Owner of local training gym helps young athletes improve their performance
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POCATELLO — Sports performance training may not be what stands out about Pocatello, but Darren Hansen, a sports performance coach from the Gate City, is certainly leaving his mark.
Hansen owns HansenAthletics, a 10,000-square-foot training gym at 429 North 5th Avenue. It’s a venture he and his partner, Shelton Robinson, started in his garage in 2017. It moved to five different locations before finding a permanent home on 5th Avenue.
The duo have trained athletes nationwide, providing an individualized coaching experience that takes a performance-based approach to an athlete’s development.
“I wake up in the morning excited to get to the gym at 5 a.m. to be with the student athletes who I know, with the culture we have developed, will change the trajectory of the the youth’s life. Their training and good habits will carry outside of the gym, and they will perform better in life as they age,” Hansen tells EastIdahoNews.com.
Among his current clientele is Pocatello’s junior Olympic basketball star and ESPN top recruit Isaiah Harwell and Pocatello High School Junior Julian Bowie, who will be playing basketball for Boise State University next year.
Helping athletes improve their performance is something Hansen became interested in as a kid growing up in Pocatello. The Highland High School graduate played football for the Rams, and also participated in golf, basketball and track.
He got a job managing a gym at Utah State University, where he learned the ins and outs of training and other skill sets needed to successfully help others.
After graduating with an exercise science degree in 2015, he coached in various capacities at multiple division one universities. But it was his experience working with young athletes at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs that ultimately inspired him to go into training full time.
He and his partner have spent the last 10 years working eight to 12 hours a day to make what is now HansenAthletics what it is. He offers training for individuals and teams, youth athlete development programs, injury rehabilitation, and more.
While some coaches rule their students with harsh words, Hansen’s approach is to uplift and encourage his athletes by sparking an atmosphere of “doing your best.”
Most weekends, Hansen is at a meet, a game, a run, or a tournament one of his students is in. Isaiah and Julian are just two of his clients who have achieved state recognition this year for sport performance, and Julian says working with Hansen has been very beneficial.
“Darren has been great in the three years he has been training me. Not only have I gotten a lot stronger, I have improved a lot athletically as well. The gym environment is fun, welcoming and competitive. Darren encourages positivity, which maximizes performance,” says Julian.
Hansen began hosting a podcast shortly after the launch of his business in 2017.
Hansen and Robinson are hoping to open another location in eastern Idaho soon, as well as expand their reach across the U.S. Hansen’s goal is to have a performance center, with different professionals in the same space all working together with physical therapy and athletic trainers.
“With the remote coaching relationships, company partnerships and culture of HansenAthletics, the sky is the limit,” Hansen says.