FROM $500 PAYCHECKS TO BUILDING CHAMPIONS
The Beginning
Learning What Separates Great from Durable
Austin's coaching journey began at The Sport and Speed Institute in Virginia, working with college football players on the brink of their NFL dreams. Day after day, he watched these athletes (freakishly strong, impossibly fast) power through faulty movement patterns, limited mobility, and lingering injuries as if sheer talent alone could bend the rules. Yet behind the scenes, their routines told a different story. So much time spent on rehab tables and joint-prep work, piecing their bodies back together just enough to keep performing. That's where Austin first saw the deeper truth about athletic performance.
The Turning Point
Teaching Prevention, Not Just Performance
That realization sparked everything. Austin decided he wouldn't wait until athletes were broken down and chasing pain. He would teach those same movement mechanics, mobility work, and stability drills to younger players, long before setbacks had a chance to take root. If he could give them the tools early (the precision, the prep, the respect for how the body was meant to move), they could unlock performance gains without sacrificing their longevity. Athletes didn't just chase their goals; they actually had the durability to reach them.
THE MISSION TAKES SHAPE
Two Years That Proved the Concept
After two years of working closely with a handful of young high school football players back home in Illinois, Austin took the leap and opened Spade Athletics. It wasn't just a facility. It was a place where every athlete walked in with a story, and Austin set out to write the next chapter with them. He built individualized plans rooted in the essentials: refining movement patterns, strengthening mobility and stability, lowering injury risk, and weaving speed and strength development into a clear, purposeful path. But the heart of Spade was something deeper. Austin made it his mission to know each athlete. Their drive, their dreams, and the precise steps they needed to reach them.
THE RESULTS SPEAK
Proof That Prevention and Performance Work Together
Today, Spade Athletics runs programs Austin spent years perfecting. Programs that have sent over 100 athletes to college sports, produced state champions, and helped dozens return from injuries stronger than before. Every athlete gets a coach who's all-in because his name is on the building, his reputation is on the line, and he knows what it feels like to hit roadblocks in your athletic journey.
