How On The Ball Academy Got Iowa's Youth Athletes Asking for More Strength Training

A PoweredBy TRX Partner in Dow City, Iowa, gave young athletes a strength class they come back for on their own time, then brought the TRX Ignite Games to 50 competitors across three events in 2026.

Most of the athletes who train at On The Ball Academy already lift weights at school. So when founder and lead skills trainer Nick Putnam, known to his athletes as Coach P, set out to add strength training to his youth facility in Dow City, Iowa, which draws athletes from more than 20 school districts, he knew a copy of the school weight room wouldn't bring anyone in for an extra night. He needed something they couldn't get anywhere else. He found it in TRX.

The Problem: Competing With the School Weight Room

OTB opened in 2023 as a small group training facility built around basketball skill development, Vertimax vertical jump training, and mobility classes. What it didn't have was strength. "We did not have a true strength class yet prior to our affiliation with TRX," Putnam says.

The harder question was how to make strength training worth an extra trip for kids whose schools already cover it. "Most of our athletes were already getting an old school approach to weight training in their current school curriculum," he says. OTB wanted to offer "a steady strength class experience that was different than they were able to experience at other gyms and school provided classes."

Why TRX

"TRX was an obvious choice because their equipment scales so well to every ability level in our day to day courses," Putnam says. Hands-on support and Pro Coach Programming for his staff made the case stronger, and one more opportunity sealed it: the chance to host the TRX Ignite Games.

"There was nothing yet like it provided to our youth athletes, but also to their parents," he says. "It made it a no brainer."

What Changed

Today TRX runs through every strength class at OTB. Once a week, athletes train with TRX Suspension Trainers, YBells, slam balls, and sandbags in workouts that blend ideas from TRX Sweat and Strong circuits. The class sits alongside OTB's basketball skill work and vertical jump training. "It's really helped bring OTB's offerings full circle with sport specific skills, strength, and mobility classes," Putnam says.

The athletes noticed right away. "Our athletes love the TRX-based strength classes," he says. "We now have athletes on a weekly basis excited to strength train."

The coaching changed too. Putnam and his wife both completed the in-person TRX Suspension Training Course and Functional Training Course. "The in person courses are a phenomenal experience, and we came away with a much better understanding of each course's specific key takeaways," he says.

Scaling Across Ages and Ability Levels

OTB's athletes range widely in age and experience, and every one of them trains in the same class. "With TRX it's relatively simple to compensate for different fitness levels by adjusting the athlete's stance relative to the anchor point, or by swapping the weight of whatever training tool is being used," Putnam says.

The exercises are chosen for what they carry onto the court. "TRX Jump Squats for lower body explosiveness and the TRX Power Pull for rotational core engagement are huge for both basketball and volleyball," he says.

Athlete Feedback and a Standout Story

The reaction Putnam hears most is a familiar one: Why is this so hard?! "Many of our athletes, as capable as they are, have never operated with a high degree of body awareness in the weight room," he says.

That gap is also where the progress shows. Putnam has watched athletes go from wobbly, unstable TRX Planks to completing TRX Crunches and Atomic Push-ups a few classes later. "Many of our youth athletes, while very capable, have not engaged their cores or operated with the mind-muscle connection that suspension training requires," he says. "For some it's like going from crawling to running in their confidence and abilities within a series of classes."

The athletes describe it the same way. "It has improved my balance, agility, core strength, and overall athletic performance," says Olivia S. "It perfectly complements my school weightlifting program by helping me build strength in different ways that carry over to the sports I compete in."

Maya M. points to the coaching. "While in class I always have someone leading the lesson and making sure I lift correctly, which I don't always experience in my school weights program," she says. "You see fewer weight-loaded activities and more body weight exercises, which are very fun to figure out and complete."

Measurable Business Impact

For a youth facility, the hardest thing to win is a spot on a teenager's calendar, especially when many of OTB's athletes can't drive themselves. This summer, OTB set aside Fridays for TRX and Stick Mobility classes for different age groups. Every Friday, 10 to 20 athletes came back, after already training at OTB for basketball Monday through Thursday.

"With adolescents having so many schedules of their own all year long, it really speaks volumes to offer them something they actually enjoy and keep coming back for," Putnam says.

If TRX disappeared tomorrow, he says, his athletes would lose "a specific high intensity, body weight focused training modality that they cannot replicate in their school weights programs."

Bringing the TRX Ignite Games to Iowa

TRX also opened a new revenue stream for OTB: the TRX Ignite Games. OTB hosted three events in 2026, two in its own facility and one at an outdoor venue, with 50 competitors in all. The outdoor event, held alongside a city event, drew the most, with 20 participants.

Each one taught the team something new, from how to run the event to who to recruit and what changes when you take it outside. "Through sufficient effort, each event brought in new faces and sparked conversations about the games and the 10 designated movements," Putnam says.

To help first-timers get over their nerves, OTB launched a short series of Ignite Games prep classes before its most recent event. "It really helped put potential competitors' minds at ease and give them the confidence they needed to register and push themselves in a new way," Putnam says. OTB plans to bring the prep classes back before future games.

The payoff showed at the finish line. "Many of our competitors had never completed anything like the Ignite Games before," he says. "They were mostly hesitant to register, but so proud of themselves after completing the event, regardless of their completion time."

Local media noticed too. "Working closely with OTB, I see the outstanding work they do for our area athletes, and that energy translates to their TRX Ignite Games," says Noah K., lead sports reporter at KDSN. "Their motivation and coaching make the experience so enjoyable no matter what competition level you are. If you're looking for your next challenge, you don't have to go far in western Iowa to find it with TRX and OTB."

The Value of Being a PoweredBy TRX Partner

For Putnam, the biggest day-to-day benefit is Pro Coach Programming. "The Pro Coach Programming is legit," he says. "We use it weekly as guidance and as a reference for vocabulary and terminology, so that we coach our athletes like we are coached as a training staff." His wife has also taken several TRX Academy CEC classes, which she found very informative.

His advice to other facility owners is simple. "Partnering with TRX has provided OTB a new avenue of growth that perfectly complemented its other offerings," he says. "The programming you receive as a trainer, along with the on-demand information and professional support, make this an easy decision."

In a town where young athletes already have a weight room at school, On The Ball Academy gave them a reason to come back for one more day.

Ready to give your athletes a reason to come back? Become a PoweredBy TRX Partner and get the programming, education, and marketing support to grow. Apply today.