Former Baldwin linebacker launches fieldhouse to help young Maui athletes train on island

KAHULUI — As JoJo Dickson peered out at the expanse of The Underdog Foundation Fieldhouse, he thought about what a similar facility would have meant to him as a youngster.

Dickson competed in every sport he could as a child growing up on Maui. He went on to play linebacker at Baldwin High School, the University of Idaho and professionally, with several stops in NFL camps and in Canada. But he always wished he’d had the exposure and opportunities that athletes got on the Mainland.

Now his dream of a gathering place for Maui’s young athletes to develop is coming true as The Underdog Foundation, a nonprofit he founded two years ago, is on the verge of opening a 12,000-square-foot facility for games, training and scouting opportunities in Kahului.

Amenities will include a 20-yard-by-40-yard turf portion where football workouts and indoor soccer practice and matches can be held; four 55-foot-by-12-foot batting cages fully equipped and interchangeable for baseball and softball; a 1,000-square-foot weight room; a classroom for school work and team meetings; two office rooms; a photo/media room; and three individual restrooms with showers.

“This space is designed to empower our local youth by providing them with the resources and environment to develop their skills and thrive, right here at home,” Dickson, the nonprofit’s founder and president, said Monday.

A grand opening will be held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Nov. 9 with tours, music, food, games and prizes at the facility, which is located near the entrance to Ballard Family Mortuary in the old Group Builders Incorporated building at 405 Ala Makani St. The event will be free to the public.

Dickson has been working on the project since he and his wife Amber moved back home to Maui in 2015. He started his Dickson Performance sports training for-profit business soon after his final stint in pro ball with the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League.

Dickson has coordinated ESPN 300 Elite football camps for three straight years at King Kekaulike Stadium, most recently on July 6. 

“If I knew then what I know now, like it would have been so much easier, but it just wasn’t the case,” Dickson said of his childhood on Maui. “And so be it, we’ll move on and we’ll hopefully make that the case for a lot of kids coming up.”

Dickson formerly ran the program in a 4,000-square-foot facility at 150 Hana Highway, but capacity was limited with as few as 20 youngsters at once.

With the new facility, Dickson said capacity could be around 100 at once. He has 150 paying customers through Dickson Performance now who will be in the new facility. He said that number could double quickly with the new facility’s size.

“We pursued many different places, but we were always shot down,” Dickson said of the search for the larger facility. “No one was willing to work with us.”

The staff is currently just Dickson, his wife Amber and Matt Palmer, a coach who does a little bit of everything. Dickson said the plan is to add staff as the need increases with more customers. For larger camps and clinics, they will bring in staffers to run the single events “for the day or the week, whatever is needed.”

When teams are using the facility, their coaches will also be in supervisory roles.

The opportunity to lease the building came together rapidly. The Maui TUF Initiative, a program through the foundation, had donated three $100,000 tiny homes to Lahaina fire survivors in July and one of the homes went to Jeff Lazo. Lazo’s uncle Nestor Lazo owns the building that TUF leased for the fieldhouse — the lease is for three years at rent of $19,000 per month.

The discussions started in July before they went silent for a month. Then Dickson got an email with a lease agreement asking if he was ready to move in. He took a week to write a business plan and call up sports contacts across the nation.

“Next thing you know, we had basically $250,000 worth of equipment financed and we were ready to sign on the (Oct. 1) deadline,” Dickson said. “So we took that leap. I like to say we skipped all the steps and took a big jump.”

The last three weeks have been a whirlwind cleaning and preparing the building, which has been vacant for about five years. The work included removal of sand that had blown into the building, which features five large retractable doors. 

Sanding, drywall, demolition, concrete work and landscaping was also required. LED lighting was installed and the weight room equipment was moved in. The rest of the equipment, turf and many amenities needed for the facility started arriving Tuesday.

“This week and next, our turf, batting cages, all that stuff will go in,” Dickson said. “All our office stuff will get done, too.”

Dickson said he will strive to keep costs at a minimum for all of the programs planned, from coaching clinics, to speed and agility training, individual workouts, team workouts, soccer training, 5-on-5 football trench games (offensive line vs. defensive line) and baseball/softball workouts and practice.

The cost for the ESPN 300 camp is $99, compared to more than $400 for similar showcase camps on the Mainland. He said camps, which can run from three days to a week, will cost approximately $100; one- or two-day clinics will be in the $50 range; and training runs between $150 and $225 per month, depending on if it’s two or three days per week.

Dickson also envisions overnight camps, indoor soccer tournaments and sessions where older student athletes who are prospects can showcase their abilities for several professional and college scouts all at once. Costs per team for soccer tournaments will be between $250 and $500.

Dickson has a scholarship program for Lahaina fire survivors and hopes to expand that to all financially challenged participants in the future. The facility is open to boys and girls, Dickson said.

Shane Dudoit, the head baseball coach at Kamehameha Schools Maui and a scout for the Texas Rangers organization, says it is a big opportunity for Maui athletes. Dudoit recently spearheaded a showcase trip to the Mainland for 23 high school seniors from Hawai’i — including four from Maui — who are not yet committed to a college program.

“Getting more cages on Maui is not going to hurt, braddah,” Dudoit said. “The more places for guys to get the work in, the better. Now we have got to get some golf simulators in there so the kids can work after it gets dark at the golf course. I think anything for the kids has its value. I don’t think anyone would turn away something like that popping up here on Maui.”

Dudoit has known Dickson for more than two decades and Dudoit’s sons — all three of them current or former college baseball players — have worked out under Dickson’s tutelage, as has mom Jovi Dudoit.

“This does not surprise me at all,” Shane Dudoit said. ”JoJo is all about the kids.” 

Dudoit said that Maui families can save money by using the facility, but must understand there will be some costs involved.

“It costs money to put something like that together, but instead of spending $5,000 to go on a trip to the Mainland and play summer ball for three days, spend some money, go get in the weight room and go get in the batting cage,” Dudoit said. “And stay on Maui.”

Dickson said he envisions action in the facility from sunup to sundown on a daily basis. It will open at 5 a.m. for workouts before school and offer open gym time during weekday school hours.

“We’re going to have batting cages open, the classroom will be open right after school,” he said. “So we’ll have kids just kind of flowing through here consistently all day, getting some extra work in wherever they may need it.”

Dickson paused for a moment when he thought of the dream that has nearly come true.

“Wow. It’s just, yeah, we’ve been blessed along this journey,” he said.