The American Dream - Racquet Sports Style with Omar Trevino and Alejandra Suarez
Welcome
Episode Narration:to Racquet Fuel, where we launch into great conversations and share powerful tools to help you become a stronger Racquet's leader. Your hosts are Kim Bastable, a former all American tennis player and now the director of tennis management at the University of Florida. And Simon Gale, the USTA senior director of Racquet Sports Development. Today on Racquet Fuel, as Omar Trevino's lesson clientele grew overwhelming the availability of the public courts he was using in the North Dallas area, he felt inspired to build a club. And that's no easy project as he will attest.
Episode Narration:But this spring, after more than five years of ups and downs, he and his wife Alejandra Suarez opened beautiful North Texas Racquet Club in Frisco, Texas, including tennis, pickleball, and Padel. Their story and perseverance is inspiring. Now here's Kim and Simon.
Kim Bastable:Welcome to Racquet Fuel. I'm Kim Bastable. I'm here with my cohost, Simon Gale. Simon, we both know opening a brand new club isn't happening that much recently. Many are adding different, court types, but not entire new clubs.
Kim Bastable:It's so exciting today to hear about a new build.
Simon Gale:Well Kim, as you know, prior to working at the USTA, I was managing partner at a club, but we took over an existing club. So a new build is something I'm not entirely familiar with but I know it's a big step and I'm excited to hear Omar and Ali's story today and I think it's inspirational for others to consider this step as a possibility in their career.
Kim Bastable:So we welcome you, Omar and Ale. Omar, thank you first. Let you have a few words. You are kind of the instigator of this idea.
Omar Trevino:Thank you, Kim and Simon. Thank you for having us here. And, you know, we're very excited to share our story with you guys and with everybody else.
Kim Bastable:Ale, you are the the strong supporting role, so we welcome you to to be here to tell your story.
Alejandra Suarez:Thank you. Thank you. I'm kind of, like, on the back end of this. Right? Like, just observing and watching and helping as I can,
Kim Bastable:learning this new gig here. Well, to start, we are more than excited that as of this recording, literally, the doors have opened in the last few days of North Texas Racquet Club. So we need to hear just a little bit about, you know, what is the overview of the facility, Omar. What did you build? What did you start?
Omar Trevino:Yes. Of course. So we are, we're located in Frisco in the Sports Village in here down down, next to Downtown Frisco. On our club, we have seven tennis courts. We have six pickleball courts and four padel courts.
Omar Trevino:We are finishing this the last stage of the padel courts, which is just putting the turf down, which should be done this this this weekend, and we should start fully open next next week. We have the the tennis academy running, and the tennis and the and the and the pickleball is is is you know, we're welcoming everybody to to start coming out. We also have a gazebo pending where we're gonna have food and drinks, for our customers, so that's really exciting as well. I think that's gonna take us for maybe another month to get that, but that should not be on the way to start.
Kim Bastable:That is great. I mean, we are so excited for the for the future of this. Ali, you and I met at the Paddell Court. It's so much fun playing with you. Actually, both of you.
Kim Bastable:I have to say that the time's playing with Omar. I feel so supported again. Gonna take it to Ali and and your son. I mean, those are some fun matches. But I just was so impressed when I realized the venture that you guys have been on.
Kim Bastable:And you're the one who watched Omar, who has just, you know, developed as a a tennis pro developing this program in North Texas. And and, you know, you realized that this was something that needed to happen, that that Omar was sort of had a passion that was just coming coming to fruition over the years. Tell us a little bit
Alejandra Suarez:about watching that develop. Well, I've known Omar for twenty nine years. We've been married twenty seven years, and I met him on the tennis court. So when I when I played tennis for the first time, I said, the day I played with that guy, I can tell I played tennis. Right?
Alejandra Suarez:So I always knew that tennis wasn't his his passion, but he worked in Mexico and, you know, for corporate Mexico, and then we moved to to The United States with corporate America. Our kids were involved in sports and everything. When we moved to The US, I encouraged Pablo to take baseball, you know, you do what you what what's in your country, right, in the country that you live. And then we invited some friends, and they went to play tennis. And that's when I saw Omar, like, going like, wait.
