IT’S said that when one door closes another will open.
Last autumn, Adam Speer and his business partner at Optimal Fitness in Letterkenny, Michael Black, learned the building in which they were working would be sold.
For Speer, it was something that needed addressing but, on the other hand, it gave him an opportunity.
Photo caption: Alan Foley of Donegal Sport Hub with Adam Speer of Speer Performance and his new facility in Newmills, Letterkenny. Photos: Geraldine Diver
“When the building at the Mountain Top was sold, the writing was on the wall,” Speer said from his new gym ‘Speer Performance’ at Newmills. “I decided not to set something else up for the sake of it. It was a case of next move will be the final move.
“I’m always trying to think outside the box and come up with something different, When I built this I wanted something that nobody could really match. I had a blank canvas.”
With that blank canvas, Speer drew up plans for his personal venture. And by March the building blocks were being put in place at the new gym, based on his in-laws land right across from the family home on the outskirts of Letterkenny. Speer’s brother-in-law, Rodney Black, who works in the construction industry, was a willing accomplice. No task was too big.
“Rodney is a perfectionist and my wife Lisa’s parents were good enough to give me their land,” Speer said. “Anything I wanted, was do-able. I wanted an indoor ramp – I never saw an indoor ramp in a gym in my life – but I got an indoor ramp.”
That indoor ramp is just a part of the innovative facility. It’s an impressive structure – certainly a gym of the 21st century – both in style and in substance.
The ramp is six-and-a-half metres in length and inclines at 26 degrees. It’s multi-purpose, perfect for hill repeats, rehab elements for ankles, calves and for crawls.
Upstairs is fitted out with a cardio studio – treadmills, rowers, bikes and an indoor kayak.
“It’s one of only two machines that don’t require any lower limb movements, so the focus is solely on the upper body,” Speer explained of the kayak. “So if there’s a player or an athlete who has any form of lower limb injury, they can still do their aerobic training in the kayak and not run the risk of loosing any fitness.
“There’s also a lot of adventure racing here in Donegal so it can be difficult training in the open water in January or February, and there’s also a bigger chance that those who try it will pick up a cold or a flu. If that’s the case they can’t train. So if they can get going here indoors and develop the required foundation for kayaking then they will find the real thing much easier.”
If you decide against the ramp, the indoors of the ground floor is a functional strength area, fitted with support suspensions trainers and punch-bags, alongside four half-racks, weight benches and dumbbells and multiple other unique pieces of fitness equipment.
Outside, there is a 30-metre sprint track and a 25 x 8-metre artificial grass covered area to bring in teams.
This is a real unique selling point for the facility and a stand out feature.
On the gable wall on the outer area there is a mosaic of Donegal GAA’s four years under the management of Jim McGuinness, of which Speer was an intricate part as strength and conditioning coach.
There are plans for all of the players who donned the county jersey in that timeframe – an estimated 80 from 2011 to 2014 – to sign the wall. Karl Lacey’s is the first signature with hopefully many more calling in during the opening months.
One of the hallmarks of that Donegal panel was their immaculate level of physique and fitness. Speer recalls a phonecall he received from McGuinness, when he was under-21 manager, back in 2010.
“I had one session with the Donegal under-21s in 2010 in the Clanree when Jim was in charge,” Speer said. “When Jim got the senior job, that August he called and asked would I come on board. I said ‘no problem’. I didn’t know any of the players personally but that was good for me at the time. They were bodies that I had to work on.
“We identified Rory Kavanagh and Ryan Bradley as the two players we had to work on, for the middle of the pitch. At the time Rory was too small and Ryan was too big. My job was getting them closer together.”
Speer was part of McGuinness’s backroom team and the foundation-stones were already being put in place by the time of that now famous day of the first get-together of the panel, one crisp November day at the Rosapenna in November 2010.
“What I got from that first meeting was that the panel weren’t as close as they would become,” Speer recalled. “They didn’t probably hang around much together. The guys didn’t know the changes that were already going on. Some of them mightn’t have spoken in weeks but now I think they would be in much closer contact.
“Even then, they were shocked by the size of Rory Kavanagh, who had already put in 10 good weeks at that stage. Jim’s strength was that he made 32 men, or 12 clubs or whatever, become a single unit.
“I was full-time in the Clanree but worked with Rory and Ryan in the Community Centre in the mornings. Everything was analysed. Five mornings a week plus multiple daytime sessions. It was a case whatever the players needed it had to be provided.
“Building their work ethic and seeing their commitment was all part of the process. The early morning gym sessions were questioned at the beginning, but ever since then its become the routine every year and one which they now enjoy.”
