Functional Athlete’s History

Fall 2007 – Steve was looking for a gym that trained kids. But wasn’t having any luck. Back then the myth of kids not working out because it would stunt their growth and damage their growth place was in full swing, so it deterred a lot of people from letting their kids workout.

Steve’s oldest son Johnny who was wrestling was 7 years old and had already been wrestling for 2 years.  Steve could not find a place where kids could train, that’s when the light bulb went on. Steve thought that as the youth sport surge was ramping up that the youth athlete’s who were expected to compete at a high level at such a young age should have a place to get stronger and be more athletic to obviously perform better in their chosen sport but more importantly lessen their risk of injury.

Steve also realized that childhood obesity and Diabetes was at a record level that something must be done to get these kids up and moving, thus the Inception of FA had begun. Now his other 2 children Joelle and Jimmy both train at FA.

Winter 2008 –  Started putting ideas together for a gym for Kids

Spring 2008 – On a drive back from Colorado with his family he wrote out the rough draft of the original business plan.

Summer 2009 – Steve received Certifications in NASM National Academy of Sports Medicine) CPT, CES, PES along with 30+ years of training experience.  Trained athletes and teams out of his house and off-site

September 17, 2009 – Incorporated as Vision Quest Athletics Group Inc.

November 2009 – Opened the 1^st location a 2000 sq.ft. building at 30 E Plainfield Rd. in Countryside IL.

Winter 2010 – Rob Cavalieri performed as a Baseball skills Instructor.  Steve hired his first Coach, Sean Nicholson as a Strength and Conditioning Coach and Hockey Skills instructor in February of 2010 until September of 2010. Shortly after Sean’s departure Lifelong friend of Steve’s, Pete Volpe came on Board and is still a fixture at FA today. Pete brought 35 years of Training Experience and Gym ownership to  FA.

Winter 2010 –

VQA started out with 20-30 members who were mostly youth and High School athletes, but we did have a big group of pro and amateur MMA fighters who trusted our training program to help them reach their goals and have success as fighters.

Steve then went to Boca Raton and met JC Santana from Institute of Human performance where he received a Certification as an MMA Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach. Where he also met Scott Goodpaster owner of Cincinnati Functional Fitness, and have been friends ever since.

We hired another coach who was one of the MMA Fighter I mentioned previously her name was Pearl Gonzalez a female MMA fighter who we are proud to say still Trains with us for all of her fight camps for the last nine years she has won many belts and has fought twice in the UFC. Other coaches who were on board at that time were Pat Castillo an ex-Collegiate Wrestler And Carrie Barkstrom.

By the end of 2010 we had 65 active athletes. (VQA soon to be The Functional Athlete) were on cloud nine, we had made it.  Well, not quite but it sure felt that way.

December 2010 –

Steve Decided to change the name of the gym due to lack of branding and because he received a lot of eyeglass inquiries. Vision Quest….Who knew?

For a solid Month Steve brainstormed and searched for a new name.  There were two key words he was looking for in the name. It was either Functional and/or the word Athlete. It was a struggle, Just as he was about to throw in the towel he looked at the long list of names he and Tony Arendt came up with and saw Functional and Athlete and voila The Functional Athlete was born.

1^st annual Christmas Eve Workout Bash becomes a mainstay at Functional Athlete with 37 people.

2011 –  Picking a Logo.  Steve turned to the guy from Hawaii who was the winner of the contest to design the VQA logo for the new FA logo after a few days the logo was designed and we were now off to the Races The functional athlete was the new name and with the help of DQComm, a new website was built.

2012 – During this time more people joined our team Vicki, Susan Heather, Tammy, Joe and Alex .

That same year 10 members of Team FA ran a Spartan Race in 36 degree temperatures.

We grew to 300 active members with 700 plus total members trained.

2013 –  Steve decided that The Functional Athlete needed more than just a logo it needed a symbol, so there he was back to the drawing board looking for a new logo.

Again, after about a month of searching for a symbol that would define FA, he kept seeing this symbol that was the Japanese symbol for strength and power.

He contemplated if we should use that symbol because after all, we weren’t a Martial Arts Studio. So after exhausting all efforts, he kept going back to this one symbol so he printed it out and using a Blue and Red crayon he drew in the top part of the F and the cross-section of the A and the new Logo was complete.

The Functional Athlete now had a logo that would shed no doubt on what the Functional Athlete was all about. This new logo would stand for STRENGTH and POWER

Website was redesigned

2015 –   FA began to look for a new location. The original building was too small for the number of members FA was training.  In December during our annual Christmas workout bash we announced we would be in a new 10,000 sq. ft. facility directly across the street and kitty corner at 51 E Plainfield rd.

In January 2015 FA acquired Kendyl Wyman as our newest team member. She was not only a NASM CPT and Strength and Conditioning Coach, she also had an extensive background in Administration.

Over the next few months Kendyl and Steve worked tirelessly to get the new gym prepared for its grand opening on May 1^st, 2015. Along with The Functional Athlete, a Hockey off-ice skills training center came on board.

September 2015   FA takes over 2000 sq ft front area, that was being used by a previous tenant which is now known as the gray room.

2015 –  We’re in a great spot.  The gym runs at anywhere between 300 and 600 active athletes and FAnatics throughout the month with just over 1200 members trained.

Andrea King Joins Team FA

Carson Beebe another FA Athlete comes on board as a Boxing Instructor.

Jerry Owen comes aboard and is now part of the FA Family

2016 –  Mike Gastaldello a former FA Athlete and wrestler was hired.

February 2017 –  FA Symbol is officially Trademarked (TM).  Woohoo!

April 2017 –  Hockey center leaves and FA acquires another 3000 sq ft of space

Apex House of grappling is incorporated and is now part of the training center.

June 2017 – The Functional Athlete’s Guide to The Squat written by Steve Mologousis was Published as an ebook.  Available on Amazon.

Ryan Leslie – Baseball Strength and Conditioning Specialist was hired