Alejandra Suarez:Is he gonna play tennis? And it sparked something in him. So Pablo started taking lessons, and Omar got involved in saying, you know what? Why am I paying this money for other coaches if I can do it myself and I enjoy it? So he had a full time job, and then in the afternoons, he would play with Pablo, right, and teach him and stuff.
Alejandra Suarez:And then it started to grow just with Pablo's friends. He started having, like, a mini family friends academy. And I was like, okay. This is big. And I know he always dreamt about having a tennis club.
Alejandra Suarez:It was like, can you imagine only one day having this? So I was hesitant when, actually, recession in Spain hit in 2011, and he got too expensive for the company here in The US, so he got laid off and he said, this is it. I'm gonna do it. And I was like, wait, what? We have two teenagers.
Alejandra Suarez:You didn't start from scratch right now? So I was nervous at the time, and I was really, like, not understanding why was he on the court from 7AM to 9PM, learning everything and trying everything, and when he could work for, you know, whatever company. He has a career. He has you know, I was like, how's how hard is this? And it came little by little, it started to come in reality.
Alejandra Suarez:And then I saw him five years in the making. Right? Like, putting all the pieces together, creating his academy, like, detail and detail day and night every single day with a smile. I was like, how is this possible? Like, you're coming home exhausted from tennis, teaching these kids, and then you're still happy.
Alejandra Suarez:It was just it's just I take my hats off.
Simon Gale:Well, Omar, people can't see because we're not on video when this goes out to listeners, I can see why as Ali tells the story, it almost looks like you're a little emotional. I mean, this is a huge moment in your journey to go from the corporate world and then transitioning to teaching full time and then how this has evolved. So I am sure opening the doors just in the last couple of days has been a very emotional experience for you. But what would you say in addition to the emotions going on, what have you learnt as you've transitioned to becoming a club owner? What did you learn in the business world that's kind of helped you get to this stage of opening the doors?
Omar Trevino:You know, from my early stages in my career, I always I was very lucky to be involved in the in the companies I worked at, you know, to be in all the departments, in finance, marketing, sales. I think that that that was really a different view for many people that just you know, they're either in marketing or sales, only one one part of a company. I think being involved in different in well, not in different, but many areas of all the of the companies, you know, they you start seeing the different views. Why why is marketing important? Why is sales important?
Omar Trevino:Why is everything important for a for a for a company to to be successful? So I was very lucky to have that. Right? I think the most important thing about the companies is the service that that you provide. Right?
Omar Trevino:When you say, I'm gonna jump tomorrow, you better be jumping. Right? People people expect that, and I think that's, one of the things that made us successful in, you know, in in getting this journey going. I think that's that's very important that I can see that help you get into this stage that we are on right now.
Simon Gale:And one of the things that I think I've learned over the years is like the corporate world can be very structured and has a lot of layers of leadership and HR departments and so on, the tennis world tends to be as owner or director, you wear a lot of hats. I know I was sweeping courts and changing light bulbs and doing whatever it took when I owned a club to keep the doors open and you stress about making payroll for the first couple of years and all those things that go on. But you wear a lot of hats. We tend not to have that additional structure around us. With that in mind, how do you make all that work as you start this opening of a club wearing all these hats and making it?
Simon Gale:The corporate world helped, but you you don't necessarily have that help. It's it's the two of you and some some others may be helping here and there, but it takes time to build this business to a point where you can afford those people. So talk about that transition to all the hats you now wear.
Omar Trevino:Do you know, whenever you're being on the on on the other side of, you know, being a member or playing, you you see the things that, okay. I wish I had this or I don't like this or whatever comes to your mind. So once you're once you're on the other side, you're like, you want everything to be perfect. And if you don't have somebody to blow the cords because there's trash, well, you get out there and you do it. Right?
Omar Trevino:There's no you know? Oh, I won't do it and deal with it. No. You get out there. And if it's seven in the morning or ten at night, it's gotta be done, and and you have to get the hat on and do it.
