Prodigy Sports Performance Provides Support, Experts to Athletes of All Ages

By Hacienda Network Staff Writer

Whether you are a young athlete looking to make your school's varsity team or an adult seeking an increased level of fitness, it can be difficult to make a commitment to working out on a regular basis. It helps to have others on your side who help you attain that goal, and that is a big part of what Prodigy Sports Performance hopes to provide.

"Community and family are big words for us. We really feel like our members are family members and we do what we can to help foster that and grow that," says Andrew Hamel, founder and CEO of Prodigy Sports Performance. "That way, people enjoy coming to the facility and, quite frankly, they feel guilty when they don't."

In fact, family is built into the business - Hamel's wife, Amanda, serves as Prodigy's community relations manager, and their six-year-old chocolate lab, Buddy, serves as mascot. "Buddy comes to the facility with me every day and hangs out," Hamel says. "He runs around with the clients at the gym - he's kind of our mascot and our welcoming service. He's definitely an integral part of our team as well."

Hamel began his career providing strength and conditioning as well as speed and agility services for young athletes. "I absolutely fell in love with it," he says. "I knew I wanted to do it as a career and do it on my own, so I started Prodigy in 2011." He holds a bachelor's degree in kinesiology from Wilmington College in Ohio, where he also played football with the Fightin' Quakers, and a master's degree in exercise physiology from Cal State East Bay.

In addition to Prodigy's focus on community, its programs are tailored for each client.

"We provide individualized strength and conditioning program in a group setting. We offer small group classes and that allows us to modify everything and provide individualized attention to our clients," Hamel says. "For example, with our youth athletes, we've got athletes of all different sports taking the same class but we're also able to do sport-specific programs for them. We're able to work with individuals who are recovering from injuries by modifying things and putting together individualized programs for them so that they can have a successful training program and experience."

That custom training experience begins with Hamel's introductory meeting with any newcomer to Prodigy.

"We go through what we call a success session with all of our new prospects. That's a 30 to 45 minute meeting just to really get to know our prospects and their needs and wants," he says. "For us, it's really about building that relationship with them so we kind of dig deep and get to know them personally - know about their families, their occupation, and all that type of stuff. And then we go through a trial period, anywhere from a week to a month depending on the program, where they come in and they try out our program and then we go from there. A lot of our veteran clients act almost as extra coaches for us, and they help our newbies along with their form and technique, and more importantly provide that motivation, accountability, support, and guidance."

For more information on Prodigy Sports Performance, call (925) 967-4109, e-mail getfit@we-are-prodigy.com, or access we-are-prodigy.com.

Photo: Founder and CEO, Andrew Hamel

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