In the early 1980s, Tim Taylor was a Staples High School football player.
After graduating from Springfield College with a degree in exercise science, he spent time as a strength and conditioning coach at West Point.
As the longtime owner of Southport Racquet Club, Taylor noticed an increasing number of injuries among female athletes. His daughter is a field hockey, basketball and lacrosse player at Staples, so Taylor’s interest is extremely personal.
His dream was to create a place where athletes — particularly girls — could not just train as a team, but learn how to prevent injuries.
Tim Taylor
The result is Athletic Performance Center — a new space in the Swim Seventy building on Norwalk’s Willard Avenue, just over the Westport line. Taylor spent a year building it out.
There’s a weight room with a killer sound system of course, and a rowing room, but also a meeting space where Taylor explains the goals of each workout. A big screen TV can show a photo of Jackie Joyner Kersee — and zoom in on her hamstring. (That’s one key to speed — but also the frequent site of injuries.)
Taylor has a video system, to film athletes as they work out and run. There’s a basketball court in back too, for fun.
After all, workouts should not be all “work.”
And injuries need not be a part of sports.
(For more information, click here or call 203-803-5486.)