UWG alumni remains committed to community years after franchise switch

David Collings was a pitcher at Andrew College for two years before transferring to the University of West Georgia on scholarship. Collings’ career was cut short due to an auto accident, but he wanted to stay around baseball which prompted him to get into coaching. Through connections Collings had made at UWG, he was able to begin as an instructor and manager at Next Level Sports Center when it opened in Carrollton.

Collings graduated from UWG with a degree in marketing. He returned to get a Master’s Degree which he credited to learning more about managing and running a business.

“One of the biggest takeaways from my time at UWG was not necessarily learning how to do something business wise, but having the framework to figure out how to solve a problem,” he said.

Since graduating, Collings has been honored by his alma mater as a member of the university’s Inaugural 30 under 30 class as well as being awarded with the Outstanding Young Alumnus Award.

Collings purchased what was at the time, Diamond Starz on May 4, 2012 in Douglasville. The facility had been in business for over eight years.

Upon purchasing Diamond Starz, Collings changed the name to 5-Tool and was able to retain the entire staff initially and continued operating the facility as it had been for the first few months.

“I wanted to see if there were things they were doing better than I had done previously, before going in and changing everything. They had some great processes in place we were able to keep, as well as make a few changes and implement new processes,” he said.

Collings noticed instant results, specifically a huge jump in community involvement and trust, leading to an increase in revenue. The increase in revenue allowed for additions to the existing staff.

“Our clients saw our commitment to the facility and genuinely appreciated the effort and time we were putting into the facility,” Collings said.

Collings was eventually able to open a second 5-tool location in Carrollton at the facility he used to manage while at UWG.

Collings met with the ownership group of the five Atlanta area D-BAT franchise locations. The ownership group operated four of the top five D-BAT franchises in the United States. The switch to D-BAT took place in January 2018 and Collings immediately implemented the same operations and process that had led to success in the Atlanta locations.

D-BAT Peachtree has been a project that Collings has had in the works for some time. When searching for new markets one of the most important areas is the strength of the recreation departments.

“We have had some fantastic rec league partnerships in Douglasville and Carrollton, so we wanted to find a market that had strong rec leagues, and Peachtree City has great community leagues with huge participation numbers,” Collings said.

All D-BAT locations offer the same services to members. The facilities offer private lessons seven days a week for both baseball and softball players taught by full time instructors. D-BAT also offers cage rentals with automated pitching machines that utilize a credit system. Each credit gives hitters 15 pitches. Every time kids are out of school the facilities offer baseball and softball camps, including camps every week of the summer. D-BAT also hosts performance training camps that can increase an athlete’s throwing velocity, hitting velocity, or camps designed for catchers. D-BAT also offers memberships for consistent users of the facilities. The membership gives discounts on lessons, camps, and purchases from the pro shop. Each membership comes with credits for the automated machines and is able to be used at any location worldwide. Currently there are 150 D-BAT locations in the US, two coming to Canada and 10 in China.

The facilities have recently added a pro shop at the three locations.

“We are fully stocked with Rawlings and Easton gear that includes bats, gloves, batting gloves, apparel, and more,” Collings said. “We even have a Custom Glove Kiosk where you can design your own glove right from our pro shop.”

Collings still has a relationship with UWG having offered over 20 internships to Sports Management students. D-BAT Carrollton is a corporate partner of the university’s baseball, softball, and soccer teams. The teams are able to use the Carrollton facility anytime they need to train indoors. David’s wife Heather is also a UWG graduate and serves on the alumni board for the university which has helped strengthen the relationship with the university.