We were lucky to catch up with Darnell Brown recently and have shared our conversation below.

Darnell, appreciate you joining us today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

‘Track Headz Training’ was named after a nickname given to me as a child by one of my track club teammates as a youth (S/O to Corrine). I was known for being dedicated to practice and having extensive knowledge of my sport. As a 8-9 year old, you could name any professional athlete associated with Track and Field and I could list their personal records, career achievements, and any of their accolades from memory. My life revolved around Track and Field and I had no problem showing it. My teammates labeled me a ‘Track Head’. As I grew into the sport my hunger for knowledge as a Track Athlete grew. It grew from random facts about my favorite athletes in Track and Field, to the Art and Sciences of Speed and High Performance. No matter the age, the label of Track Head bestowed upon me remained. Now as a Speed Coach, the term ‘Track Head’ seemed fitting for the name of my company. The only difference is now instead of being a Track Head about my Sport, as a youth athlete, I am now a Track Head for the application of that extensive knowledge to improve the athletic capabilities of my athletes and clients.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My beginnings as a Speed Coach started as a child. As a child, I would watch professional athletes in amazement at the feats of high performance they were able to achieve. This peaked a deep interest in the human body and the concept of Speed and Power. As I got older I gained additional interests in Science, Art, and Math. These became different lenses through which I could appreciate speed. As an athlete, I was able to learn and gain wisdom through training, learning from different coaches as well as training fellow teammates. In training my teammates, I found a great sense of purpose in applying the knowledge gained over years of experience and applying it to help them reach their goals. I took pleasure in the process of applying knowledge and consistency to make someone better at what they loved to do. This sense of purpose was the foundation to ‘Track Headz Training’.

Track Headz Training provides services that include Speed and Conditioning to athletes of all sports, Strength Training, Sports Rehab, as well as Coaching Consultations. We are excited about our new service of ‘Coaching Consultations’ because through this service we are able to assist other Coaches/ Parents with training or problems they may have with their athletes.

We solve many problems in our industry. How to get faster, stronger, injury prevention, and many more. The biggest problem we take pride in solving is.. ‘Why isn’t my athlete/son/daughter getting faster?’. This is a problem we get quite often for many athletes of different sports and athletes of all ages. Some athletes we work with have gone through many Speed Coaches and haven’t gotten faster. The ‘buck’ eventually stops with Track Headz. What sets us apart is the process in which we solve problems for our clients. We use a highly science-based approach to solve client problems on a case-by-case basis. Using a client’s athletic history and other unique factors to pinpoint the unique issue(s) and create a systematic process for correcting it.

I’m proud of the athletes/ client I’ve worked with who at first didn’t believe they would run their fastest again after injury or setback. But after hard, smart, and consistent work they were able to reach their goal, and then some. I’m proud of the athletes that were very successful before COVID, but due to COVID and its effect on their region were unable to partake in sports for two years. But through hard, smart, and consistent work they were able to regain their form and again reach their goals. I’m most proud of the clients/ ex-athletes whose goal may be to simply lose weight and be the best version of themselves and through hard, smart, and consistent work were able to achieve their goals. As a Coach, I appreciate those who come open to being changed for the better by the process. For potential clients who are looking to transform into the best versions of themselves, I encourage you to reach out to us so we can embark on that journey together.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I would say what helped me build my reputation within my industry the most has been simply helping my clients reach their performance goals, effectively. Being in the industry of sports performance/ fitness, where results are measured the majority of the time with numbers, it’s very easy to tell if you’re effective or not. I take pride in being effective and showing my clients their progress. But even in the event, that there isn’t any progress, I assume responsibility and quickly make the needed correction(s) to get them back on track. Being consistent in helping many clients reach their goals has helped to build my reputation over a period of time.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson I had to unlearn very early in my journey was the assumption that talent would just fall on my lap in the form of a young, unpolished, Usain Bolt talent-leveled child. As a Speed Coach, my wish was that an athlete of Usain Bolt’s talent would fall on my lap and I would be known as the best coach in the world and my athlete would go on to be an Olympic Champion and eventually a World Record Holder and countless other accolades (lol). This is something that I had to unlearn very quickly as I started putting unneeded pressure on myself and consequently my athletes to have signs of ‘Bolt-like’ talent. I learned instead, to focus on developing my athletes and focus on helping them to achieve their goals, instead of looking to train the next ‘Bolt’. I learned and helped athletes achieve way more through the process of development rather than chasing the new Bolt. Even more so, through the practice of development, I’ve been privileged to work with very talented athletes in their own right.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.trackheadztraining.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/trackheadztraining
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/trackheadztv
• Other: https://linktr.ee/trackheadz

Image Credits
D. Brown