So, the NJ 2012 wrestling season ended for EVERYONE on Sunday.

Congrats to those who made it to Atlantic City, BIGGER congrats if you placed or even won.

Team Underground sent 13 wrestlers to Atlantic City and The Home News Tribune did a story on these wrestlers HERE (click to Read Full Story).

When the dust settled, we had 5 place winners:

- Craig DeLaCruz of Bound Brook 4th place (Freshman)

- Jonathan Schleiffer of East Brunswick 3rd place (Sophomore)

- Troy Heilmann of South Plainfield 2nd place (Junior)

- Anthony Ashnault of South Plainfield 1st place (Junior)

- Brenden Curly Calas of Seton Hall Prep 1st place (Junior)

I’ve seen and heard MANY thoughts from parents and wrestlers on what to do now that their season ended.

Some return with NO time off, others won’t return till September (not sure who needs 6 months off) while others rest a few days.

I’m sure you can tell who is going to be the MOST successful, so, here are my tips for both athletes and parents:

Yesterday I was interviewed by The Home News Tribune regarding the success of our NJ high school wrestlers. Mid way through I broke down and started crying. Be on the look out for the story of The Underground Strength Gym and the success these athletes have created for themselves.

HUGE thanks to all the parents, athletes & coaches for supporting what we do as well as my friends and colleagues, near and far. If I tried to name ALL of you the list would be LONG! #ThankYOU

Check the video below for details of 2 BIG inspiration and success stories from 2 NJ high school wrestlers…..

Below is a list of the NJ high school wrestlers who train at The Underground Strength Gym and have qualified for the nj state wrestling tournament in Atlantic City this weekend.

I am proud of ALL of you, regardless of how you finish or already finished. You’ve worked harder than anyone else and what you learn through the work you put out will never be forgotten!

1) Ryan Fahy / Spotswood

2) Craig DeLaCruz / Bound Brook

3) Anthony Rosamilia / Bishop Ahr

4) Brian McCrystal / Bishop Ahr

5) Anthony Ashnault / SP

6) Troy Heilmann / SP

7) Matt Coppola / Watchung

Mike DiVito / Watchung

9) Ali Yildiz / South Brunswick

10) Jon Schleiffer / East Brunswick

11) Brenden Calas / Seton Hall Prep

12) Erik Beshada / CBA (Christian Brothers Academy)

13) Cole Cameron / Howell

If you want to become your own success story, then don’t wait, sign up for a FREE trial workout by clicking HERE, space is limited, serious inquiries only, please.

In Strength,

Team Underground

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If you want to be better than the competition there’s NO secret: You MUST train smarter than your competition, train harder and overall, do ALL you do Better than your competition.

When you do the right things in your training, not only does your physical prowess step above and beyond the others, but so does your confidence. Confidence is more often than not THE limiting factor that stops many athletes from becoming champions. They simply don’t believe in themselves.

How can you believe in yourself if you haven’t trained in a way that you KNOW is better than those around you?

Well, check out 8th grade Basketball BEAST, Brandon Radd of Edison.

He just received MVP for his Basketball League AND he received honors in his all honors classes, NO easy feat at all, considering he also plays Basketball for his middle school team, trains with us 1 x week, goes to CCD…. that’s a BUSY schedule for an 8th grader!

Check out the details below, HUGE congrats to our homeboy, B.Radd!

As you can see, it takes a “team” to create success. We have a hard working kid with supportive parents and the success always comes. The right things happen.

Are you a supportive parent with a hard working, well mannered athlete who wants to become a champion? If so, why not give him / her the opportunity to realize their true potential?

Sign up for a FREE Trial Workout below and get started TODAY….. Don’t be “that guy” who wants to start “tomorrow”…. “when the season ends….”

The time for success is NOW, NOT tomorrow…..

In Strength,

Team Underground

I just stopped by a BIG sports plex in Metuchen, NJ. I was watching one of our kick butt athletes, Amber Rauh, playing Volleyball with her club team. I was fired up seeing her play! When I saw her play I thought to myself, “WOW. I would get KILLED playing against her team!! ha ha” To see her strength, power and MOST of all, her confidence to play the way she was playing, it REALLY made me happy. It let me know we’re helping athletes do what we set out to do.

I saw TONS of girls playing Volleyball, jumping, running, cutting directions…. There were several courts of high school volleyball clubs playing.

I started thinking of a girl who was an AWESOME Basketball & Softball athlete & tore BOTH ACLs her final 2 seasons. I was her Phys. Ed. teacher in elementary and middle school. I watched this girl grow up.

That same girl didn’t want to train with us when she was mid way through high school, she was brain washed into thinking girls who train with weights will look like men.

TRUTH: Sorry, it’s NOT that easy, if it was that easy, all our 120 lb athletes would be 200 lbs of solid muscle but they’re NOT.

Her junior year, this star athlete tore her ACL during Basketball and had to get surgery, missing her junior season of Softball.