Speer spent the first year on the sidelines, often having cycled to Cavan or Clones to meet up with the panel. Three Ulster championships and an All-Ireland title later, it’s four years he will never forget and can look back now on from the outside with fondness.
“I loved it,” he said. “I wouldn’t have the time now but I would do it again maybe, some other time. It got me here, to where I am now. If I didn’t do that under-21 session in 2010, I wouldn’t have met Jim. If I didn’t meet Jim I wouldn’t have got the exposure from the job I got.”
That exposure meant Speer, who is 33 and a native of Carrigart, became a director of the ISCI – Irish Sports Coaches Institute. There, he got involved with like-minded people – Barry Solan, Byron Clarke, David Hare, Gregory Bradley, Martin Kennedy and Robbie Bourke.
Each of these coaches brought different things to the table for this group. Between them they have coached the last three All-Ireland winning teams, professional footballer teams – club and internationally and – run their own businesses, primarily gyms and equipment manufacturing . Last year they held the country’s largest one day workshop with world renowned coach Mike Boyle.
“It made me a better coach but it made me become more of a businessman,” Speer added. “If you want the life where you can coach and live the dream and build a place like this of your own, you have to have some sort of acumen.”
That acumen has taken Speer to where he is now. He works locally with the likes of Letterkenny Rugby Club, Raphoe Hockey Club, having laid the foundations in pre-season for the Donegal ladies’ GAA panel, who last season lost nine from nine yet last month were crowned Ulster SFC champions for the first time ever.
As well as the teams and squads visiting the premises, Speer, who studied Sports Science at the University of Wales in Bangor, has turned more towards his roots in training athletes on a personal level.
Letterkenny 24/7’s Aidan Callaghan is a frequent morning visitor, sponsored by Speer. Last month at Lissadell House, Co Sligo, Callaghan won the Round 3 of the Triathlon Ireland Super Series – an event in which only the top 50 tri-athletes in the country can participate in.
Another member of that club is Triona McMenamin, the Letterkenny native who has been making waves on the triathlon circuit on her first year giving the sport her full focus.
“So far she’s done three National Series events and won two and second in one,” Speer said. “She’s top class. I started training her in December and took over all her coaching three months ago – she’s from a surf and life-saving background so she’s a savage swimmer. She’s one to watch. Like everyone, year on year you build on what you have. What you have as your best now should be your average next year.”
With his business gathering momentum, Speer is training a group of athletes who now find themselves less than 10 weeks out from the Dublin marathon. Also, with Donegal hosting ‘The Race’ – Ireland’s first 24-hour endurance event, a 240K loop based out of Gartan Outdoor Education Training Centre that involves running, cycling, kayaking and a dash up and down Muckish – there’s preparation for its third staging next March.
The business and the gym, though, is not exclusive to top-end performers.
“People might’ve thought of me as being associated with elite training only but now people know that’s not the case,” Speer said. “And because of that the business is growing. I’m running a PB Club to try and get 100 personal bests for Donegal athletes this year, whatever their level. We’re into the seventies now so we’re ahead of schedule.”
On a personal level outside of his four walls in Newmills, Speer has goals of his own. He played Gaelic football till the age of 14 with Downings and loved soccer.
Whilst boarding in Raphoe Royal & Prior, he took the chance in his teens to take a day off and take part in the Donegal Schools cross-country. Running was something he never thought much about until that day. He came second and the seed was sewn.
More recently, he’s become more interested in triathlon and Ironman. On his ankle, there’s the proof – a tattoo for each of the Ironman events he has completed. There’s two tattoos. And there’s room for two more.
“I took up triathlon four years ago,” Speer said. “I’ve done two Ironman – one in Austria two years ago and one in Switzerland four years ago. I’m looking at one in Sweden next year or maybe Lanzarote, as it’s the 25th anniversary. I might go for the harder ones instead of the faster ones where you’re chasing times. I’ll do them for the fun.”
Sport, essentially, is fun. And that’s the currency that Speer has always worked in and now finds himself an entrepreneur in.
“I’ve already had contact from coaches in Australia, England and Scotland commenting on the facility and looking to visit if they are ever in the country,” Speer added.
Word is spreading fast about the new facility and there’s more innovative plans being developed for the future. It’s safe to say it’s a one of a kind training facility that offers everything an athlete could dream of.
One door might’ve closed but as Adam Speer has shown at ‘Speer Performance’ in his first weeks days in office, another certainly did open.
For further information please see Facebook page – ‘Speer Performance’ or contact Adam at adam_speer@hotmail.com
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