PROtential Sports Can Help Unlock Your Child’s Potential On & Off The Field

Tony and Nyree Bland know what it takes to achieve success at the highest levels of athletic competition, and they have been sharing that knowledge with young people in communities throughout New Tampa and Wesley Chapel for more than a dozen years.

PROtential Sports campers stretch before breaking off into teams for flag football. (Photo: Gavin Olsen)

“It’s about being the best you can be and having integrity,” says Nyree.
That’s the foundation of the New Tampa couple’s youth sports training company, PROtential Sports, where the stated mission is “Teaching Life Through Sports.”

Achieving high standards of performance through hard work and fair play is what the Blands credit for their own personal and professional successes, on and off the fields of play.

Nyree was ranked as the number-one junior tennis player in North Carolina before a knee injury curtailed her professional tennis aspirations. Tony was a wide receiver for the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings for four years, including the team’s historic 16-victory season in 1998, when he played behind NFL Hall of Famers Cris Carter and Randy Moss.

Passing on the insights and lessons from their own sports and life experiences is the goal of every after-school instructional sports program and summer camp the Blands offer.“We’re trying to teach them how to be good people, as well as being good athletes,” says Nyree.

Their venture into the business side of athletics came about in 2003, when Tony participated in a youth football camp with then-Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Brad Johnson (who was also a teammate of Tony’s at Minnesota) and former Bucs running back Michael Pittman.

That experience brought home Tony’s own football beginning, as a 14-year-old playing in a youth football league and then catching passes at Pinellas Park High. His focused dedication to athletic achievement became part of his overall lifestyle, including academics, and he earned a scholarship to Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, where he majored in political science.

PROtential district manager Julie Garretson is another lifelong athlete who aspired to a career in physical education and now oversees many of the day-to-day operations of PROtential Sports. Since the youth activities are community-oriented, that means developing relationships with the activity and lifestyle directors in local communities like The Ridge at Wiregrass Ranch in Wesley Chapel and Heritage Isles, and stopping by when the children are on-site to check on things.

So Many Locations!
According to Garretson, PROtential Sports’ after-school instructional sports programs for students ages 5-12 years old are located at Club Tampa Palms, Arbor Greene, Heritage Isles, Grand Hampton and Cory Lake Isles in New Tampa. While previously only available to residents, the Cory Lake Isles location is now open to everyone.

PROtential sports summer campers work on agility drills at Grand Hampton, one of five sites that host after-school instructional sports programs for students ages 5-12 in New Tampa. (Photo: Gavin Olsen)

In Wesley Chapel, PROtential has been running summer camps and after-school instructional sports programs at Seven Oaks and Meadow Pointe IV, and this summer has added The Ridge.

“We are so happy to be in The Ridge,” Nyree says, adding that the summer programs have been a big hit in the bustling new community. “It’s just a beautiful subdivision, the amenities are great, the staff is amazing and the residents coming to PROtential have been wonderful.”

Being able to operate in the new communities popping up in Wesley Chapel is a treat for Nyree and Tony. Developments like The Ridge grow into long-time relationships, like at Heritage Isles, where PROtential is in its 16th year of operations.
“Anytime you have a chance to grow with a new development, it’s a blessing,” Nyree says.

PROtential also offers the added convenience of transportation, which is extremely helpful for families where both parents work, especially during the school year. Children can be transported from school back to their communities in many cases, and are provided with exercise and positive team-building skills that they can’t find at home playing Fortnite.

“We pick up from all the local schools,” says Garretson. “We do two to three sports rotations a day and try to hit each major sport twice a week.”

Besides getting a chance to learn about and play a variety of sports, like baseball, flag football, golf, tennis and soccer, kids participating in a PROtential Sports after-school instructional sports program also learn the principles of teamwork and sportsmanship.

“We want the kids to always put their best foot forward,” Garretson says, adding that instilling a solid work ethic and sense of compassion in young people — whatever their athletic goals may be — will serve them well in the future. And, she says that’s important for the children to understand.

Nyree adds that while PROtential places a strong emphasis on athletic development, it balances that with an equal dose of character building. When former PROtential participants who went onto become college athletes come back to help the younger generation at their summer camps, Nyree knows that incorporating lessons about integrity, responsibility and compassion at PROtential have paid off.

“We want to make great athletes and great people,” she says. “We are devout Christians, and this is our mission in life.”
There are about 20 coaches working directly with children at PROtential. Experience in sports is a requirement, but according to Garretson, they need more to meet PROtential’s standards by also being able to pass on athletic and life skills.

