NEW PHILADELPHIA - The hallways at the former Blythe Township High School are once again filled with the sound of student athletes since a fitness center with a variety of programs opened in November.
"What I'm trying to do, eventually, is develop a sports complex here, since you have a fitness center, a gymnasium and a field outside," Mario Barrantes, 39, of Allentown, said at Simon Kramer Institute, 15 Alliance St., New Philadelphia, on Monday.
In November, Barrantes moved in and started up his full-time business, Advanced Sports Development Health and Wellness Athletic Club.
"I'm a contractor. I'm renting space from them," Barrantes said.
Local high school students working out at the fitness center on the second floor praised Barrantes for his skill in developing challenging workouts.
"Our coach got an email about this and a few of us decided to come up and check it out to see what was going on. Turned out to be something pretty cool. First time I came here, I was more sore from one night of practice than a week's worth of our practices," Marcus Brown, a junior at Pine Grove Area High School, said.
Three students from Williams Valley were there Monday night: Steven Hill and Kieler Hoffman, who are both juniors, and Tre Engle, a sophomore.
"We work out here about an hour and a half twice a week. It's a good workout," Engle said.
The building is owned by Dr. David J. Moylan III, the Schuylkill County coroner. Since 1998, Moylan has run a cancer treatment center there. Over the years, Moylan has made efforts to bring business to the building and use the facility to further serve the community.
In November, Moylan and his management team allowed Barrantes to use the facility to start membership fitness programs.
So, far he's developed three programs:
- Common membership, which includes use of the fitness center. The cost is $35 per month. So far, he has 10 members.
- Sports performance training at the fitness center. The cost is $50 per month. So far, no one has signed up for this program, he said.
- Advanced sports training/Premiere Soccer Club. This is a program geared toward high school athletes.
"Right now, it's for high school students, but in the future, I'd like to gear the program for athletes ages 8 to 19," Barrantes said. It's held twice a week, Mondays and Wednesdays from 6 to 7:30 p.m. The cost is $100 per month. So far, he has 20 students signed up.
"I have a lot of guys from Blue Mountain, Tamaqua, Pine Grove and Williams Valley right now. What we have here is a college showcase tournament team and we've already played in a couple of scrimmages already," Barrantes said.
Born in Fort Wayne, Ind., Barrantes graduated from Paul Harding High School in 1993. He earned a degree in kinesiology from Penn State University in 2004.
"I had worked as an orthopedic rep for 10 years, selling replacement knees, hips and shoulders. But I've been doing fitness part time. Since November, I've been doing fitness training full time," Barrantes said.
"I am the owner of the company. I started it about 10 years ago, part-time in the Lehigh Valley. I started as a strength coach for Bethlehem Catholic and started to do summer speed camps for Stroudsburg high school, Emmaus and BECA football teams, Parkland and BECA soccer teams and BECA volleyball," Barrantes said.