Omar Trevino:You know? I think, like I said before, the experience that you provide for the people that are going to be coming, that's what's gonna make the difference to be successful or or not.
Simon Gale:And so what you currently have as I understand it is you have contracts with cities in North Dallas and have been working on public courts. And so in order to get the bank to loan you this money, I'm sure you've had to build your program to a point where they would okay this type of loan. What are some of the challenges you've had to overcome in order to get to that point where you could sign off on a loan to open this club?
Omar Trevino:Yes. Of course. You know, you always have a big dream. You you may put it in writing and make a great presentation, which I did. Right?
Omar Trevino:And I I came to the bank and I said, okay, guys. Look at this. This is great. I did my marketing research, the you know, in the area. It's gonna be great.
Omar Trevino:And they're like, okay. So tell me, where are your sales? I'm like, well, no. I work here, at a club and and an academy, and, you know, this is gonna be great. And they're like, well, it looks great, but as long as as as soon as I have some numbers that you can show me, you won't get $1.
Omar Trevino:So they were like, okay. I recommend you to go start your business, Get get it going. And, you know, when you have a couple of years in, come back. And so I said, okay. No problem.
Omar Trevino:I I that's exactly what I did. I went out to to the public courts here in Frisco. I got secured some courts, and we started the program, the academy. And after a couple years, I I went back and I said, okay. Here I'm I'm back.
Omar Trevino:Here's my numbers. How does it look? Can I get a loan? And they're like, hey. Great.
Omar Trevino:Let's do it. So, you know, it's it's it's just about getting out there and doing, you know, doing what what you wanna do. You know? There's no going around it.
Kim Bastable:That's the work ethic that I would say some people do not have anymore. You are out there doing it, starting with nothing, building it onto the public courts. So how many people do you have working as a staff? Like, how many kids, adults? What what's the type like, on the public courts that you'll be able to take with you to North Texas Racquet Club, how many people already are part of your program?
Kim Bastable:Oof.
Omar Trevino:You know, we are, right now, we're managing all the Frisco courts from the ISD and the city, which are a 120 court. So we have a staff of maybe between between twenty five and thirty people between coaches and and office staff, around. Here at the club, you know, as as we grow, we don't know if everybody from the academy because we we went from having a 150 students to 500 students. So now, you know, they have a choice of coming to the to the club, to the academy, which is not the same price because it's a private facility. You know, it has to be spurt.
Omar Trevino:So, you know, they'll have a choice. I think that the people that are sheer the kids that are serious about their tennis, they're gonna follow us here. And the ones that are it's just one more class to do something in the afternoon, they'll probably stay at at the at the public courts at
Kim Bastable:the So you'll still
Omar Trevino:program that we
Kim Bastable:have. Maintain those contracts with the city and are still so you're managing your your facility plus many other 100 plus courts. Okay. Alright. Ali, you you left a successful career in education.
Kim Bastable:You were a high school department head and a teacher, and you are now in the role of being a well, I don't even know. What's your exact title? Do you have an exact title?
Alejandra Suarez:That's a great question, Kim. Because, yes, I do have a tie a title, but what I've learned sharing my life with Omar is we've always worn many hats. Right? So I am the it sounds a little fancy. It sounds PR and membership director, but it's also whatever.
Alejandra Suarez:Right? Like, whatever happens, whatever needs to be done, if there's a need to run and get something for maintenance for from Home Depot, like, Right? Yes. I transitioned from a very, successful career and so fulfilling. I was a dean as well, dean of students, and oof, learning this new gig is something.
Alejandra Suarez:Because I'm not very good at making mistakes, and I've made mistakes. I created the website and I wrote the website and there's been changes in the website, and I started, like, trying to enroll people, and I, of course, enrolled instead of putting the student in the academy. Why not? I put I put the the parent, like, enrolled in the academy. Right?
Alejandra Suarez:So it's like, oh, great. Now how do I change that? Right? Because when the student shows up, I'm like, oh, you're not on my system. Let and then I'm like, oh, wait.
