Indoor Action Sports in Greenfield closing in next two months

Staff Reports

Published: 04-22-2021 11:09 PM

GREENFIELD — Indoor Action Sports owner Jeff Coulson announced to his clients Thursday that he’ll be closing the sports facility gradually over the next two months, and hopes the 12.5-acre property will have a new owner by June.

“It is a very bittersweet decision as Indoor Action has been a labor of love,” Coulson wrote in an email to clients, noting that in retirement, he hopes to spend more time with his seven grandchildren.

Since 1995, Indoor Action Sports has offered residents a place to play field hockey, lacrosse, soccer, ultimate Frisbee, flag football, basketball and more. The property started out with a large metal shed, where sports like soccer, field hockey, lacrosse and basketball were played. In 1999, the facility expanded, establishing a pair of turf fields and putting a 44,000-square-foot inflatable dome over them, one of the first facilities of its kind in the Northeast, Coulson said in 2019, when he first announced he was looking to retire.

To that end, Greenfield’s City Council voted in mid-March to change the zoning on Bernardston Road near the city line from Rural Residential to General Commercial to make it easier for businesses to move there, particularly a marijuana cultivator that has its eye on the Indoor Action property. At the time, Coulson said the Rural Residential zoning put up roadblocks for anyone seeking to use the property for virtually any type of business.

Neither Coulson, nor Indoor Action’s Program Director Charlie Edwards, could be reached for additional comment about the expected sale by press time on Thursday.

While Coulson, in his 70s, had been looking to retire long before the COVID-19 pandemic began, Coulson detailed in his email to clients how the health crisis impacted Indoor Action, saying that business was down by 75 to 80 percent due to health safety restrictions in place.

“I am grateful we were able to offer some of the programs, even though they might have been on a limited basis, as well as make it through the winter,” Coulson wrote. “Everyone who participated was exceptional at following all the protocols necessary to keep everyone safe.”

He also thanked Edwards, his part-time employees and his clients for “a great 25 years.”

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“I have come to know many of you in the community, and have gotten to see some grow up and move on into adulthood during those 25 years,” he wrote. “That has been a real gift for me.”

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