Today we’d like to introduce you to Blake Desselle.
Hi Blake, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
At the age of 18, I started to work part time for a company called Boost Sports Performance and Physical therapy. This was the same place that I trained at as an athlete and also went to physical therapy for when I was injured. I went to Rockhurst University to play soccer for 2.5 years while double majoring in Physics of Medicine and Exercise science with hopes to continue into grad school to get my doctorate in Physical therapy. As college continued, my role at Boost continued and my love for the sports performance side became much greater. I decided to transfer to William Jewell to close out my soccer career where I became the captain for my senior year and my 5th year due to covid. After being wait listed for Physical therapy school, I started to think that going full time into sports performance was the position that best suited me. With 3 weeks left of my senior year, I applied for a float position with EXOS, who was an industry leader in performance and physical therapy. After accepting the role, the EXOS in my hometown had a position opening, director of sports performance. I took that job at a ripe age of 21 and quickly devoted myself to being the best performance coach I could be for my hometown and surrounding smaller towns. I give a lot of thanks to EXOS for giving me a platform to become a better coach while using their continuing education platform to chase any and all certifications they had to offer. The joy I had to be in my hometown and offer top tier sports performance was something that I longed for as a kid. After running the Grain valley exos location for 3.5 years, EXOS unfortunately sold out to another company. I quickly realized this new company did not value the sports performance side or my personal beliefs at all. I made a tough decision to leave the company. With a lot of uncertainty about my next steps I prayed to find my next steps while traveling to multiple states with some of the best performance companies in the country for job interviews, While I had a job offer that I always dreamed of in another state, I quickly realized on the flight home that I needed to be in Grain Valley and start my own company. I wanted to serve the kids that grew up exactly how I did and all the other rural areas that are underserved around me. By the time I landed, I had already contacted a friend and mentor of mine to start our own business, Tommy Hargrave. Tommy was my former physical therapist at Boost and then a colleague of mine with EXOS. Tommy had always supported me as an athlete and was a huge advocate for the sports performance side. Together at Exos we created a culture in the clinic that was unmatched. It was no secret, it was purely pouring into each athlete/patient that walked into our door and treating them the right way. It was a pretty easy decision to start our own thing knowing we had already managed a clinic together in the same town for years together. We built Upward on the mission of bridging physical therapy and sports performance through community and culture. Tommy runs the PT side while I run the Sports performance side.
We opened Upward May, 20, 2024 and have since trained athletes from 9 years old to NFL players and everything in between. Our goal is simple, train and help as many athletes in Eastern Jackson county as possible at a very high level.
As a devoted Christian, I praise God for all the blessings in my life.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It definitely has not been a simple road. Between issues with the company we left and a trademark issue with another company, we quickly realized the business world is not always glamourous.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Upward Performance and Physical Therapy?
Upward Performance is a sports performance company that relies on objective data and elite coaching to serve athletes from 9 years old to multiple professional athletes. We believe there is a big difference in “working out” and “Training”. At Upward, we train athletes. With every athlete that comes in, we treat them like professional athletes. When they join Upward, we do an athlete evaluation with both sports performance screening and physical therapy screenings. Athletes will be put through the Upward protocol which involves range of motion measurements, VALD force plates, dynamometry and other tools to evaluate where athletes might have deficiencies in areas that can lead to injuries or areas we need to increase to be a better athlete for their sport. At Upward we believe that all athletes are their own and deserved to be treated that way. Upward believes in a culture that is fun to be around but makes sure the level of care is second to none.
What makes you happy?
I find the most joy in watching young kids grow into be strong men and women, I want athletes to not just increase their verticals, 10 yard fly times etc.. I want athletes to grow in confidence that translates to life. Till this day, my favorite thing I have witnessed is receiving a Christmas card from a grandma of a young kid I trained. In this card she talked about how big of a transformation her grandson has gone through after working with us for a year. There was no mention of athletic performance gains in the card, but rather something much better than that. She stated that her grandson walked through life much more confidently. I pray to not be remembered as a coach that only got athletes faster, but to be coach that kids look up to as a person.
Pricing:
- Unlimited per week(Monthly package) -$260
- 2x a week (Monthly packge)- $210
- 1x per week (Monthly package)- $150
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Upwardkc.net
- Instagram: Upward_KC
- Facebook: Upward Performance and Physical Therapy
- Twitter: BlakeDesselle
