseball skills.

"One of the main things is the educational element we're going to bring to this to prepare these kids athletically and academically for college," Steve Bandura of the Marian Anderson Rec Center said.

Bandura has been coaching baseball at the Anderson Center for almost 30 years, launching the Anderson Monarchs and coaching the now legendary Taney Dragons.

The kids he coaches now will have the same advantages as suburban kids, thanks to the generosity of the Phillies, Major League Baseball and the city.

It's an effort to expose more inner city kids to a sport that requires a lot of open space.

"Maybe identify somebody that will be talented enough to play big league ball, but, at the very least, maybe they'll get a college scholarship or an opportunity to play in college that they wouldn't have gotten otherwise," Phillies Chairman David Montgomery said.

When the indoor facility is up and running next spring, about 8,000 boys and girls in the city will have access to free baseball and softball training year round.

"I don't see stuff like this in Philly, where I can come from in North Philly, you don't see this many opportunities," 11th grader Justin Billups said.

As we know, the Phillies need all the help they can get and maybe by lending a helping hand with this facility, they'll soon be fielding a team of locally grown superstars.