Now Grade-schoolers Use Trainers

Small Health Clubs Strive To Keep Client-Friendly While Expanding Business

(Tuesday, July 20, 2004) - Jake Spinell is seriously preparing for the football season. He works out twice a week with personal trainers who guide him through running drills with the help of slow-motion video replays.

In addition to sessions with trainers that cost as much as $3,000 a year, Jake works out every other day at his Naperville, Ill., home, doing 75 push-ups and 90 sit-ups, running, and high-stepping through a prone ladder to increase his foot speed. A starting linebacker on his team, Jake's goal is to secure a spot on a top college team. But first, the spike-haired 10-year-old has to finish middle school.

"He does see a path for himself," says dad, Daryl Spinell, who played football in college. "I told him, 'Jake, when I was a kid none of this stuff was available.' I wish I had this when I was younger."

Forget baseball in the front yard or even sports camps. The grade-school set has become the hottest part of the fitness industry as competitive parents and children scramble for an edge. Americans spent $4 billion on personal training and coaching for children in 2000 and the number is believed to have surged since then. With many traveling sports teams playing year round -- some starting as early as fourth grade -- parents are signing their children up for the kinds of demanding conditioning and strength programs once reserved for elite college athletes.

Two of the larger builders of weight machines for health clubs now make miniaturized machines with their metal plates shielded to protect little fingers. "We're definitely seeing a ramp up," said John Salvitti, president of Strive Enterprises Inc., whose KidzSmart line of weight machines uses half-size plates and are designed for 9- to 14-year-olds.

Demand for the machines is coming from a growing set of specialty gyms. Velocity Sports Performance LLC, which caters to middle-school students, plans to have 60 "performance enhancement" centers up and running nationwide by year end. Another chain, X2 Youth Fitness, a division of Orthosport Physical Therapy, expects to launch 20 fitness clubs for eight- to 18-year-olds, beginning in August.

"The market is waking up to them," said Lee Kallman, vice president of marketing for Velocity, based in Marietta, Ga. The company charges parents $20 to $35 an hour for as many as 24 sessions.

The centers concentrate on general fitness rather than specific skills, like dribbling or batting. Velocity, for instance, teaches young athletes foot placement that helps them run faster from a standing start. Unlike mirrored health clubs, Velocity Sports centers are large open buildings with artificial turf and weight-lifting gear around the edges.

X2 Youth Fitness plans to marry features of adult health clubs and video arcades to make exercise more appealing to children. In addition to youth-size weight machines, it plans to offer stationary bicycles connected with PlayStation video-game consoles. Riders can race against one another and use the handlebars to steer a video racer. Their race will be played out on a video screen above them.

Helping spur demand for youth training are endorsements by prominent health groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which have endorsed strength-training programs for children and adolescents, so long as there is adult supervision.

The biggest boosters are the sports-mad parents. Tracie Kennedy coaches an American Softball Association team of 10- to 12-year-old girls in Keller, Texas, and said a personal trainer is no luxury. "When you get to this level, most do" have trainers, she said. Her 11-year-old daughter, Tayler, had been visiting a batting coach twice a week for two years and recently switched to a fitness trainer. A nine-year-old son, who has decided to make basketball his year-round sport, has a weekly workout with a sports trainer. The $15 to $25 per session is "something we work into the budget. When it comes to your kids, parents will do crazy things," Mrs. Kennedy said.

Trainers, who may charge as much as $100 an hour, say adults are asking them to take children as young as second graders. While a few parents are concerned about obesity, many are looking for their child to gain an edge. "My most-loyal customers are 10- and 11-year-olds," said Randy Brewer, who started a personal-training business after Hewlett-Packard Co. cut his sales-management job two years ago. One father drives his son an hour each way for workouts with Mr. Brewer.

Competition among trainers is so fierce in Dallas that Mr. Brewer said he has begun specializing in training that prevents sports-related knee injuries in adolescents. Using medicine balls, giant-sized rubber bands and makeshift balance beams, he often runs his workouts in clients' suburban driveways.

Last December, Steve and Carol Henderson of Lakewood, Calif., gave their older son, Zach, a present of 10 sessions with a personal trainer. After the initial round went well, they signed up for more lessons. Zach, 14, has shaved a half-second off his time in the 40-yard dash. Between Zach and his brother, who recently began working with a trainer, the Hendersons estimate they could shell out as much as $5,000 this year for the sessions.

The results can be impressive. Rachel Rentschler, who started on her high-school basketball team as a freshman, has been working with a trainer since sixth grade. Her dad, Michael Rentschler, who admits he spends "an ungodly amount of money" on personal trainers and coaching for his lanky 10th grader, recently dropped $600 for 10 half-hour lessons with a basketball trainer. Her play has triggered inquiries from 30 colleges interested in recruiting her, Mr. Rentschler says. "We're making sure we maximize her talent."

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