Academy hones athletes' skills to the next level

BY JENNIFER AMATO
Staff Writer

PHOTOSBYMIGUEL JUAREZ staff Above: A hitter takes batting practice in one of several cages at the All Sport Academy in North Brunswick on Saturday. Below, Mike Doros, of Monroe, works out in the facility's weight room. NORTH BRUNSWICK - All Sport Academy on Livingston Avenue hopes to become an all-star academy - its mission to train and enhance the skills of serious athletes from kindergarten to college.

Roughly 14,000 square feet of former warehouse space now houses a sports training facility with equipment for baseball, softball, wrestling, lacrosse, mixed martial arts, soccer, strength conditioning and personal training. Instruction is held as private sessions, group lessons, camps and clinics. There is a full weight room, batting cages, a turf area, wrestling mats, pitching machines and speed and agility equipment. A retractable wall allows for individual spaces or for one giant area.

"Since I've got kids and I've been a coach for 20-plus years, I've always wanted to open a facility like this," LaMonte Forthun said of the facility he opened with his baseball teammates Dave Steele and Mike Rothman last May. "Right now, what we're trying to do is get as many different types of sports as possible."

The men decided that if they did not have the required expertise in each athletic field, they would seek out experts who did. Although Forthun played almost every sport growing up, he wanted to satisfy parents' quest for credentials by bringing aboard people who specialize in various areas.

Bill Bethea, a seven-year instructor and former player in the Central Baseball League, teaches baseball power pitching and hitting. Jodie Ricciardi, an assistant coach at Princeton University and the first Penn State University softball player to earn First Team All-Big Ten honors, brings knowledge of softball with her. Justin Totten, a 1999 NCAA championship wrestler and current coach at The College of New Jersey, offers his wrestling and mixed martial arts expertise. Darren Geraci of Xtreme Lacrosse helps with this newly popular sport. J.R. Papernik, who helps with strength training, trained professional college athletes for the Olympics and held the New Jersey State record in his weight class for the bench press as a power lifter in 2002.

There are also several other instructors who hold record titles or instruction knowledge who offer their skills to the All Sport members.

"If you want to be good at a sport, you can't just join a local rec league or a high school team and excel, unless you're gifted. You probably need to seek a place you can train all year round," said Totten, who holds open mat wrestling on Tuesdays and Thursdays. "You're going to get quality instruction from [people] who have been successful in high school and college and who get to work out with kids [currently] in high school and college."

Lee Cavico, a North Brunswick resident who is a junior at Bishop Ahr High School in Edison, knows how important quality instruction is. A 13-year baseball player, he is playing third base in the spring for his school team and a team in Staten Island, N.Y. He uses the facility for winter speed and agility workouts.

"The instruction is really good. They know what they're talking about. They have a lot of experience in what they do," he said. "I put a lot of time and effort here, a lot of hitting, throwing, and ground balls so soon, in April, we'll see. I hope I stay healthy and everything sticks together."

So far, the success stories have been easy to measure. There is Krimzon Marrero, a North Brunswick resident who signed an agent last year in hopes of pursuing a career in the National Football League, and Carmelo Marrero, no relation to Krimzon, an All Sport instructor who competed in his first Ultimate Fighting Championship event in October.

Yet Forthun points out that an equivalent accomplishment has been a seventh-grader who didn't make his school team, but after practicing for six months and dedicating himself to preseason lessons, he is set to not only make the team but to be a main contributor.

"I believe that individual will be one of our biggest success stories, not because of what we did, but because of what we offer here," Forthun said. "There's such an improvement because he put his mind to it and did it on his own."

In the future, All Sport Academy plans to work with its neighbor, the New Destiny Family Worship Center, and use their classrooms to help members with their academic skills. Because the facility is designed to accommodate serious athletes who intend to pursue a career in athletics, the players are required to keep their grades up, especially since some of them work out four to five times a week.

"As important as my instructors in athletics are, it is important to me that [the kids] get [academic] help as well," Forthun said.

The two organizations have also established a recreational relationship, in that the New Destiny members play flag football at the academy and All Sport may use the church's new basketball courts they are planning to install.

"We're trying to work with them as much as we can," he said.

The training facility partners would also like to sponsor their own teams out of the academy, under the team name of The Piranhas.

"It's unique, it's menacing and we needed something that started with P. We call ourselves All Sport Academy so we wanted something with a P so we could be 'ASAP', especially because we're all about speed," Forthun said. He also liked how a St. John's University coach recently described his basketball team as being piranhas, in that when the ball is loose they are all over it.

Since he owns his own embroidery and screen printing equipment, he can manufacture T-shirts, hats and other items with their insignia; he also offers his services to other teams because an artist friend is available to design logos.

They would also like to expand the facility, instituting fall basketball and baseball leagues and daytime programs, such as aerobics or informal football and soccer matches.

"This is our passion. This is our hobby business, but it's so much better because I can throw my heart and soul into this and the other partners can do that too," Forthun said. "The more we can do for the kids, the better."

The facility is open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. during the week, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturdays and 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Sundays. To take a tour of the facility, located in Suite 4 of 1330 Livingston Ave., contact the academy at (732) 253-0762. Visit www.asa1330.com for more information.