LOUISVILLE Co-owned by professional athletes such as Peyton Manning, Tim Tebow, Chipper Jones, Chris Paul, and others, D1 Sports Training was established on the principle of delivering a full-service, prolevel training experience. Along with Baptist Health, former University of Louisville football players turned professional athletes Deion Branch, Breno Giacomini, Chris Redman, and Eric Wood are co-owners of the new facility in Louisville, D1 Sports Training’s 32nd location in the United States.
The premiere athletic-based training facility is the first of its kind in the Louisville area, with 17,000 square feet of training space, including an indoor turf field, a full-service physical therapy clinic, and common area lounge. “The facility itself is what sets D1 apart,” says Nick Sarantis, operations manager with Baptist Health Sports Medicine. “Our indoor field is 40 by 25 yards. You’re not going to find an indoor field of that size –with FieldTurf rather than AstroTurf – in many other places outside of a professional or collegiate sports environment.”
D1 has developed training programs for clientele ranging from youth to adult and amateur to professional levels with professional coaches and physical therapists offering a variety of services focusing on strength, agility, injury prevention, weight loss, and general health and fitness.
Programming is divided into group and personal training and includes Pro Training (collegiate, combine, and professional athletes); Adult Training (18+); Prep Training (ages 15–18); Developmental Training (ages 12–14); and Rookie Training (ages 7–11). “D1 has a general curriculum for athletes who wish to increase their overall fitness level, but that curriculum can be tailored to each patient’s specific needs,” says Christopher Pitcock, MD, primary care sports medicine physician with Baptist Health. “There’s a lot of individualization depending on the patient’s personal goals.”
Pitcock expects this partnership to have a positive impact on the health of the local community. “D1 is a first-class operation at the pinnacle of providing sports performance training for a variety of ages and sports,” he says. “Baptist Health has a physical therapy unit there as well, so if anyone wants an evaluation or treatment for an injury, there’s already a great connection in place between D1 and physical therapy.”
The physical therapy unit at D1 is a full service physical therapy office staffed by Baptist Health employees offering all the same services that patients find at Pitcock’s practice at Baptist Health Eastpoint. The sports performance programming at D1, however, is different. “Baptist Health Sports Performance is becoming smaller and more concise, shifting away from group and team training to more of a post-physical therapy environment,” says Sarantis. “Group and team training will take place at D1 under the guidance of D1 employees.”
Partnering with D1 Sports Training allows Baptist Health to continue to treat and prevent as many injuries as possible to allow patients to be at their best at whatever activity they choose to be involved in, while at the same time providing a new space for team and group training. Pitcock has already seen a few new patients that have been referred to him through D1, and he refers patients in turn, particularly those who feel the D1 location is more convenient and/or have a particular interest in sports performance.
“The sports medicine program at Baptist Health has grown a lot since we started, and faster than we’d anticipated,” states Pitcock. “The number of sports medicine patients we’re seeing has really increased over the last two years. I expect this area to continue to grow, and our partnership with D1 put us in a great position for any new opportunities that arise in the future.”