BASEBALL FOR THE `BARN'-STORMERS.(SPORTS) - Albany Times Union (Albany, NY)

Byline: ALAN HART Staff writer

Some people were born to sing or dance. Some were born to be writers, or teachers. For still others, their destiny was always to be an airplane pilot or a carpenter.

But Ken and Norm Hayner were born to play baseball . . . and teach it, and coach it. The game, the sport, the experience of baseball is the fabric that has woven the tapestry that is both their lives.

``My brothers and I, we pretty much grew up playing baseball at the field where Harris Stadium is now or else playing on the land behind our parents' house,'' Ken Hayner said recently in the office of The Sports Barn.

The ``barn'' is an indoor baseball and softball batting facility that the brothers and their wives opened this April. They broke ground exactly one year ago, on Oct. 26, 1998. The building is across the street from the house and that land where Ken, Norm and a third brother -- Craig Hayner -- grew up as the sons of Harry and Carol Hayner.

``Mom and Dad have owned the land on both sides for a long time,'' Ken said. ``The building and the business actually came about after Norm and I had already begun our business of running a summer baseball camp for boys back in `92.''

The Hayner camps were a great success, so much so that they were in demand to the point that they had to keep moving to various locations around the Capital Region to accommodate more and more boys.

Norm and Ken needed a facility, or, if you'll forgive the irresistable baseball pun, a home base. They had a need. Their parents just happened to own a lot of land and were glad to help out in the family venture. Thus was the plan to build the batting facility hatched.

``We had the family property here and we knew our parents would retire soon, so we thought we'd use some land to develop our camps and our business,'' Ken said.

Ken and his wife, Sharon, and Norm and his wife, Deana, decided to go into business as joint partners and managers.

A lot of family love and passion for baseball has gone into the venture.

``I've had a lot of great memories in my life tied up in baseball, and most of them would be about playing on the same team with Norm,'' Ken said. ``In 1982 when I was a senior at Siena and Norm was a freshman, it was really the first time we'd been on a team together. We got to play a lot of summers together, too, after that in the Albany Twilight League. We were on the Apex Printing team, and one year we went to the Stan Musial World Series. Two other years, we missed going to the World Series by one game.''

Ken, who now is 39, retired from playing in 1992. Norm, who is 36, retired last year.

The youngest brother, Craig, is 32. Craig remains close to his brothers and parents both in spirit and in a very real physical sense. The younger Hayner and his wife, Carolyn, own Hayner's Farm Stand and Old-Fashioned Country Store just a long fungo fly ball down the road from the batting facility and their parents' home.

Norm, too, remembers the years he played baseball with his older brother as ``a very special time.''

``I pretty much followed Ken in my career path,'' Norm said. ``We both played at Shenendehowa High and then I followed him to Siena. We both got our master's degrees in sports management at UMass. After that, he coached at Hartwick. I always wanted to be a full-time college coach, but after I was an assistant at UMass, Siena and Skidmore for a few years, about five years ago my wife heard they needed a varsity coach at Burnt Hills High, so I inquired about it.''

Norm got the position. He's coached the Spartans for the past five years and is looking forward to April.

``I wanted the opportunity to be a head baseball coach, and it's been a great blessing,'' he said.

Norm also works for the Saratoga County Sheriff's Department as a road patrolman and also has taught a DARE class at Shenendehowa High for the last seven years.

``In the spring when my Burnt Hills season is in full swing, between the team and the road patrol job and this business, I probably average about 75 to 80 hours working per week,'' Norm said. ``I don't mind, though. I enjoy working with high school players and trying to develop a whole program. It can be a roller coaster ride, but it's worth it all.''

Ken and Sharon Hayner have two children -- Jessica, who is 5, and Josh, who is 2. Norm and Deana Hayner have two daughters -- Nicole, who is 2, and Rebecca, who is 5 months old.

Is there a potential line-drive hitter, like slick-fielding shortstop Ken was in his playing days? Or maybe a longball slugger, like feisty catcher Norm was in his day? If so, these Hayner offspring will be able to hone their swings year-round along with people of all ages who drop by the Barn.

``I like to teach hitting. We both do. We have all ages coming in here. We have some women in their 50s who are on softball teams who come in for hitting lessons,'' Ken said. ``I don't have a preference for any age group that wants to learn. No matter what age or gender, you always seem to get the full attention of whoever wants to learn. And whether it's a young person or someone older, it's exciting to see them get better.''

CAPTION(S):

CINDY SCHULTZ/TIMES UNION BROTHERS Norm Hayner, left, and Ken Hayner pose inside The Sports Barn, their indoor sports facility in Halfmoon. Norm has coached the Burnt Hills Spartans baseball team for the past five years.