Alejandra Suarez:Your mom is, and your mom's not playing. So you're fine. You're good. So learning this new set of skills has been challenging, and I came out I gotta share a secret here. This morning, I told Omar, Omar, when are we gonna breathe?
Alejandra Suarez:And he smiled at me, and he's like, we're breathing. And I just go like, okay. I'm disarmed here. Like, it's like, okay. Like, if that doesn't speak for for what this is, I I don't know what else does, to be honest.
Kim Bastable:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You guys are living a bit of the American dream, I guess I could say, for for for me, who might be the only one on this podcast that actually grew up and was born in America now that I think about it. You know, it's it's fabulous for me to feel that you guys have been able to come to America and do this dream and fulfill it.
Kim Bastable:And I couldn't be more, you know, enthused to be able to be close down there. I do live in Dallas some, and I'm excited to be able to be up there and cheerlead you guys. And but you gave some great examples of some challenges. I'd love to hear more. Like, the fact that you had to just sort of make some mistakes and bumble through it, sure.
Kim Bastable:That doesn't that doesn't feel great, but it's it's part of everybody's learning curve, and I think a few of us on the tennis court might be perfectionists. What what are some other things? And maybe both of you could share some challenges that you've just faced that you thought, wow. I didn't come didn't see that one coming.
Alejandra Suarez:Wow. Go ahead, Omar, please.
Omar Trevino:You know, I think one of the challenges was or a big challenge was during the building here, the building the facility. There were a lot of requirements from the city that I think if I knew all these requirements in advance would have helped us a lot. Just like an example of the city, the council, they they meet once a month. And if you wanna change anything on your project or you decide, okay. I don't like this.
Omar Trevino:I wanna do something else. Well, you can't just go and show up and do it and and keep working tomorrow. You gotta work a whole month. You gotta wait a whole month for them to see it, approve it, and then you can keep going. So so just you know, I think knowing all these all these things that you don't know, right, I think will make it, so much smoother.
Omar Trevino:I think, once we partnered with the city and learned all this information and during the process, everything worked out better, but I think that was one of the challenges that that it was rough.
Kim Bastable:You weren't expecting. Yeah. How about you, Ali?
Alejandra Suarez:Any anything I agree with Omar. And one of the things that I that we learned in the process is we, of course, wanted to make state of the art facilities. Right? We we wanted the best of the best courts. So our courts are post tension.
Alejandra Suarez:I mean, it's just incredible. I didn't know that it takes so long to just build a flat concrete thing. Like, I was like, what is this? Why we broke ground 03/26/2023. Today is March it's 02/21/2024.
Alejandra Suarez:Right? And we're, like, about to finish. Of the things that we learned, is we made post tension everywhere. Well, guess what? The padel is kinda new in in The US and growing and and booming.
Alejandra Suarez:Right? But the surface, we made post tension. And in order for the walls to go up, they have to drill the concrete. And if they drill the concrete and hit one of those post tensions, you and I don't wanna know what happens. Right?
Alejandra Suarez:Because that platform probably goes like, boom. Right? And we were not ready for that. So we had to hire a company to scan the concrete and make sure that the cords, whenever they were gonna drill the holes, were not gonna hit those, like like, post tensions. So that also set us a little bit back.
Alejandra Suarez:Right? Because they had to do extra work. Right? And they had to make adjustments to the court to to moving the courts a little bit and putting, like, the lights up and making holes again on the concrete where there there's no, like, wire there. So that was a big learn for us.
Alejandra Suarez:Like, if anybody wants to do, like, padel cords here, please do them, but do not do post tension. You'll save yourself scanning after the concrete is set there. So That's pretty fascinating but like you
Kim Bastable:do need post tension in some parts of the country but maybe you didn't need them down, I don't know. That's
Alejandra Suarez:So I don't know.
