Gunter, Texas, is in the northern part of the Lone Star State–part of the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex–and the drive there is a beautiful one, with miles of rolling fields adding a relaxing feel as you close in on The Halo, a nearly 25-acre facility used by the Texas Glory organization for program workouts, training, meetings and more.

Kevin Shelton, the founder and head of the Texas Glory club org, oversees 100 Glory teams across multiple states and when he occasionally asks his teams to travel to Gunter for softball reasons, he usually gets the same reaction.

“First they complain about how isolated and far away it is,” he laughs, “but once they get here, they get it.”

The “it” in this case is the realization that this sports complex is one well worth traveling to, for all the resources it accords in a jaw-droppingly beautiful setting.

When I first pull into the parking lot of the address Kevin gave me, it looks more at first like an apartment complex than a well-known training facility and I wasn’t sure exactly where the program’s training was done.

But this is where the core of the prestigious organization is located and once we got on the complex on this beautiful September day and I got a first-hand tour, let’s just say—in this author’s opinion—it would put some college softball sports facilities to shame!

First, though, I started my at the Texas Glory headquarters by interviewing Coach Kevin, who is one of the most amazing and accomplished figures in the game today, with all he’s done on and off the softball fields.

If you didn’t see that interview, this is a great place to start for a better understanding of what the Texas Glory is and does:

Now, on to the tour of the complex itself… inside and out!

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Originally, what is now the Texas Glory workout location was the combination of a church and a senior folks home… to be precise, it featured independent living for older residents dealing with memory care.

Today, the sprawling facility—with indoor batting cages and four workout fields outside within a short walking distance of a beautiful lake—is shared by the Doulin’s Dodgers, a baseball organization that rotates using the complex, including the batting cages.

Before touring the spacious facilities, Kevin led me into his office which is filled with the familiar red, white and blue Glory colors on everything from jerseys to balls to branded items as varied as key chains, car magnets, air fresheners, truckers hats and stainless steel tumblers.

The org’s website—TexasGloryFastpitch.com—even has a “Shop” dropdown menu where many of the Glory’s more than 100 various items can be purchased.

On thing that was interested to start the day and to finish the day: as I entered and left Kevin’s office there were several boxes of products delivered, samples of the numerous Glory products available for purchase.

After catching up with the long-time coach and getting the latest on what he and the organization are doing, we started the tour of The Halo, both inside and outside of the facilities that never seemed to end.

Inside, there was:

• an impressive weight room,
• a meeting room with a beautiful view overlooking the three and a half fields used outside,
• and, key to the workout facility, two buildings that are roughly 15,000 square feet each, where there are multiple batting and pitching cages.

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I could write up 10,000 words to describe The Halo, but seeing is believing so here are some visuals of the center of the Texas Glory universe, location-wise at least…

Video & Pics… The Halo Batting Cages & Weightroom

Here are a few photos & videos of the facility inside and out… first, all the complex offers indoors:

On the day I was there, I also had the opportunity to watch a coach/player hitting workout and interview them afterwards: Texas Glory 14U head coach Mariah Montgomery Haygood and her hitting student Leighton Sahyouny, a 2031 centerfielder/shortstop with the Texas Glory 2K13 team.

Here’s Leighton taking some cuts in the cages:

… and my interview with Coach Montgomery Haygood and Leighton after their workout.

You gotta love Leighton, who does her first media interview and laughs adorably because of nerves, but she totally nails it in describing why she loves being a member of the Texas Glory family!

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Video & Pics… A Look at the Fields

…. And now the beautiful three and a half workouts fields outdoors:

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Overall, as you can see, it was an impressive day with Coach Kevin touring The Halo and seeing all the organization has to offer in this beautiful complex.

— Brentt Eads/Line Drive Media