This story is sponsored by SPIRE Institute & Academy. SPIRE and its expert coaches, teachers and performance trainers offer residential camp and academy training programs in basketball, track and field, swimming, esports and drone racing. 

For more information on the Track & Field Academy, click here. 

For information on Track & Field camps, click here

One of the unique ways SPIRE assists in the growth and development of student athletes is through SPIRE Ambassadors. Two of these Ambassadors, Olympians Tianna Bartoletta and Dwight Phillips, work closely with SPIRE Coaches Charlie Powell, Kibwé Johnson and Tim Mack - world-renowned coaches and developers of talent - as well as SPIRE’s Performance Training staff to perfect a program of exceptional coaching, reporting, testing and assessment that ensures that every SPIRE student athlete is ready to perform at the next level.

According to SPIRE’s Co-Managing Director Rich O’Dell, Bartoletta and Phillips, along with the other Ambassadors, play a key role in helping the Academy’s student athletes discover their power and responsibility. 

“Our program ensures that our student athletes have unlimited opportunities to discover their potential,” said Odell. “Interactions with our Ambassadors encourages them to aspire to new athletic heights, while our experiential options help them develop powerful, creative insights. Mastery of both the physical and the mental aspects of their sport are necessary in order for an individual to achieve peak performance in school, at work and in life.”

In their role as SPIRE Ambassadors, Tianna Bartoletta and Dwight Phillips are not only helping SPIRE Academy to develop innovative, leading-edge track and field programming. Just as importantly, these two world-class athletes are helping to inspire and motivate SPIRE student athletes to perform better and be better in all aspects of their lives.

“Regardless of the goals our students have set for themselves, the most important thing is getting better and steadily developing along a customized path to help them get there,” said Bartoletta. “And because there is more to becoming a champion than simply improving skills and polishing technique,” added Phillips, “we also work on helping our student athletes develop the focus and mental toughness that separates the average competitor from the champion.”

“At SPIRE, we create an environment that makes it possible for our student athletes not just to find their passion but to live it,” said Odell “Tianna and Dwight and the rest of our Ambassadors are helping our student athletes grow and develop physically and emotionally so they can become the best version of themselves, as athletes and as human beings.” 

Applications are now open for SPIRE Academy Track and Field program for Fall 2021. 

Registration soon for SPIRE Track and Field Camp! Space is limited. Track and Field, Throws Camp, Pole Vault Camp and more!

For more information, check out our admissions guide. (https://www.spireinstitute.org/academy-admissions-guide/)