New Hope Life Time Now Offers Sport-specific Training

For any athlete who takes their sport seriously, the goal is to not only be your best, but to one day compete at the next level.

“I want to play college hockey, and I need to get faster and stronger to do that,” said Avery Farrell, a student from Rogers High School. “That’s why I’m here.”

Farrell is referring to the New Hope Life Time. Last winter, the club remodeled its Alpha Studio to offer a program designed specifically for athletes called GameFace Training.

“It’s our culture. It’s what athletes say,” said DeVentri Jordan, founder of GameFace Training. “You put your game face on every day, right? Whether you’re going into an office meeting or you’re going to a football or basketball game, you always have your game face on.”

Jordan founded GameFace in 2013. Life Time recently partnered with Jordan to offer this specialized programming at two of its clubs — New Hope and Eden Prairie — with plans to expand.

“All of our athletes, they’re trained based off of the sport that they play,” Jordan said. “So we always have a saying we like to meet athletes where they’re at, whether they’re basketball, whether they’re a football player, hockey player, lacrosse player, golf.”

DeVentri Jordan, founder of GameFace Training.

‘It’s helped me a lot’

Each GameFace Training class starts with a warmup, followed by a movement series.

On a recent Thursday, the movements in that class were geared toward changing direction.

“It’s really hard some days,” Farrell said. “They really push you.”

As hard as the workouts may be, the trainers help them find the motivation to keep going.

“The drills and the conditioning, they keep you going and they always keep pushing you,” said Gerrit Poncius, a football player from Buffalo High School. “If you want to stop, they keep trying to push you through for you to get the workout done.”

After the movement portion of the class, the participants go through a weightlifting routine, with each workout customized to the athlete and their specific sport.

If you talk to the people here, the plan works.

“It’s helped me a lot. I can see the changes from junior year to senior year,” Poncius said. “My feet quickness, my strength, everything.”

“I love it. I think the atmosphere is really good here and it’s really helped me,” Farrell added. “I’ve gotten a lot better.”

The glory for these athletes happens in places like a football field, basketball court or hockey rink, but the hard work leading up to that starts in a gym in New Hope.

“You’ve got to focus on just winning today,” Jordan said. “Tomorrow has its own problems, but you’ve got to maximize the moments that you have right now.”

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