Simon Gale:You guys will be consulting soon as well. You'll be telling clubs how to build as well so you'll have a separate consulting business in addition to your club. I think when you listen to your guys' story and I love how you kind of play off each other, Allie's wound up and it's stressful right now and we're getting open and Omar's telling you that we are breathing. It seems that balance is working well for you guys. But you can hear in your story the vision and determination.
Simon Gale:That alone is going to make you guys successful. It's just such a great story. But what I really hope is that you are able to invest in some marketing to tell your story because you have all your local people who follow you and that's going to help you open the doors and create traffic. But just your story alone is inspirational and I think that separates you as club owners as well. People want to connect to your story and it's a reason to come because they want to meet you.
Simon Gale:So I hope you get to tell that story, somehow capture it because it is an amazing aspect of your club. Find a way to get that up on a wall or something so that people know your story. I am going to transition a little bit into leadership and I know when I was teaching full time and then transitioned to being an owner as well that going on the court was an escape from all the other stuff that I was dealing with, right? So it took you away from all the other stuff but still when I was on the court, I was looking at the lights and that bulb needed to be changed or this bit of insulation was hanging out from the corner. There was always something as an owner that I was looking at that I never looked at when I was a teaching pro.
Simon Gale:I didn't care about that stuff. So as you transition into ownership, how do you envision your daily work schedule changing? Are you going to teach less? Are you going to employ people to to worry about those things? How do you see that transition happening?
Omar Trevino:You know, I I think it's it's very important, and I I think all successful companies and businesses is is is done by the people you have. So I think I've been building a great team, to help me out. I love being on the court, and I'm going to be on the court as as long as I can. But at the same time, you know, you have to have the time to manage and and do whatever it has to be done. And I think, you know, having the right people with you onboard is is what's gonna make a difference.
Omar Trevino:I I I think, at some point, yes, I'm gonna try to stay off the court a little bit, but I'm always going to be involved in the academy and on the court and and, you know, it's it's you know the process. It's it's one of those things that when you love it, it's it's hard to stay away. Right? But, yeah, I think the people that you have next to you, it's it's it's a diff makes a big difference.
Simon Gale:Well, and if you're a smart owner, you surround yourself with people that are good at those things, right? If you've built your business you being the face of the on court delivery, if that changed dramatically, that could impact your business a lot. It sounds like that's a smart move and if you've got smart people like Ali around you, then you're able to make this transition. But it sounds like you've done a great job of surrounding yourself with good people and the court is your happy place, then that's probably the best thing for your business too, I would think.
Omar Trevino:Yes. Yes. And I also you know, one thing that I really try to do is all the coaches that that come along and help me is I try to teach them exactly what I like and the way I like it, as far as technique of of the process of, you know, the teaching of the kids, what the process should be for them to to get to where they need to get. And I think once they know that, you can go on vacation and close your eyes and you know that nothing's gonna be different than what you'd like to to be done. Right?
Omar Trevino:So I think that's a very important part of part of, what we do that, or what I do is that, you know, people know exactly what I want and what I like, and and I don't want them to to do it different because I know that it's worked for me like this for many years. Don't come and change it. I mean, maybe it's not the best way. It's my way, and it works for me, and and I think that's that's important. Right?
Alejandra Suarez:Just to add a parenthesis there, if you look at the kids in the academy, it's we have we have an inside joke that we call it the Trevino forehand. Because when you see the the kids play, you're like, oh, that's a Trevino forehand. And it doesn't matter if it's a six year old or a 17 year old. I'm like, how in the world are they doing the same forehand? It's the same motion.
Alejandra Suarez:So it's it's so fulfilling to see that. I was act I actually witnessed yesterday was the first day of the academy, and Omar, with everything that we had, like you said, Simon, it was his happy place. And the six year old, the first six year old that started hitting the ball, I was like, yep. We have a Trevino forehand in the house. Oh.
Alejandra Suarez:It's so sweet.
Simon Gale:I'll just ask one more question. As Kim said, she's the only, I believe, natural born American on the podcast today. I just wanted to ask this question because I am not very good at stopping and reflecting. Am always looking at what is ahead. But once in a while you do and so for you guys, what would you say you are most proud of when you look at your transition to getting to this point in your career?
