For some athletes, the offseason is a break from their sport and a time to focus on school and family. For others, it means opportunities to train, develop their game and set themselves up for success in the next season. While Whitman athletes exploit various methods to improve over the offseason, many athletes use the Healthy Baller Performance Center as a resource to provide sport-specific training.
Healthy Baller has three locations in Rockville, Alexandria and Fairfax. All centers employ professional trainers with extensive athletic training experience and recovery expertise.
Varsity lacrosse player Quinn Foa, a junior, has trained at Healthy Baller since sixth grade. During workouts, her trainers emphasize injury prevention and explosiveness, she said.
The more time Foa spent at Healthy Baller, the more noticeable the improvements were in her overall skill set, she said. The training even significantly impacted her attitude and state of mind during games.
“I felt Healthy Baller made me more confident on the field,” Foa said. “It significantly boosted my speed and strength and gave me the ability to do whatever I wanted to help the team.”
Since every sport requires different physical capabilities, having a specialized trainer who focuses on athletes needs can improve performance. At Healthy Baller, trainers aim to meet the specific needs of each athlete, whether its injury recovery or strength and conditioning training.
Performance trainer Wes Dunning has worked at the center since 2015 when founder Blair O’Donovan offered him a summer internship. During this time, Dunning trained numerous Division I and professional athletes. As a lifelong athlete, Dunning’s passion for sports inspired him to pass on what he had learned from his training to others, he said.
“Whenever I see an athlete come through the doors of Healthy Baller, I see myself in them,” Dunning said. “I have a different level of empathy for them when it comes to what they want to achieve, whether it’s trying to make a high school team, wanting to transition from high to college sports or just preparing for the next level of their athletic career.”
Just like a student may need support academically, an athlete may improve after meeting with a teacher who can provide them with the proper resources to be confident and successful while minimizing injuries. According to a study by the University of Colorado, high schools that employed full-time athletic trainers reported that athletes had about half as many ankle and knee injuries and four to six times fewer repeat injuries compared to schools with no trainers on staff.
Dunning believes Healthy Baller can impact an athlete’s mental game by emphasizing the importance of having an experienced instructor that an athlete can trust.
“Healthy Baller also provides a mentorship side,” Dunning said. “That side is important because I recall having someone older that I can trust, look up to and seek out for advice, which benefited me throughout my athletic career.”
When athletes get the correct training, that work can quickly pay off through improved in-game results. Sophomore Bobby Zedak is a shooting guard for Whitman varsity basketball who trained at Healthy Baller before the 2022 season. Zedak credits Dunning for significantly improving his game and setting him up for success in his freshman year, he said.
“Wes was a great guy that absolutely knew what he was talking about,” Zedak said. “His knowledge and experience training high-level athletes really helped improve my game.”
To Dunning, Healthy Baller is more than a typical performance center in the DMV; it’s a place that all athletes should look into if they want to improve.
“At Healthy Baller, we consider ourselves a great resource for athletes of all ages, from youth to professional,” he said. “Each and every trainer is able to provide the resources necessary to help athletes improve mentally and physically.”
