Preview: Performance U

At a time when extraordinary sports talent can give a student the extra edge to get into a top college, a business focused on enhancing sports skills could score a home run with teens and parents. That’s exactly what entrepreneur Chad Faulkner is banking on with Sports Academy, a gymnasium/training facility/medical clinic in Thousand Oaks which opened its doors in September to provide specialized sports training. Faulkner, himself a former Kansas State University football player and team captain, has pulled together a community of high-end coaches, doctors and state-of-the-art technology with the purpose of transforming competitive middle and high-school student athletes into success stories. Parents often hear confusing and mixed messages between doctors, coaches and trainers, Faulkner said, who has experienced it himself when his own children have been injured playing competitive sports. Putting all these advisors under one roof should mitigate that, he added. And with those professionals operating together in Sports Academy’s vast facility, parents can spend less time shuttling kids between games, practices, events, and doctors’ appointments. “(Sports) is a very fragmented market,” Faulkner said. “I see integrated services as an opportunity to create value for people.” Read the full story in the Dec. 12 issue of the San Fernando Valley Business Journal.