Simon Gale:Is there something that you could summarize to say, I'm very proud of this in order to have gotten here? Explain how that feels because I know this is a huge moment in your lives. If you haven't stopped and looked back, I'm going to take ten seconds and ask you to think about it.
Omar Trevino:I think the most important thing is that and I'm gonna say this for for all our our audience is that, you know, when you have a dream, you just gotta go and get it. I mean, there's nobody's gonna give it to you. It's not gonna show up. You gotta do it. And I wish I would have started this before.
Omar Trevino:You know, you just gotta work for it.
Alejandra Suarez:I completely agree with Omar. The part that I'm most proud of is that he stuck to his dream even when the odds were against us. Right? There were rough times and hard times. And but we knew talking about the American Dream, Kim, it's it was always a dream of mine to be able to raise my kids here because I've always thought of this place of being the place that if you work really hard for what you want, you're gonna get it.
Alejandra Suarez:And everybody has that opportunity, and we're grateful for this country for whatever it it gave us. It gave us more than than I could ever imagine. Right? And the beauty of this is this is a business that gives back to the community as well. Right?
Alejandra Suarez:So involving both in in one world is just is just a way of life. So I agree with Omar. And as hard as it was at at some point where I was like, really, Don't do this. Don't do this. This is crazy.
Alejandra Suarez:I wish he would have started this earlier because seeing him and seeing our kids and seeing everything that involves in this and the everybody that's around Omar and OT Tennis Academy and now at North Texas Racquet Club. It's just it's just a dream. It is. And and I I have nothing but just I'm in awe for what this country has given us, to be honest, because we've worked hard, and we we've seen we're we're seeing it.
Kim Bastable:This gives me chills, honestly. I think probably my the person I know who is happiest to be an American is you, and I I love that. I I think we all take for granted what we have, and I love that your story inspires us to say, look. This is, you know, an awesome, awesome business that we are in. And, yeah, it's hard.
Kim Bastable:And it's gotten challenging, and lots of things happen, but you guys have persevered. So I guess we kinda get to the end here to say, just tell us, you know, what's that one thing? I think you've mentioned a few that, you know, you you wish you'd known ahead of time. But for people who are thinking about this dream or, you know, believing that maybe it's for them or maybe they wanna double the size of their club or take some risk out in the Racquet's industry, what could you offer for for them that is something that, you know, you you would provide as advice? And it could be anything from facilities to, you know, high level leadership ideas.
Kim Bastable:What what I mean, anything.
Omar Trevino:Again, I I think I think, you know, you may have all the desire. You may have all the everything in your mind. But if you just keep it there and don't go for it, it's it's it's not gonna help anybody. You know? You just gotta take that risk and and get out there and do it.
Omar Trevino:And if you fail or it doesn't work for you, it's usually because you didn't love it. You you didn't want it enough, right, but enough. So I think is is if you want something and you have it, just go for it. Don't don't wait for nothing. Just do it.
Kim Bastable:Well and I think for you, Omar, just we'll get to you in a minute, Kyle. And I just wanna pick that apart. Like, can you give us an example of something that was this major roadblock that you just had to find your way through? Because I know you've had multiple, but I think that's what you're saying is that, sure, there's roadblocks. There's things that set you back, and you could choose to quit or you could choose to move through.
Omar Trevino:You know, at some point, I was I was in the process of, okay. You know what? I'm gonna play it safe. I'm gonna go and I was I was gonna start teaching at TbarM, and and and I was really close to to to go join them. And then I said, you know what?
Omar Trevino:What am I gonna lose if I don't if I don't just go out there and do it? Hey. In two months, I can come back and knock on the door at T Bar nor, any other club, and I'll just do what I was going to do. But you'll never know if you don't try. Right?
Omar Trevino:So I think that that that moment of saying, you know, I'm not gonna wait for them to say, oh, yes. You're hired. Right? Which you I I was in that position. And and then I said, Ali, you know what?