“(Our instructors) should be teachers,” Julie says. “They are 50-percent life coaches and 50-percent sports coaches.”
One of PROtential’s coaches is Brooks Lovely, who says he has been playing sports since he was 3-years-old. Brooks was an offensive lineman at Maryville College in Maryville, TN, and he also was a football coach at Robinson High in Tampa before signing up with PROtential.

“We try to make a positive impact on their lives every day,” Brooks says. “We teach them what we learned in our lives through sports, like the importance of teamwork and communication.”

He adds that part of the job sometimes involves helping kids in the after-school instructional sports programs with their homework and instilling a positive attitude about getting good grades.
“(We tell the kids that they need to learn to like school,” he says.

Coach Devonn Polk, a graduate of Wharton High in New Tampa who played tight end for the Wildcats, can easily relate to the kids he’s responsible for at PROtential Sports. To him, you’re never too young to learn a sense of responsibility and he says PROtential Sports offers a way to do just that.

“We teach them not just how to play sports, but how to be good leaders,” the Heritage Isles resident says.
The lessons that New Tampa resident Sandra Ferris says her son Alexavier has learned through PROtential Sports makes the program a winner in her view.

“It’s gratifying to watch my son learn a variety of sporting techniques while gaining lifelong leadership and sportsmanship skills,” Ferris says. “I firmly believe that Alexavier will learn to exemplify PROtential Sports’ motto by developing an appreciation for teamwork, perseverance and consistency throughout his adolescence into adulthood.”

NFL Flag Football, Too!
Now that the summer programs have ended, PROtential Sports has begun shifting gears as it fields inquiries about its after-school instructional sports programs. After-school sports programs cost $68 per week (or $295 a month) per child.
If you pay online, use coupon code AS1819 to drop the price to $58/$255.

It’s also the time of year when interest in football is renewed. For kids who want to compete in organized, limited-contact flag football in a professionally-run league, PROtential Sports offers NFL Flag Football in both the fall and the spring.
The NFL Flag Football program operates under a license granted by the National Football League. It’s a 6-on-6 game, which is known for exciting, low-contact playmaking on the gridiron.

Currently in its second year, PROtential’s NFL Travel Flag Football League — which offers more of a competitive experience — also continues to be a success, including a second-place finish in a national tournament held at Lakewood Ranch.
“That’s Tony’s baby,” Nyree jokes.

The New Stuff
PROtential Sports is adding a golf academy at Heritage Isles Golf Club each day from 4 p.m.-6 p.m., and Tony also is starting new middle school leagues this fall.

Geared towards athletes who may not be ready to get playing time on teams with seventh and eighth graders, PROtential also will begin offering leagues in a handful of sports to be determined, like tennis, basketball, soccer and others.

Teams, which will play and practice each day from 4 p.m.-6 p.m., will represent their communities. So, a team from The Ridge might travel to Grand Hampton for a soccer match, or Meadow Pointe IV might take on Cory Lake Isles in a tennis contest.
Because many sixth graders can’t compete against bigger and more experienced schoolmates, they can often lose an entire season of playing while they wait their turns. The Blands aren’t looking to compete against middle school sports teams at area schools, but are hoping to help sixth graders in particular lay the foundation for future athletic success at school.

“We want to get kids ready,” Nyree says. “And, of course, not just for sports.”

More information about PROtential Sports’ NFL Flag Football, after-school instructional sports programs, sports leagues and camps is available at PROtentialSports.com or by calling (813)-843-9460. Also, see the ad on pg. 35 of this issue for more information.

After 22 Years, Fit 4 Life Personal Training & Physical Therapy Is Still Thriving

I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again: I have not only known Travis Monday (a fellow University of Florida alum) for as long as he has been in business here in Tampa — which is 17 years (this month) of the 22 years he has owned and operated Fit 4 Life Personal Training & Physical Therapy — I’ve been working out at his New Tampa studio. In other words, if you think I’m out of shape, feel free to blame him.

Just kidding, Travis. Imagine instead what I would look like if I hadn’t been visiting Fit 4 Life at least two days a week most every week since 2001.

But, let’s start with a little history.

Travis, a former UPS driver who is certified as a personal trainer by the American Council on Exercise (ACE), as well as in SuperSlow training, first opened Fit 4 Life in Wausau, WI, in 1996, at the tender age of 22. After five successful years of operating his personal training studio in his home state, Travis sold that practice and opened Fit 4 Life in Tampa Palms in 2001, although that was at a different location than where he has been for at least the last dozen or so years, in the Tampa Palms Professional Center, just south of the Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. exit (#270) off I-75. He started adding licensed Physical Therapists (PTs) shortly after opening that first, 2,500-sq.-ft. Tampa Palms studio.

