EAST LIVERPOOL, Ohio – A local youth advocacy organization has teamed up with local business owners to start a training facility in the city’s East End neighborhood.
Through the partnership between the nonprofit East Liverpool Youth Academy and Power Fitness Gym owners Tom and Megan Beagle, a portion of the Beagles’ Pennsylvania Avenue gym will be converted into the NextGen Athletic Lab, a high-performance indoor training facility.
The ELYA was started two years ago for East Liverpool students in kindergarten through 12th grade and offers athletic and mentoring opportunities.
“The idea is to give kids in the city a place to come train and develop, no matter what sport they’re playing,” said Stu Wallace, ELYA co-founder and president.
Youths in the ELYA must live in the East Liverpool School District or attend its schools. And Wallace said the academy will offer a different environment for student-athletes than what’s available in the schools.
“It could be the incubator for anything sports-wise, with the improved equipment and access,” said Tom Beagle, who also serves as the city’s 1st Ward councilman.
The partners contend no similar athletic facilities are close to the city.
Columbiana operates an athletic facility that’s open to the public, but local students don’t often have transportation. Beaver Local Schools also runs an athletic facility, but Wallace and Beagle said it’s restricted to students from that district.
When Wallace was pondering where such a facility could be located in the city, local architect Scott Shepherd suggested he contact Beagle, who opened Power Fitness in 2013 in the former Thrifty City Plaza.
Beagle said he knows Troy Chisom, ELYA co-founder and vice president, so he was optimistic when contacted about the partnership and proposed project. “I had no doubt it would work,” he said.
Plans for the lab call for installing a 45-by-60-foot turf center, surrounded by a rubber floor, with equipment based on the youth needs, according to Beagle.
“We already have some new equipment ordered to be incorporated into the program,” he said. “We will work together.”
Offerings in the new space will include strength, agility and speed training zones, boxing and conditioning stations and off-season programs for all sports.
The renovation won’t affect Power Fitness members or their access to gym equipment, the Beagles emphasized. Megan Beagle said parents waiting for their children in the lab may opt to work out in the gym.
The athletic lab is expected to open this spring, but the partners said donations are needed to make it a reality. ELYA has raised much of the estimated $35,000 cost through donations, grant funding and investments. But they hope to raise $15,000 to finish the work. All donations to the 501(c)3 organization are tax deductible.
Donations can be made HERE. Wallace can be reached at 330 383 2292 for more information about paying through Venmo, checks or other methods.
Pictured at top: From left are Tom and Megan Beagle and East Liverpool Youth Academy co-founders Stu Wallace, president, and Troy Chisom, vice president.