Omar Trevino:I'm not gonna wait. I'm just gonna go for it, and, we'll see what happens.
Kim Bastable:It's great.
Omar Trevino:And here we are.
Kim Bastable:Yeah. Alright. Ali, what's your what's your inspiration?
Alejandra Suarez:Adding to that, Kim, is, like Omar mentioned. Right? The people you surround yourself with, the people the people around you and the people that are not around you. Right? What you learn from others, how you build your team and not your team.
Alejandra Suarez:Right? I think one of the things that has been the most positive is staying positive. Right? Believing in it and doing the work and and striving away from everybody that tells you, no. You can't do this.
Alejandra Suarez:No. I'm not gonna invest because you know what? It it's not safe. I'm not gaining a lot. So for me, like, I call it a no drama.
Alejandra Suarez:Right? Like, it's if you can bring that because it's a joyful place. Right? Playing tennis and being there and seeing Omar's, like, how how we every Christmas, right, we hear the same stories from when they were young and they played at the academy and they hit this ball and the mom said something and right? So it brings people together, and I think staying positive through even through the hard times makes it.
Kim Bastable:That's good advice. Simon, what are your takeaways from this story?
Simon Gale:Jeez, there's a lot I tell you. I think one thing you guys didn't talk about, which I'm sure is just an oversight because I know you would say it in a heartbeat, is the importance of having a great partner in your life because clearly the stories you've told, the two of you have gone through this journey. There's been moments where you've needed each other and I think it sounds like that's been a really important part of this as much as overcoming other hurdles is the importance of having that partner who helps you get through it. But when I look at my own journey, I just think this is very relatable leaving Australia and family and friends to pursue a dream. And you sacrifice a lot, a lot that you don't even realize, maybe it happens a little later, you realize how much you may have left behind in your home country.
Simon Gale:But your desire and passion, I think it's inspirational and it's a reminder of kind of what hard work and determination can result in. So I think it's a tremendous story and as I said, you guys have got to tell this story over and over, and I think people will come and and support your facility more than they already do. So I appreciate you guys sharing. It's a it's a great great story.
Omar Trevino:Thank you, guys. Yes. As you mentioned, it's the support of the family is it's it has to be there. You know?
Alejandra Suarez:Yeah. And we feel it. Right? We feel it even from afar. Right?
Alejandra Suarez:Like, they're all like, when's the opening? We wanna come to the grand opening, and we're planning on doing a grand opening a little later when the weather is better and everybody can enjoy more time out there. But we really wanna thank you, Kim and Simon, because giving us this opportunity to start sharing our story and and and for what it helps to others to hear us and come and our doors are open. Right? Like and there's nothing but honesty in what we do, and and we'll we'll tell it as it is.
Alejandra Suarez:Right? Like, what we think and what we've learned, and hopefully help somebody and say, hey. Before you do this, like, remember, you have to take this step. Right? So thank you, guys.
Alejandra Suarez:Thank you for having us.
Kim Bastable:Absolutely. We wish you the very best. We're excited. We may just revisit you in six months or a year and say, how's it going? Because I think you'll have another set of stories.
Kim Bastable:We're excited.
Omar Trevino:Perfect. Perfect. Thank you, Kim. Thank you, Simon. Thank you for having us.
Simon Gale:Thanks, you guys. Appreciate it.
Kim Bastable:That's all for today. We'll see you all again on another edition of Racquet Fuel.
Episode Narration:That's all for today, but we're not out of fuel. You can find more information and resources in our show notes and by visiting racquetfuelpodcast.com. If you liked what you just heard, please subscribe, and also leave a review, which helps other people join the mission to become stronger Racquet's leaders.
Speaker 6:This podcast is a production of Athlete Plus, the people, stories, science behind elite athletes and teams. Athlete Plus is the official podcast network of the Institute for Coaching Excellence, a research, education, and outreach center in the College of Health and Human Performance at the University of Florida. The Institute for Coaching Excellence offers various online certificate programs and degrees in partnership with the Department of Sport Management. Learn more today at coaching.hhp.ufl.edu.
