We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Stacey Daniels a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Stacey, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I had a dream job. One that any professional in my field would give up their life for. I was in sunny Florida, close to the beach and at a world renowned sports academy. My responsibilities included training the worlds young best athletes in multiple sports and professional athletes ranging from the NFL, NBA, Tennis, Major League Baseball, Soccer and the Under 17 Mens National Soccer Team. The experience that I received was invaluable and one that an individual looking to be an expert in this field could only dream of. So you are probably in suspense wondering where I was working. I spent a decade at IMG Academy whose Alumni list include athletes such as Serena Williams, Joe Maurer and Russell Wilson. During my 10 years I travelled the nation educating coaches, fitness enthusiasts and medical professionals on the components of performance…working with Under Armor to increase it branding outside of clothing and train elite athletes. But although my experience was outstanding something was missing. After long days of 12 to 14 hours I would come home eat dinner ,shower ,wake up and repeat. I finally recognized that my life didn’t have any balance. I wasn’t enjoying floridas scenery or building friendships. I got so caught up in building my profession that there was no distant second. As a result I made a made decision to change my lifestyle and outlook on life. I was recommended to go to Tennesse. I immediately giggled and said no thank you . I never wanted to move to Tennesse. I wasn’t much of an outdoor person, nor was I a caretaker of farm animals and I never rode a horse in my life. I surely did not fit in the volunteer state. As the weeks went on Tennessee continued to be a word shared in multiple conversations. In the midst of my work fatigue, I was overly ready for a vacation. So I decided to take two days to visit Tennesse. My expectations were low but the outcome shocked me. I visited Nashville and Brentwood but it was Franklin that shifted my heart. I mentioned above that I was missing the building of relationships. While I was in downtown Franklin I was approached by half a dozen couples simply to create conversation. They didn’t know me but they were genuine in how they approached the conversation and it showed me that this was the right place to build relationships. After two days of shock, enjoyment and beautiful landscapes I decided to move to Franklin. The creation of my Sports Performance Brand was never something that I wanted as I worked in corporate my whole life- but my creativity was bursting at the seams. My ten years in the field had given me a foundation for success, and a formula to create a unique service . The creation of SDPERFORMANCE1 filled the developmental performance needs of a highly dense familial area of young athletes and a sports specific training need for growing sports of Williamson County. My brand started off with a half dozen athletes and nows trains hundreds of athletes across Tennessee. In my ten years I led Soccer Clubs, High School, Consulted with TSSA Olympic Development Program, was the main trainer for Nashville Soccer Club for 2 years, and trained athletes from 5 years old to pros. The most exciting part of my brand is that outside of the performance training… it build relationships with families to help support their children in their pursuit of sport while instilling dedication, commitment and excellence to Re-Define Their Best. I can now call Tennessee home.

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

I grew up in the Northeast with the roots of a very athletic and active family. I played every sport growing up. This would set the foundation for my future. Being around sports at such a young age provided me with disciplines such as hard work, dedication, commitment, consistency , failure and what it takes to be great. As I fine tuned my athletic career I made the decision to play soccer in college and major in Applied Exercise Science. A correlated fit to what I loved. The connection of sports, human performance , the underlying science and how athletes think & ultimately perform. College & High School athletes always ask me, “How do you know what academic major is best suited for me”. My answer is simple. Pick something that you enjoy and when you find yourself sitting on the edge of your seat in class dreaming of all the possibilities.. you’ll know. After a successful collegiate career and aspirations to play at the pro level , I put soccer aside and focused on Sports Performance. I completed an internship with Mike Boyle. At the time he was the Strength & Conditioning Coach for the NHL Boston Bruins. Wrapped up in the excitement of training , the time flew by and my resume started to grow as a newly formed collegiate graduate. I wanted more , and my next step would transform my life forever . I interviewed for dozens of training facilities and opportunities , but one stopped me in my tracks. An invite to join The IMG Academy Sports Performance Team. Although thankful, so many thoughts and doubts ran through my mind. Do I want to stay close to home? Is Florida too far? Is this opportunity really for me? Heres my recommendation for anyone looking to pursue what they KNOW they loved and worked so hard for…take a leap! Go for it! you are prepared ! So I took my own advice and joined the IMG Team. The experience I gained working with the best development athletes ( ages 5-11), high school prodigies, Professional Athletes of all sports and traveling the nation & even Japan to offer expert knowledge in the performance industry was a set up for what I would be doing in Tennessee. You never know what your future looks like , but you have to do everything in your power to set up the best case scenario. After my 10 years in Florida i used my vast expertise to create a unique brand that would build physical excellence and the human capital needed to live a successful life in or out of sports. SDPERFORMANCE1 provided professional resources at a adolescent, preteen , teenage , collegiate and elite level. Specifically, Movement Training to both teach the art of speed and agility and empower them to apply it on their own. Strength & Power Development to teach athletes how their bodies function and create a bulletproof high performing engine. Lastly, the intangible qualities of consistency, work ethic, dedication, that failure is a launch pad to success and being confident in who you are and the steps you took to get there are the most important. Imagine being 8 years old and training like a professional athlete . Let me be more clear. After working with so many professional athletes I was able to strip down what they had, worked for and what was important . A Preteen needs to have a strong foundation, diverse performance profile and athleticism to take them from step for step through the developmental process of physical growth, maturation and sport. My brand provided that at every level. Yes a preteen trained very different from a high school athlete and each sport had it customized program needs. SDPERFORMANCE1 became a pillar in the community to take an athlete of any age, gender and sport and transform them into a successful collegiate and pro athlete . They know possessed a well balance performance profile of strength , explosiveness, speed, agility , reaction , body awareness and athleticism to transfer to the next level. What athletes don’t realize is that every team or next level they advance to , they may be asked to play a new role. Unfortunately, if not trained will be extremely comfortable. Through training , SDP1 athletes are provided with all the total be be diverse, face uncomfortable situations, problem solve and be their best version no matter where they are. It a subtle confidence that creates great athletes and SDP1 is honored to be a part of that process. SDP1 athletes are everywhere and their stories are nothing but amazing.

