Yorkregion.com - Sports - Training centre helps athletes reach new heights
Training centre helps athletes reach new heights
Edmonton Oilers forward and Markham resident Raffi Torres (left) throws a weighted ball to brother (and former Markham Junior A Waxer) Daniel as they train at the Advantage Athletes Training Centre on Denison Street. The recently opened centre caters to elite athletes.
Sports
May 08, 2008 07:15 PM
By: Mike Hayakawa
With 8,800 square feet of specialized training areas, Vael Lindsey feels justified in claiming Advantage Athletes Training Centre is not your everyday run-of-the-mill health club.
The $500,000 facility, which opened on Denison Street east of Woodbine Avenue in November, features:
• a three-lane, 55-yard spike-proof speed training facility;
• underpadded turf area to practise footwork, balance drills and strengthening; and,
• a fuel system training area in which athletes use studio cycles and a power area complete with universal machines, Olympic platforms and a suspension training system.
With all this in mind, it’s no surprise Lindsey, who owns the centre with fellow Markham resident Brian Furlong, said it’s geared toward high-performance athletes.
“Our motto is you’re an athlete first. We want to make you be best athlete you can be,” Lindsey said.
“Our whole concept isn’t about making people look good, but to make them perform as well as they can. Intensity is the key.”
Created at a cost of close to $500,000, Lindsey said the idea to create their facility began in February 2006.
Much of Lindsey’s interest stemmed from his position as vice-president of sales and new business development for Advantage Fitness Sales Inc., which is next door to the centre.
But at the same time, he played a lot of sports growing up in Scarborough and has two sons, Saxon and Jesse, who played football at Markham District High School.
Lindsey and Furlong visited training centres throughout Canada and the United States to get ideas.
But they also wanted unique features.
That’s where the lounge, with TV and Internet access, comes in.
“We wanted to create a better experience for the parents instead of having them sit on bleachers or wooden benches while they waited for their kids,” he said.
“We’re just not a community centre.”
Among the coaches on staff are general manager Kent McDonald, who Lindsey has known for more than 10 years through his business and specializes in athletic conditioning.
Brad Corcoran, a certified strength and conditioning specialist, is the centre’s head coach.
Also on staff is Nanci Guest, who is the head nutrionist for Team Canada at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Ian Warner, a Markham resident and father of Texas Christian University trackster Justyn Warner, is speed coach and Ron Cristiani is involved with the centre’s junior hockey athletes.
To date, Lindsey estimated the centre has attracted almost 400 athletes as young as 11 from around the Greater Toronto Area.
That includes dragonboat, youth soccer, football, baseball, basketball and rugby teams, plus figure skaters and golfers.
“Each session is coached, whether it be one-on-one or as a team,” he said.
He added the club does not sell memberships, but single classes, programs and packages of sessions.
Check out www.advantage4athletes.com for more information.