We recently connected with Conley Wessel and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Conley thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

The idea for TurfBlox came from a real problem I was trying to solve with an athlete. I was working with a college running back who was coming off an ACL injury. In the gym, we were able to clean up his movement patterns and build strength, but once we got him back on the field in cleats, the same issues showed up—his knee would collapse, and he had pain and hesitation when trying to cut at full speed. It became clear that what we were doing in the gym wasn’t fully transferring to the field.

I went looking for a tool that would allow us to train those movement patterns in cleats, at the right angles, under real conditions—but it didn’t exist. So I started building it myself. I spent weeks in my garage creating and testing different prototypes until we found something that worked. Not only did it help that athlete return to full performance, but when I showed it to other coaches, they immediately saw its value. That’s when I realized this wasn’t just a solution for one athlete—it had the potential to help many.

Conley, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My journey into sports performance training started by chance. It began with my son—he wanted to get better at flag football, so we started training together on the weekends. He invited a few teammates, and before long I had a group of kids showing up consistently. What started as something simple turned into a real passion for helping athletes improve. That led me to pursue certifications in personal training and sports performance, and over time, I continued to build my knowledge through experience and education. I spent a couple of years training athletes for free, just because I loved it, and that passion is still at the core of everything I do today.

TurfBlox came out of that same mindset—solving real problems for athletes. I created it while working with an athlete returning from injury who needed a way to train proper movement patterns in cleats, on the field. When I couldn’t find a tool that did that, I built one. Today, TurfBlox is a versatile training tool used to improve foot and ankle strength, reinforce joint angles, and help athletes transfer what they do in the gym to real game situations. Every set is still built by hand by my son and me, which is something I’m incredibly proud of. What sets us apart is that personal connection—we genuinely care about the athletes using our product. More than anything, I want people to know that TurfBlox was built with purpose, and everything we do is driven by a desire to help athletes move better, perform better, and stay healthy.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I think what really helped build my reputation early on was my network. It started with friends and people close to me who believed in what I was doing and helped get TurfBlox into the right hands. That initial support gave the product a chance to be seen and used in real training environments.

From there, it was the coaches and trainers who truly understood the mission behind TurfBlox that made the biggest impact. They were willing to take a chance on it—introducing it into their programs and even using it with professional athletes. That level of trust set the tone. Once it proved effective at the highest levels, it created a ripple effect. It showed that TurfBlox wasn’t just useful—it was valuable across the entire spectrum, from youth athletes all the way to professionals.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

One of the biggest pivots in my journey came when I went from being strictly a coach to creating a product. I was working with an athlete coming off an ACL injury, and while we were making progress in the gym, those improvements weren’t transferring to the field—especially in cleats. I realized there wasn’t a tool that allowed us to train the right movement patterns under real conditions. At that point, I had a choice: keep trying to work around the problem, or create a solution. That’s when I started building the first TurfBlox prototypes in my garage.

The second pivot came shortly after. What started as a tool for one athlete quickly turned into something bigger when other coaches and trainers saw it and wanted to use it with their athletes. That’s when I had to shift my mindset from just solving a problem in my own training to building something that could serve a much larger audience. It pushed me into learning manufacturing, branding, and scaling a product—things I had no background in at the time. Looking back, those pivots were uncomfortable, but they were also the moments that created the biggest growth.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.turfblox.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/turfblox/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1jtlaBAXhV099iJxBE5ioA

Image Credits

Nathan Tafao