Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeremiah Fitzhugh.
Hi Jeremiah, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
West Tn OneUp all started with a dream honestly, I hated seeing so many of my peers who have amazing athletic abilities and don’t get the opportunity to show that off because they couldn’t afford to go to camps or visits or participate in those travel teams.
I was one of those athletes who couldn’t afford to travel and take advantage of those opportunities. West Tn OneUp gives these athletes the opportunity to flourish and make their dreams a reality.
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
There has be a lot of people who love our program and a lot of people who hate it just because it’s doing better than their program. I have had a lot of people not like our program just because it is run by a group of young black men & women.
We have been going through a lot when it comes to funding and still are, so most of our funding comes from me and my employees and the parents who had to help us get sponsors. It has been a pretty bumpy road but we all know whose kingdom we doing this for.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
So what sets me apart from a lot of trainers in a lot of athletic programs is that all programs focus on the student-athlete. We have programs inside of our whole organization that gives these kids a fighting chance on and off the field we have ACT prep we have SAT prep. We also have tutors on board. They help them with their daily classwork.
We also provide strength and conditioning staff with a nutritionist that is on board to make sure that these kids are putting the right things in their bodies. We also have counselors on the team to make sure that our kids have the right mental capacity to contain everything and to make sure that their mental health is good.
We also have a media team to make sure these kids take advantage of every opportunity there is that they are given, so we wanna make sure that they get all the NIL deals you can dream of. So my program does it just focus on the athletic ability we focus on the whole kid they say sound body sound mind so therefore, we make dreams a reality.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Being able to relate to every single kid in our program, being able to understand what they go through on a daily basis, be able to help elevate them from their situation and show them a way that they can live life and also take care of a family, without putting their life or their families living in danger.
So you gotta have a very genuine heart, a big, generous heart you got to be very courageous you have to be very bold.
You have to also be unselfish to be a part of this program to be a part of this type of change in our community because it takes a lot of that to get to these kids.
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.WestTnOneUp.org
- Instagram: @WestTnOneUp
- Facebook: WestTnOneUp
- Twitter: @WestTnOneUp
