“I think it just speaks to the strength of the soccer market, definitely within the Dayton community, and just the burning desire of so many kids in this area to reach their potential, their willingness to put in the extra work, and that type of thing,” Tony Miller said.
Located in a small former warehouse, Dayton Functional Fitness’ new location is just under 15,000 square feet, with around 10,000 square feet on the soccer side, and the other 5,000 dedicated to strength and conditioning. The company plans to add indoor turf fields to the soccer portion this November, in time for the winter indoor soccer season.
The facility is intended to be a one-stop-shop for fitness and athletic training, as well as a place for kids to grow confidence in themselves judgement-free.
“Just through our little experience, we’ve been able to witness the amount of pressure that kids are feeling, not just in athletics, but academics, and everything that they’re involved in,” Hollie Miller said. “That’s what we’re here for, is to build that confidence so that they can handle really tough situations.”
Dayton Functional Fitness offers classes seven days a week, from the time kids get out of school to around 9 p.m. during the school year, as well as Saturday and Sunday morning workouts. Eventually, the couple plans to open up the facility for adult fitness classes as well.
“Hollie and I have experienced with our own kids the value of fitness,” Tony said. “That’s the main reason why we got into this, to spend the last couple decades of our working lives focusing on building a community, giving back to a community and trying to make change in a different way.”
About the Author