SDP1’s Mission is three fold. (1) To serve: by providing a dedication to quality via specialized programming. (2) To educate: by presenting a wholistic & progressive approach to development/sports performance. (3)To deliver results that aid in building heightened confidence and overall performance in sport and daily lifestyle.

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

This is a great question. It’s both easy and complicated. The easy answer is that you have to be yourself. You have to stay committed to being authentic to the idea why you started the business. Way too many times businesses try to be like other businesses which creates false identity and lack of creativity. Audiences don’t want to see the same product over and over again . They want to see something that fills a need and not market trend. When SDPERFORMANCE1 was founded its intent was to be a ” People First” brand . In getting to know both the athletes and the families that a super platform could be created . Performance Training is a 10-12 year process from elementary to college and next levels. Athletes need to understand that you have their best interest and not there just to train. Athletes also need to be heard. Their feedback is important to support what and how to train. Athletes nowadays are well culture and have a lot to say and they need to be comfortable in speaking how they feel. For example, if a high school athlete had an extremely busy day taking tests and didn’t get the opportunity to eat lunch and then comes to me and expected to give 100%… that is a false expectation. That athlete needs to be comfortable enough to express how they are feeling and allow the possibility for the workout to be modified for that day. Otherwise we’re moving in the opposite direction of what we can get accomplished that week and ultimately how the athlete feels coming to future workouts. Contrary to popular belief, both the coach and athlete have input on the session . My reputation blueprint has been the ability to train any athlete of any age, sport or specific need and be able to produce significant results. It’s important to take every situation as its own and create its own path. For those that have trained under me while in Tennesse know that I trained Nashville’s own pro soccer team Nashville SC for two years. Not a lot of people know my IMG resume. They are shocked and pleasantly surprised when I mention that I worked with the Under 17 National Soccer Team; the nations best soccer players at the age of 15 and 16, Major League Soccer’ s Real Salt Lake and spent time training basketball legend Vince Carter, NFL’s Russell Wilson,Tennis Prodigy Kei Nishikori, MlB’s Joey Votto and US Mens National Soccer Team Member Eddie Johnson & Jozy Altidore. Im truly thankful for all the athletes that have crossed my path and the impact they have had in my life.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Social media is one of the most underutilized marketing strategies. Everyone is on social media, but the audiences are different from platform to platform. Facebook, Instagram,Twitter & TikTok all have different audience models and its important to understand what those are and present information accordingly. My first social media platform was Twitter. I never wanted to use it but one of my friends insisted over and over again.We went back and forth for 30 minutes as I thought it was useless. Finally I bought in to his hype and the above platforms soon followed. It has been a significant resource to give eyes to my brand. It’s difficult to explain what I do, but a video breaking down preteen drills or a college strength program allows for an inside look and further curiosity. My advice to starting to build a social media empire is to know your population and find the social media outlet that fits best. Learn the in and outs and create content including videos, photos and how tos. Social media should be a place for people to get free info. Not everything needs to be paid for.

Contact Info:

• Website: sdperformance1.com
• Instagram: sdperformance1
• Facebook: Stacey Daniels
• Twitter: SDPERFORMANCE_1
• Other: TikTok//sdp1issaparti

Image Credits
image credits: SDPERFORMANCE1,LLC.