He moved from that location to the former Model & Visitor Center in front of Hunter’s Green off Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. in New Tampa before opening the current studio.

In fact, Travis met his wife Fiona when he first hired her as a PT for Fit 4 Life. Today, they have two young daughters, Molly and Madison, and continue to be the driving personal training and PT forces behind this dynamic, 4,500-sq.-ft. studio.

MedX Equipment

When Travis first opened in Wisconsin, he had only six pieces of circuit training equipment, all of which were MedX machines, which Travis says are the best out there for using the SuperSlow training method. Because Fit 4 Life is a personal training studio and not a “gym” or “health club,” every training client works one-on-one with one of Travis’ outstanding trainers every time he or she visits the studio. Instead of throwing up as much weight as you can using momentum to get through reps, your trainer will force you to move the weight in each rep of each exercise as slowly as possible, ten seconds in each direction of the exercise.

Today, Fit 4 Life not only has 18 pieces of MedX equipment (you usually only use 5 or 6 of the machines each visit), one of them is a computer-driven neck and one is a lower back (lumbar extension) PT machine; both allow Fiona and her fellow licensed PTs to track your progress. If you have neck or low back pain (or both) and haven’t gotten the relief you hoped for from your previous PTs, you owe it to yourself to give these machines a try at Fit 4 Life.

“There’s no doubt that since the economic downturn in our area in 2008, we’ve seen much faster growth of our physical therapy clients than we have personal training,” Travis says. “Even so, we have helped more than 6,000 training clients lose tens of thousands of pounds of fat. We’re up to 3,000 people we’ve helped with their low back and neck pain and have a 95-percent success rate, and an 88-percent success rate with surgical candidates.”

He adds, “We are the only clinic in the area that truly does one-on-one physical therapy. We don’t just get you out of pain, we are 100-percent committed to finding the underlying problem and solving it and we have expanded to help all PT needs, from shoulders, necks, hips, knees, etc. because of our high success rate. And, more than 350 doctors have sent us PT clients, but you don’t need a prescription to come here for therapy.”

For more information, to set a personal training or physical therapy appointment, or to RSVP for the Client Appreciation Martini Party, call (813) 907-7879. You also can stop in anytime the studio (located at 17419 Bridge Hill Ct.) is open and sign up for the party at the front desk. See the ad on pg. 29 of this issue for two complimentary personal training sessions, or visit Fit4LifeTampa.com to find out more.

Dr. Stan Castor Of Artisan Aesthetics Offers Cellulite Treatments & Much More!

Board-certified plastic surgeon Dr. Stan Castor (center) and his professional staff at Artisan Aesthetics offer a variety of surgical and other cosmetic procedures in their office in Tampa Palms.

Every patient who visits Artisan Aesthetics Plastic Surgery & Laser Center in Tampa Palms is seen personally by Board-certified plastic surgeon Stan Castor, M.D.

That’s the philosophy Dr. Castor has continued to embrace since he first opened Artisan Aesthetics in the Tampa Palms Professional Center off Commerce Park Blvd. in 2007. Dr. Castor offers facial cosmetic surgery, breast augmentation, body contouring surgery, liposuction, laser treatments, dermal fillers, facial treatments and peels, “mommy makeovers” and more.

“I don’t use a physician’s assistant or nurse practitioner in my office,” Dr. Castor says. “I do all of the consultations and procedures myself, including minor procedures, such as Botox or a dermal filler. If you come to my office, you see me.”

Dr. Castor, who is Board-certified in Plastic Surgery by the American Board of Plastic Surgery, earned his Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia in 1992, after earning a B.S. degree in Biology in 1987 from Florida Southern College in Lakeland.

In 1997, he completed a five-year internship and residency in General Surgery at Emory University Hospitals in Atlanta, GA, before taking on two years of intensive training in Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery at the renewed Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Cleveland, OH. He also completed a cosmetic surgery fellowship, offered to only two plastic surgeons each year, with world-renowned plastic surgeons Drs. Thomas J. Baker and James M. Stuzin in Miami, FL.

Cellfina Cellulite Treatment

Of the many procedures available in his office, Dr. Castor offers “Cellfina” to get rid of cellulite. Cellfina is a minimally invasive treatment that Dr. Castor says has been clinically proven to treat the primary structural cause of cellulite for at least two years, which is currently the longest FDA clearance for any cellulite treatment (see photos on next page).

