(NOTE: This
appeared in Winston-Salem Monthly magazine on Oct. 30, 2015.)
Training Ground
You can train like a pro at Chris Paul’s new D-1 Sports Training facility in Winston-Salem.
By Tom Gillispie Oct. 30, 2015
Basketball star Chris Paul says he had long been thinking of opening a topnotch basketball/athletics facility in Winston-Salem. Late this summer, it opened.
Paul partnered with D-1 Sports Training &
Therapy, based in Nashville, Tenn., to get it done.
The Winston-Salem D-1 facility is located at
1901 Mooney St., next to Hanes Mall, in the former home of floral products
wholesaler Raper’s. The 43,487-square-foot facility features two full-length
NBA basketball courts, state-of-the-art exercise equipment, a full-sized weight
room and an 85-by-35-yard turf field.
Also, D-1 is partnering with Wake Forest
Baptist Medical Center, which will provide on-site orthopedic and sports
medicine care, physical therapy and rehab services.
The term D-1 comes from the former name of the
NCAA’s highest division, Division 1 or D-1. The D-1 programs focus on speed,
strength and overall health.
Paul said he first talked to Will Bartholemew,
D-1’s owner and CEO, about five years ago.
Bartholemew, a football player at the
University of Tennessee from 1998-2001, said that Paul has the kind of
character he’s looking for in D-1. It’s also important that Paul has strong
ties to Winston-Salem, after starring in basketball at West Forsyth High School
and Wake Forest University before going to the NBA 10 years ago.
“Chris is a no-brainer,” Bartholemew said.
“When you look at this market, obviously, he represents all of those things.”
Sports Med Properties of Matthews developed the
facility, with $1.1 million in renovation work done by AM King Construction Co.
of Charlotte.
Paul said the D-1 facility is like home to him.
“For me, this is my happy place,” Paul said.
“This is where I can just get away from everything that’s going on and be a kid
and play basketball.”
Marc Pruitt, the director of basketball
operations, says he had talked to the Paul family about the possibility of a
Chris Paul D-1 facility.
“I got a call from the family in about mid-May
telling me what they wanted to do and what they wanted me to do,” Pruitt said in early August. “I jumped on board when
they figured the stuff out.”
Pruitt says that he’ll be forming youth
basketball programs, skill development programs, adult leagues, and working
with the CP3 All-Stars, Paul’s AAU team.
The skill coordinator is 27-year-old Zach
Frazer, a former Notre Dame quarterback who later transferred to the University
of Connecticut and then became a player for the Arena Football League’s San
Antonio Talons.
Frazer was in Charlotte before he
moved to Winston-Salem.
“I have a passion to give back to the
community and the people around me,” said Frazer, who played football,
basketball and baseball in high school. “I was a former athlete who didn't have
these training facilities.”
His mission with D-1? “I want to
change lives for the better,” Frazer said.
The medical clinic is important to Paul, now a
star point guard for the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers.
“I think what made it all come together was
having Wake Forest Medical be a part of it,” Paul said when he visited
Winston-Salem in August for a big event at the D-1 facility.
“This
facility here, Paul added, “is bigger than me. It’s about the community. It’s
about everyone here at home.”
Pruitt was doing youth programs at the Central
YMCA when he first met the Paul family. He says that the first call he got was
from Robin Paul, Chris’s mother; she asked if the family could help the YMCA in
some way.
“That was our first encounter, and I knew the
family was dedicated,” Pruitt said. “The kids (Chris and older brother C.J.)
helped us score games, and I could see the commitment in everyone in the
family.”
The facility opened in early July and hosted a
65-team AAU tournament later in the month.
The Winston-Salem facility is one of 29 D-1
facilities around the country, as star athletes lend their names to similar
programs.
Besides Paul, the biggest stars in the D-1
program are the NFL’s Peyton Manning (Chattanooga, Knoxville and Nashville in
Tennessee), and Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow (Palm Beach Gardens, Tampa and
Savannah).
Among the other notables in D-1 are the NFL’s
Philip Rivers (Huntsville, Raleigh), the NBA’s Carmelo Anthony (Baltimore),
former NBA star Chauncey Billups (Colorado Springs and Denver), former NFL star
Herschel Walker, and former Atlanta Braves star Chipper Jones (Palm Beach
Gardens and Tampa in Florida).
The Matthews, N.C., facility features former
Charlotte Panthers star Steve Smith.
Frazer reminds everyone that the facility is
for athletes, not just basketball players.
“I work with NFL players, baseball
players, a marathon runner,” he said. “I make sure they use the correct form
and technique, and that they have the mindset of an athlete.”
More blog entries by Tom Gillispie
EDITOR@WORK blog entries
Entries from The Dog Blog
Blog entries from The Auto Racing Journal
(a book of great stories about the Intimidator)
(the book of great NASCAR stories)
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