\u201cI\u2019ve always been told [that] you have to leave to be successful,\u201d he said. \u201cI was fortunate enough to go to school in Memphis. It was a big culture shock for me, but it helped me grow as a man. Growing as a person\u2014 you know\u2014you have to get away. But if you come back, that\u2019s ok. I was able to go and play college ball and was blessed enough to play professionally and then have the opportunity to come back home. My children were born my last year in professional sports. I was still playing in Canada. When I retired, there were different places I could have started my businesses, but home kept calling, and I just felt like I could come home and do something good for our community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n GROWING THE DREAM<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Upon moving back home, Taylor got his start at Elite Energy. He went to work helping to shape and condition student-athletes in the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cElite served as a home for my facility. They allowed me to use space in their gym. I focused and continue to focus on sports performance: speed, agility, strength, and body movements that every young athlete should have,\u201d explained Taylor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Taylor grew his business at Elite Energy, but after five years he began to see that more space was needed for his business. He needed a bigger area to train and more freedom to expand his vision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI was at Elite Energy for five and a half years,\u201d he said. \u201cI am very grateful for those people. They gave me my first facility, as I used a third of their building. They allowed me to build my brand. It was a good relationship, but it was time for me to find my own.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Almost three years later, Taylor said he is finally home and enjoys working with the athletic youth of Franklin County, challenging them to be better both physically and mentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn life, you are going to fall down,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019ve always got to get back up. In here, you will fail sometimes, but you come in here the next day and try to do it over. I do use the facility or forum to reach the child or adult in the aspect of \u2018be better\u2019 in life. Be a better brother, be a better sister, be a better mother, be a better father\u2014just be a better human being. I work on that every single day. I\u2019m not perfect, but I try. What I tell my kids is that I try to live that every day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A NEW AGE OF TRAINING<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Looking back fondly on his time as a young athlete, Taylor said he wished he would have had something like this to help him grow both mentally and physically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy friends and I always talk about how much better we would have been had we had a place like this,\u201d he said. “For us, it came from watching television. We didn\u2019t have YouTube or the internet, so we watched it live and then watched the highlights on ESPN. I can remember going out on a gravel basketball court and saying that I was Chris Webber or Charles Barkley and then trying to mimic what I saw them doing. That\u2019s how I learned to play.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Having the opportunity to provide such a place for the youth of Franklin county, he hopes to give athletes the tools they need to grow and succeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI am most proud of being able to help our youth, guide our youth, and show them a guideline of what they need to do to be successful,\u201d said Taylor. \u201cI\u2019ve never taken credit for a kid going to state or going to college. They are the ones that put in the work. They sweat. They cry. But I\u2019m just a guideline.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He also adds that being this guideline is what has been his biggest accomplishment and surprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c[The biggest surprise] is the impact that I have had on a lot of children\u2019s lives,\u201d he said. \u201cThere have been a lot of kids who have gone on to the next level, and they still thank me to this day when they see me. That was the thing I wanted to do when I first got started, and that has been the biggest surprise.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n CHALLENGING THE FUTURE<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Taylor has plans for growth that include more room, more athletes, and more involvement from the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI would hope to have a bigger facility as far as a bigger following and more support from others around that are interested in doing something like this,\u201d he explained. \u201cMy partner, Jerome Thompson, does baseball. He did baseball in college. He and his wife moved here about 10 years ago. We want to grow something special. We want to keep growing and keep building. We want to build a spot where people want to come… whether they are athletes, adults, a teen night, even Monday night football.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Taylor welcomes all athletes to come and reach their full potential at The Academy. GN<\/p>\n\n\n\n Franklin County native Eric Taylor enjoys working with Franklin County’s youth, challenging them to be better physically and mentally.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":9195,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[25],"class_list":["post-1264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories","tag-december"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodnewsmags.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/DSC06619-1024x683.jpg\")
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