SOUTH BEND — At one moment, it’s a 22-year old professional. The next, a four-year old slugger. Later, it’s an office group with colleagues cycling through the cages.

The brand-new, state-of-the-art South Bend Cubs Performance Center has been home to baseball and functions of all sorts in its first few months of existence. And that’s just the way Mark Haley, the center’s Ddirector of training and instruction, likes it.

“It’s a nice bonding moment between baseball people,” Haley said. “As you know, the baseball community, they bond together and there’s that baseball environment.”

The performance center, which opened in April after an offseason of construction, features batting cages, a fitness center and turf workout areas for the South Bend Cubs. The facility also doubles as a hub for baseball and softball players and teams from the local community. Various groups have rented space in the center for birthday parties, office outings and band performances.

“It’s been enjoyable. It gets contagious,” Haley said. “They start hitting because we give them a couple of tokens and we seed them. And then they come in and you can’t help yourself. You get guys in the cage who say, ‘Alright, five and out.’ Heck, they end up taking 15 and you have to kick them out of the cage. It’s a lot of fun.

“And the Cubs organization has been outstanding to work with. The energy level that they come with over here, and it’s fun to have them radiate around through the whole entire cage when the amateurs come in.”

Soon, theperformance center will welcome a slew of young ballplayers as part of what Haley calls a “developmental program.” The former South Bend manager now heads a travel team called the Silver Hawks, but that will morph into the South Bend Cubs Youth Baseball Club. Haley is planning to start with three teams: a 17-18-year old group, a 16-year old team and a 15-year old squad. Tryouts are scheduled for Aug. 16 at Four Winds Field. Haley and the Performance Center staff are readying to introduce new logos.

“It’s gonna be exciting,” Haley said. “We’ve got the facilities here. We’re gonna start setting up schedules, getting our coaches and picking our teams. It’s exciting because the way I go about it, I get a good coach and then I get the players. So that way we know exactly what direction each kid is gonna go in because of what coach they’ve got.”

The teams will work out year-round, and Haley said they’ll pick and choose with which organizations and tournaments they’ll align themselves. Haley plans to start the program after high-school football season.

“I stress multiple-sport athletes,” Haley said. “So I don’t want to interfere with that. We will have workouts and be able to do baseball stuff.”

Haley is preaching a professional player-development environment, drawing on his experience in minor-league baseball and his lifelong passion for teaching.

“You’ve gotta think about the kids, and the kids come first,” Haley said. “Not how much it costs, not what great facilities we have, not what great people we have. The kids have to come first and what’s most important for them to help them get better. That’s a commitment that we make.”

Of course, the performance center is open to sweet-swingers of all ages and abilities.

“It’s a very positive environment and a lot of fun,” Haley said. “We have kind of a relaxed intensity, which is something hard to generate. But we tend to do it well. It’s nice because they like the music. It’s little things. They like the stereo system. They like the machines. They like the way everything flows. We’re getting a lot of positive feedback, and it’s enjoyable to listen to it.”