Alan Stein buzzed about the Rockville gym at his usualsupercharged pace, making sure all of the equipment was in place.There were the large padded boxes to jump on for an exercise todevelop vertical leaping, oversize elastic bands to place aroundone's legs and develop core strength, tennis balls to drop from ashort distance that one could catch - two at a time - for a drill tosharpen focus and peripheral vision.
Stein, 35, had spent much of the previous two weeks all over thecountry at camps run by the world's top basketball players, paid toput many of the nation's top high school players through a dailywarmup. On this recent sweltering summer afternoon, however, hislast-minute preparations were for a group of 10 teenagers who had nodreams to play in college or the NBA or concerns about leg strengthand flexibility.
It didn't bother Stein in the least. "I try to be anywhere andeverywhere," Stein said. Like many other things he does, the nexthour was a freebie for Stein, part of a business plan that has himtrying to fill just about every request that comes his way -including putting 10 Iraqi kids participating in the U.S. StateDepartment's "Sports Visitors Program" through the workout of theirlives.
The Iraqis did not speak English, but after using an interpreterfor the first few minutes, Stein had the group relaxed as they firstwatched him demonstrate each drill and then tried to copy him. Manyin the group smiled while they went through the workout.
State Department program manager Kelli Davis said she heard ofStein from "a friend of a friend" and now uses him regularly toprovide a memorable experience for groups she hosts. Word of mouthand giveaways are the basis for Stein's growing business.
A scrappy approach
He said he was an unpaid volunteer for the first five of theseven seasons he served as strength and conditioning coach for thepowerhouse Montrose Christian high school boys' basketball team.Similarly, the Internet television show he created that was pickedup by ESPN.com - "Can He Dunk?" - where teenagers see if they cantrain to improve their vertical leap and throw one down - alsoprovides no income.
"I try to work just as hard on branding and marketing as I dowith training," said Stein, whose main sources of income are frompersonal and group training sessions, DVD sales and Internetdownloads of his workouts, and as the strength and conditioningcoach for the DeMatha High basketball team. "It's all about creatinga brand. . . . The only portion I don't do is skillwork. I don't doany shooting, I don't do any ballhandling. It's purely athleticism,strength and quickness.. . .
"I give about 90 or 95 percent of what I know away on YouTube orblogs. Then I try to charge a premium for the last 5 percent."
It is a business model that seems to be working. Stein estimatedhe has more than doubled his income since he started at MontroseChristian in 2003, traveling across the nation to speak at clinicsand run workouts, where organizers pay $1,500 for three hours ofStein's time. An hour-long presentation costs $500. Locally, heprefers to work out three players at a time, charging $65 to $85 perhour, during which he serves as a supervisor and motivator.
"All the exercises we do, he relates to basketball," said guardQuinn Cook, the 2010 All-Met Player of the Year who is entering hisfreshman year at Duke. Cook has worked with Stein for three years."He's definitely helped me out with everything: with my explosion,core and balance."
Already this summer Stein has worked at the shoe company-sponsored camps of Chris Paul, Amare Stoudemire, Deron Williams,former Montrose standout Kevin Durant and LeBron James.
Moving on up
While the strength and conditioning business has exploded inrecent years, the one-time small college guard who played sparinglyremembers when it was not easy to convince people he could helpthem.
Stein graduated from Watkins Mill High in 1994, earning abasketball scholarship to Elon, which made the jump from the NCAA'sDivision II to Division I during his playing career. "I played alittle bit as a freshman, then was a role player the remaining years- and that role was to not play a whole lot," said Stein, whoseenergetic personality frequently comes across in 140-characterbursts on his Twitter feed. "That was frustrating at the time, butlooking back it gives me so much more empathy for all the kids Iwork with."
All along, he had an idea that he wanted to go into training,majoring in sports management but also taking courses in businessand physiology. After graduating, he moved back to the Washingtonarea and co-founded a training business that mainly targeted highschool football players. A few years later, Stein started his owncompany, concentrating on off-court training for basketball players.
In the spring of 2003, Stein got his first big break. He hadunsuccessfully reached out to Montrose Coach Stu Vetter for a fewyears, but this time he called the school's basketball office andassistant Dave Adkins answered. Adkins had just been put in chargeof the Mustangs' offseason workouts and gave Stein a chance: Hewould bring over one player for a one-hour workout.
"If he likes it, you can work out the whole team," said Adkins,now an assistant women's basketball coach at Maryland. "If not,let's pretend we never met."
Adkins showed up with All-Met Player of the Year Linas Kleiza, aburly forward who was heading to Missouri and has now played fiveseasons in the NBA.
"I absolutely hammered him, ran him through the grinder," Steinsaid. "But if you know Linas, you know he loves that stuff."
Before this past basketball season, Stein moved on to theWashington area's other powerhouse, DeMatha. Stags Coach Mike Jonessaid he and his staff had tried to handle the team's conditioningand weight lifting programs on their own, but wanted to upgrade.
"He's more than a strength and conditioning coach," Jones said."He's a coach who gives guys a sense of accomplishment, gives guyswhat they need. He works on the mind a little bit too."
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