8/16 – 8/17/14
NEWS
THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND
Full speed ahead for training firm
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30TH ANNUAL EXHIBITION AND SALE OF FINE AMERICAN CRAFT americancraftexpo.org
Benefit Preview Part
THURSDAY, AUGUST 21, 2014
Collectors’ Hour 5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. Benefit Preview Party 6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Tommy Christian
S ecial Events
photography by joel lerner
■ by simon murray “We believe speed is the single greatest differentiator in sports,” explains the shaggy-haired sports performance coach in gym shorts. “And we approach all of our training with that as our goal.” It’s a beautiful summer day, so the garage doors are open at TC Boost in Northbrook. As natural light floods the space and mixes with the artificial light dangling 24 feet above the turf, speakers arrayed around the facility belt out alternative and hard rock. Everclear comes on the speakers, promising to buy you a garden.
“Our goal is to make you fast, explosive and healthy” | Tommy Christian Tommy Christian, the director of training at TC Boost, can do one better; promising the various athletes that walk through his garage doors a custom-tailored approach to sports training. But speed doesn’t come easy. “We want you to be strong; we’re going to use some traditional lifts, we’re going to use some nontraditional lifts,” says Christian as he spots Garret Laflamme, a 6-foot-4, 275-pound offensive tackle in the supine position on the ground, his hands clenching 100-pound dumbbells and raising them above his chest. “But our goal is not to see how much you can squat or lift or deadlift. Our goal is to make you fast, explosive and healthy.” Laflamme finishes his set, sweat beading on his brow. Christian barks words of encouragement and Laflamme, of Illinois Wesleyan University, walks over to the lateral pull-down machine. His two-hour session has just begun. Christian, with his laid-back attitude and gray swaths in patches across his surfer hairdo and beard, is reminiscent of Jeffrey Lebowski, or “The Dude,” the pulp-hero
protagonist of the Coen brother’s “The Big Lebowski” — albeit, a much more fit, clean-cut and eloquent version. He also boasts quite the resume. After attending Northwestern University and earning a degree in mechanical engineering, Christian worked in the automobile industry until he decided to trade piston for sinew, returning in an unpaid internship position with the strength and conditioning department at his alma mater. When he left his fulltime position in 2002 to establish his own speed program, he had worked his way up to assistant director of strength and conditioning for the abundant Division I teams at Northwestern. And, until 2011, he oversaw the off-season speed work of the football program, the Wildcats. “I always felt, for me, sports had a big impact on my life,” says Christian, who was a former starting linebacker for the Wildcats and whose brother, Bob Christian — also a Wildcat —enjoyed a career as a fullback in the NFL for 10 years (and who is co-owner and a director of TC Boost). Look around the 10,000-square-foot facility and familiar names and jerseys — signed, of course — deck the walls: Scheyer, Getz, Dempster, Wooton, Garza. So while the goal of the facility was to bring comprehensive speed development of the highest level to high school athletes and anyone looking to get an edge, the professionals — eager to get a boost themselves for the combine, the draft, and the season — have at one time or another utilized the intimate training the center provides. “What’s the role in developing an athlete?” asks Christian, rhetorically. “You need to develop strength and power. But the end goal has to be: how do you translate that into movement on the field? It’s never third down and ‘how much can you bench?’; it’s never the game winning shot and ‘you better squat a ton.’ The ultimate goal becomes how do you apply that. “Watching the pros, they’re big strong guys for sure. But the most impressive thing is watching the way that they move and how athletic they are. That’s why they come to us, to improve that athleticism and movement and refinement of their power.” ■
ARTIST DEMONSTRATIONS Friday, August 22 11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Sunday, August 24 12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
ACE WEARABLES FASHION SHOW Saturday, August 23 1:00 p.m.
Jennifer McCurdy