Velocity Training Center Draws Wow Reviews

The Velocity Sports Performance Training Center, housed adjacent to Work Out World Waterford and inside remodeled Renegade Sports Center, staged its Grand Opening Feb. 10 and elicited one dominant reaction ... "Wow!"

Velocity features the area's only three-lane 40-yard speed training track, a 30-yard stretch of field turf for agility and movement drills and the state's first Under Armour 360 athletic evaluation program - the same one used in the NFL Combine.

"Velocity is the nation's top proven curriculum for the bio-mechanical development of speed, agility, quickness and vertical jump for athletes age 8 through the pros," said Tony Duckwall, Velocity sports performance director in Waterford. "There are not many facilities like this in the country."

Rajai Davis, the New London High grad and Major League Baseball outfield veteran, has trained with Duckwall and Tyrece Andrews, a former Illinois sprint champ, since November. Davis, second in American League stolen bases last year with the Oakland Athletics, credits Velocity training for making him faster than ever at age 30.

One of the more interesting Velocity techniques is when a cable coil is attached to two runners. The first runner bursts out for a 40-yard dash and propels the runner behind him to run faster, triggering running muscle memory to allow an athlete to accelerate quicker. Andrews boasted he could run a "2.8" 40, over a full second faster than any human has run it, with the cable coils.

"I've found a dramatic difference in my explosiveness, quickness and speed," Davis said. "I ran the 60-yard dash in 2009 with Oakland and did a 6.5. Two days ago, I was timed at 6.09. It's pretty amazing. I've never been part of a facility like this until this year. I'm floored to incorporate this training into my style of play - stolen bases and defense. This is a D-I, professional, major league - all of the above facility."

Davis leaves in a week to spring training with his new team, the Toronto Blue Jays, and is listed as the No. 1 center fielder. He trained  Thursday with Waterford native Zach Zaneski, a Texas Rangers Class AA minor leaguer, and Ryan Klosterman, a Florida Marlins Class AAA minor leaguer.

Renegade Sports Center, named Kids Sports of Waterford until last October, fields its most powerhouse lineup of offerings to go with its computerized batting cages, indoor field turf soccer field, basketball and volleyball courts. The soccer field has been upgraded with the field turf that is used in the New Orleans Superdome and Atlanta Georgia Dome.

Renegade owner Bill Kane feels the franchised agreement with Velocity is a key component to the Renegade overall mega-sport program. There are other training centers and personal trainers locally, but he feels no complex can provide the 50,000 square footage and variety of offerings that he does.

"If a pro like Rajai Davis can improve his speed in three months training here, just think of what a seventh or eighth grader, who is passionate about his or her sport but has never trained the right way, can do," Kane said.

"The Renegade concept is we want our kids to be renegades from the normal process of what is going on now. We don't want our kids to be texting or watching cartoons. The Renegade kid is someone who wants to come in here, sweat and get physically fit. We want them to put the Facebook down for a while and have a nice healthy life."

Kara Lawson, Connecticut Sun guard and ESPN college basketball commentator, signed autographs at the grand opening. Lawson, who lives in Groton with her husband, will train for the upcoming Sun season with Velocity.

"You can do a lot of different things in this space," Lawson said. "Having the track, having the turf, having the field, having the room to move as an athlete is the way you can train to get better on different surfaces."

For more information of Velocity programs, contact Duckwall at (860) 437-4506 or go to www.velocitysp.com/waterford.       

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