By Alexandria Baca Orlando Sentinel
6:16 p.m. EST, June 24, 2012
Tim Tebow shares a laugh with a group of athletes that he was working on a passing drill with at the opening of the D1 Sports Training and Therapy in Lake Mary on June 24, 2012. (Jacob Langston, Orlando Sentinel / Jun 24, 2012)
Despite an NFL career that has taken him to Denver and now New York, Floridians still love former Gators quarterback Tim Tebow.
An estimated 300 people attended a special afternoon training session Sunday with Tebow to mark the opening of D1 Sports Training and Therapy's Lake Mary facility.
The company, which has 15 other locations primarily in the Southeast, is known for partnering with local sports-medicine groups and boasting celebrity co-owners, such as new Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning and professional soccer player Heather Mitts.
Tebow and Atlanta Braves third baseman Chipper Jones are co-owners of the 20,000-square-foot Lake Mary location, alongside Orlando Orthopedic Center. Tebow also is a co-owner of the Savannah, Ga., and Tampa locations. Inside the former Florida Business Interiors building, weight machines line the downstairs workout area next to an Astroturf field with overhead fans 40 feet in diameter.
Sports Specific Training Group, a separate sports-medicine rehabilitation group, has set up an office inside the D1 facility for in-house therapy, and Matt Toy, D1's vice president of corporate marketing, said D1 hopes to attract other vendors.
D1 President and CEO Will Bartholemew founded the company in 2002 and said he choose to open a facility in Orlando after the success of D1 Tampa, which opened earlier this year. D1 Orlando (Lake Mary), originally scheduled to open Monday, will open within the next month with a staff of eight, Toy said. The facility is at 940 Williston Park Place in Lake Mary.
"We look for a market that has great athletes, and we look for people that are training hard and that keep healthy lifestyles, and I think there's no question that Orlando is that kind of market," Toy said.
Shaun Moore, who already has experienced a few advance sessions with the D1 staff, said he started thinking about training with D1 after becoming a father about three months ago. "I want to get in shape for [my son] so when he's a little older, you know, I'm the one teaching him to play baseball. I'm the one teaching him to run and play football," Moore said.
Moore said he had tried going to the gym but felt intimidated by the atmosphere. "There's all these dudes working out, and you don't really know where to go and what to do … and you leave without really getting any kind of workout done."
Everyone at D1 trains in small groups coached by professional staff. There are no individual workouts performed like at many fitness gyms.
"We train athletes, and for us that means anyone from seven years old to 70 years old. But we're also training people that are just trying to get fit and healthy," Toy said.
Tebow, who trained at D1 Nashville prior to the NFL Combine and continues to train at D1 facilities in the NFL off-season, said the training is about more than just getting bigger, faster and stronger.
Talking about the young athletes who train at D1, Tebow said, "Whether they make it in their sport or they don't, whether it's just about losing weight or not, they can still learn character and strength and honor because those are things that we're preaching here."
Although the company has no spiritual component as part of its business plan, it does emphasize sportsmanship and the idea that anyone can be an athlete whether or not they are headed for the pros.
Lake Mary Mayor David Mealor attended the event Sunday with his daughter Stephanie Black and said he likes that D1 emphasizes character, and he thinks that's what Tebow symbolizes. He said he hopes the new training facility will add to Lake Mary as a great destination for visitors.
D1 Sports Training classes start at $120 per month, Bartholemew said.
abaca@tribune.com or 407-420-5525
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