MIDLOTHIAN, VA (WTKR)- A former football star turned personal trainer has launched a new venture with the goal of helping student-athletes and their families figure out challenges off the field.
Nate Daniels is the founder and owner of Next Level Athletes, designed to consult and guide athletes, parents and coaches on how to navigate questions that come about during an athletic journey.
"Through my athletic career I've found that the higher you go in sports, the more it has to do with your intangibles and how you overcome and handle obstacles off the field," Daniels noted. "Any missteps off the field can also negate anything that would accomplish on the field."
Next Level Athletes schedules strategy calls with student-athletes, parents and coaches to help players work through situations and answer any questions the athlete's support system might have. The organization also holds seminars, in person and virtual, where fitness and industry professionals come in to offer expertise, such as physical therapists, nutritionists and sports performance coaches.
"Parents will have all different types of questions," Daniels pointed out. "Should my kid be a multi-sport athlete? Should they specialize? If so, at what age should they specialize?"
The personal trainer also points to confidence and performance anxiety, travel team decisions and more as areas Next Level Athletes can help handle.
"All of these answers that parents are constantly searching for, they need a resource or someone with experience to help them kind of navigate through that, so we try to provide that as well."
Daniels starred at Fairfax High School before excelling at Ferrum College in Roanoke. He played professionally in the arena ranks and now owns Daniels Sports Performance in Midlothian, which is just outside of Richmond. He's hoping that he can use his own experiences to help others who are trying to reach the next level. He knows every student-athlete is different and requires a different kind of attention and specialization.
"Every kid has a unique set of obstacles that they deal with, adversities and dynamics that come with them," he said. "We sit down with them, either in person or we got on sports strategy calls, and we work through the issues. I ask them a variety of questions to try to ascertain what exactly the issue is, then I give them an action plan to overcome that."
Daniels is also an author, penning several children's books that teach life lessons through sports.
To view the Next Level Athletes YouTube channel, click here.
To learn more about Next Level Athletes or to contact Nate Daniels to inquire about his services, click here.
