MAKING FITNESS HIS NEW BUSINESS
Lions’ tight end Willson buys into new Elite Training Systems project for Windsor
Six years into his NFL career, Luke Willson had not dabbled much in business investments. That changed on Monday in a move Willson hopes will help him extend his NFL career while also helping kids in the region where he grew up. Willson has invested in an Elite Training Systems (ETS) franchise that will operate out of W.C. Kennedy Collegiate facility through an agreement with the Greater Essex County District School Board.
“This is the first one ( business opportunity) for me,” the 29-year-old Willson said.
“I have a passion for this and I’d love to see Windsor kids use it more. I have a passion for this area and I really trust these people.”
Mark Fitzgerald, who is the strength and conditioning coach for the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks, established ETS in Whitby and has worked with Willson for years.
“Every time he came down to Whitby, he’d see the gym and ask questions,” Fitzgerald said of Willson.
“We always talked about how I did things and how it worked. He asked one day if I ever wanted to open another.”
This has been a project more than three years in the making. It started with a conversation between Kennedy phys-ed director Jim MacDougall and school trustee Alan Halberstadt. “It’s taken a long time, but it’s hard to get something like this together, this private-public partnership,” Halberstadt said. Due to costs, Kennedy closed its pool and filled it with cement, which created a perfect location for the ETS and talks to bring in the centre began to heat up a year ago.
“Windsor’s known for athletics,” Fitzgerald said. “There’s a strong community of hockey, football, basketball. It’s a market that works and an underserviced market, I think.
“I think it’s a market that makes sense. For me, it’s enough of a market and it’s close to the U.S.”
Under the agreement, the state-of-the-art facility will have fitness and testing equipment available free to Kennedy students an hour before classes begin until an hour after the school day ends.
“It will be the best high-performance centre in any high school in Canada and it’s happening at Kennedy,” said MacDougall, who also gave credit to Kennedy principal Josh Canty for getting the program started.
“The people that are going to benefit the most from this project are the students that walk through the doors every single day at Kennedy.”
The rest of the time, the facility will be available to be used by athletes and athletic teams throughout the area, who will pay a fee.
“It’s not going to be, ‘Here’s a program and go do it,’” said former Windsor Lancers quarterback Austin Kennedy, who will serve as head of operations for the local ETS.
“We’re going to track your results and make sure you’re constantly improving. It’s designed for the guys and girls who are serious about performance.”
Many experts have come out against athletes specializing in a single sport year-round and MacDougall said this program is meant for athletes and is not sport-specific. “Understanding not just how to be a hockey player or a soccer player, but how to train to be an athlete,” MacDougall said. “That’s what I think, at the youth level, they miss. They just want to train to be a hockey player, but your chances of becoming a better hockey player increase if you’re a better athlete. I think athletic development is the focus of this place and not sports. To see it come to fruition is awesome.”
Willson, Fitzgerald and MacDougall are the main investors along with former Windsor Spitfires athletic therapist Joey Garland.
“I knew my time with the Spits was running short,” said Garland, who stepped down after last season to spend more time with his family.
“Mark called before last season and said this opportunity might be coming around. He asked if I would be interested. I think the opportunity to put in a highperformance centre is a good idea. What we’re able to do here doesn’t exist.”
Work will now begin in earnest to remodel the old pool area, bring equipment in and hopefully have the program up and running within six weeks. “When it’s done, I think it will be breathtaking for guys into this stuff,” Willson said.
“You’ll see me in here. It’s not just something I’m part of. My career’s on the line (and) I’ve got a lot on the line (as a pending NFL free agent).
“The fact I’m going to be here with these guys speaks volumes about what I think this place will be and how I feel about the coaches.”