Senior year, she tore her OTHER ACL during Basketball, missing her final season of Softball, killing ALL chances to play sports in college and even more, lost ALL her opportunity to get a college scholarship.

I’ll NEVER forget this. It sounds odd, but it’s NOT a rare occurrence for female athletes.

She listened to false information and decided against training, which resulted in her not being physically prepared to the best of her ability.

That’s what we do at The Underground. We help YOU realize your true potential and the BIGGEST way to help you is to strengthen your body and reduce your chances of injury. If you’re hurt, you can’t compete. Period.

Anyway, back to my story while seeing all these girls playing Volleyball…..

Studies show that high school female athletes suffer from over 30,000 ACL tears every year.

Watching all these volleyball clubs playing, I saw ACL tears somewhere in this group, looming…. I looked around and saw nothing buy athletes playing soccer and volleyball. There was NOTHING regarding proper strength & conditioning.

I took a walk to the front desk as I was leaving and asked the guy at the front desk if he has anyone talking to the parents about proper training for their kids, as I saw kids playing soccer as young as 5 in that building. I said, “I’d love to help if you don’t have anyone educating your parents and their kids.”

His first response was NOT what I expected, “Yes, this would be a GREAT complimentary benefit to our athletes and an added value to our parents. I’d love to do this because I CARE about the athletes playing here….”

Well, that wasn’t the response…. Here is his response: “You would have to pay us $1,500 in sponsorship to speak here because people will go and train with you after speaking here…”

I replied, “That’s up to them if they want to train here, but you just told me you don’t have anyone here to help these athletes with proper strength & conditioning, nobody talking to the parents, nobody educating them on how to improve their performance…. You still want money for someone offering to help your athletes and their parents?”

I told him I wouldn’t pay $1,500 to hang a banner when my intentions are to help the athletes. His response, “Not interested…..”

I walked away, sick to my stomach, that this manager or perhaps the owner, was solely focused on $$$$, he was NOT focused at all on caring about these athletes and helping them achieve their true potential. What a shame.

He was too arrogant and felt if these kids and parents are educated they would train with me. Well, that would be great, that IS the goal of mine, in our efforts to help all local athletes. Period. That is what we do. We train athletes. We help them reach their potential.

The difference between us and this close minded manager is this: If I can’t help my athletes in a specific area, I bring in an expert to fill the gap.

These kids deserve better. These kids deserve MORE than just a place to play sports.

As a Coach and as a former competitive athlete who had injuries that sidelined me and killed my chances to reach my full potential…. and as a father, this makes me sick to my stomach that someone didn’t see that this would HELP the athletes and NOT cause him to lose money. Instead, it would have INCREASED the value of his business because he would be showing that he CARED about the athletes.

People like this need to re-think what $1,500 means to them or $15.

Would these kids / parents STOP playing sports in this metuchen sportsplex because I educated them on how to reduce injuries?

NO. I don’t own a sportsplex, we train athletes so we can help them achieve their true potential in sport.

We bring in top nutritionists, mental coaches and other coaches to compliment what we do and give our kids the best we can, especially if we are not covering these critical areas. We don’t say, “Hey, Pay us if you want to speak here!!”

Wanna know what this comes down to?

The Answer: CARING…

If you work with athletes, in ANY capacity, you need to CARE. Period.

Recommended Reading Materials for Metuchen SportsPlex Management:

Committed to YOUR Success,

–Team Underground–

See More Success Stories & Testimonials From Parents & Athletes HERE

If you ever wonder HOW we train, the best thing to do is to visit our you tube page and see our training videos.

If you REALLY wanna gain access to our coaching to help you become a champion then PLEASE, do NOT call and ask for a tour of the gym.

Touring our gym does nothing…. and, only takes 10 seconds. Through the years, EVERYONE now owns Kettlebells, free weights, sandbags, tractor tires, etc.

The tools mean NOTHING, it’s the coaching that brings the results.

In addition, we are very selective as to WHO we train. Affording our membership doesn’t guarantee entree into our program.

Your entry into our program depends on your efforts during our trial workout as well as whether or not you have been referred to us from an existing athlete / parent. Your character is THE difference maker in your success.This applies to our athletes AND parents. Unfortunately, we’ve removed some athletes from our program when their parents had issues with morals, manners and supportive behavior.

Here are some short clips of our athletes in action. As always, it’s harder than it looks. If hard work scares you, The Underground will not be a place for you. We simply can’t be good for everyone.

As you can see, we have a variety of athletes training here, from middle school / youth athletes, to high school, collegiate and olympic level athletes – they ALL work side by side.

If you’re ready to become a champion we’re ready to work with you.

If you sign up for your FREE Trial workout and our membership is full you have the option to be placed on a waiting list.

Our space is limited to ensure the best coaching for our students, we give OUR best and expect YOU to do the same!

In Strength,

- Team Underground -