Why a physical therapy practice trains young athletes
Because we’ve spent 35 years on the other side of it — rehabbing the ACL tears, throwing injuries, and stress fractures that predictable training errors produce. Youth programs in the Performance Lab are led by Dr. Gabe Theurer, DPT, CSCS — a doctor of physical therapy who is also a certified strength and conditioning specialist. Your athlete gets real coaching and a clinician’s eye on every rep.
What development looks like here
Movement first. Every athlete starts with a full assessment — mobility, strength, sprint and jump mechanics — so training targets what actually limits them.
Strength that transfers. Age-appropriate, progressive strength work: squat, hinge, push, pull, carry — coached to technical standards, not to exhaustion.
Speed and power. Sprint mechanics, acceleration, change of direction, and jump/landing training — the qualities that show up on film and win roster spots.
Injury armor. Landing control, arm-care programs for throwers, hamstring and ACL risk reduction for field-sport athletes. The best ability is availability.
By sport, by season
We train athletes from schools and clubs across the area — Haslett, East Lansing, Okemos, Williamston, DeWitt, Bath, and beyond. A pitcher’s off-season is not a sprinter’s off-season, so programs are periodized around your athlete’s competitive calendar — building capacity in the off-season, converting it to speed and power pre-season, and maintaining it (not abandoning it) in-season. Small-group and individual formats available.
For parents: what this isn’t
It isn’t a bootcamp, it isn’t random circuits set to a stopwatch, and it isn’t a place where a 14-year-old maxes out a deadlift for Instagram. Progress is measured, loads are earned, and every coach in the room holds a doctorate in how growing bodies work. If your athlete is returning from an injury, we coordinate directly with our sports injury rehab team — often the same person.