Dr. Castor explains that cellulite is caused by the connective fibrous bands woven throughout fat in the thighs and buttocks. These tight bands pull down the skin, which creates that infamous puckering on the surface of the skin.

A small blade — about the size of a needle — is used to cut through the fibers. Similar to a rubber band under tension, once released, the treated skin bounces back to smooth itself out.

“What struck me as impressive is that the patient satisfaction rate for this procedure is 96 percent after two years,” Dr. Castor explains. “That’s unheard of.”

Because it is more invasive than procedures that only temporarily reduce the appearance of cellulite using treatments on the outside of the skin (including the Accent machine that has been in use at Artisan Aesthetics for some time for reducing cellulite and tightening skin), Dr. Castor says Cellfina will work better and last much longer.

It does, however, also have a higher cost than those other treatments. Cellfina treatments start at $3,000.

“There are probably 25 to 30 devices on the market to reduce the appearance of cellulite, but they only last about six months,” says Dr. Castor. “Once you stop doing the treatment, the cellulite returns. This is the only device out there that has approval for permanent cellulite removal. It’s much more effective than any temporary device.”

Breast Augmentation

Another popular procedure at Dr. Castor’s office is breast augmentation. Dr. Castor estimates he performs between 150-200 of these surgeries each year. He does so many that the vendor of the implants he uses says he does the third most procedures of any doctor in the Tampa Bay area.

One reason many women choose to have Dr. Castor perform their surgery is that — in addition to being a Board-certified plastic surgeon with 20 years of experience —all of his procedures are done in Artisan’s in-office surgery suite.

“It’s much more private and homey than being in a hospital,” says Dr. Castor. “At hospitals, there are sick people and infections, and your surgery could get bumped by an emergency. At my office, patients have a better environment, especially for this type of elective surgery.”

He explains that he has a surgical team — including a nurse anesthetist, two surgical technicians and a recovery nurse — on his staff, so you’ll see the same people in the office and at your surgery.

Dr. Castor emphasizes that there are still two primary types of implants — silicone and saline — and that they are available in different profiles to help each woman get the exact shape, size and feel she’s looking for.

“We have newer implants called ‘gummy bear’ implants,” he says, explaining that the name indicates they are thicker and firmer, but still soft, like the texture of a gummy bear. “Every couple of years, they come up with something that looks better and feels even more natural.”

He says some prospective patients worry about safety, but the silicone implant leaks of the 1990s are a thing of the distant past.

“Silicone implants were reapproved in 2006 and they’ve pretty much taken over the market,” he says, adding that the revised silicone implants have, “been out for 12 years, so if there was a problem we would know about it by now.”

A patient of Dr. Castor’s, who lives in Lutz and asked us not to use her name, says she is particularly impressed by the doctor’s bedside manner and how much he cares about his patients.

“During the consultation, he was pretty thorough,” she says. “We went over different options, as far as incisions, and he takes into account what your concerns are. Even the day of the surgery, he came in and talked with me about what to expect, when to remove my bandages, and made sure to answer all of the questions I had.”

She adds, “I absolutely love the outcome. Two days after my surgery, Dr. Castor was on vacation, (but still) called me to follow up and check up on me to see how I was doing and if I had any questions or concerns that came up. It was unexpected and really nice, and is a testament to how important his patients are to him.”

Dr. Castor explains that he does all consultations himself, spending 30-45 minutes going over everything, discussing what the client is looking for — such as a natural look in a bathing suit or a look that really “shows” — and then making a recommendation for certain implants or profiles, and answering any and all questions. “A lot of patients tell me they’ve been to several doctors,” he says, “and I’ve spent more time with them than all of the other doctors combined.”

For more information about breast augmentation, visit ArtisanPlasticSurgeryCenter.net/breast-augmentation.

From there, you also can visit other parts of the doctor’s website, including a section with several videos, where you can learn more about Dr. Castor and his office.

Over the years, Dr. Castor has built a reputation for himself through the work he’s done with his patients, so much so that the Consumer Research Council (a Washington, DC-based research organization that provides guides to consumers about professionals in different industries) named him in its 2010 Guide to America’s Top Surgeons, and he has appeared in the Guide every year since then.

Artisan Aesthetics Plastic Surgery & Laser Center is located at 5383 Primrose Lake Cir. in Tampa Palms and is open Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.–5 p.m. For more information, visit DrCastor.com or call (813) 971-2000.