PARISI SPEED SCHOOL

The Parisi Story

 

1985. Bill Parisi graduates from Ridgefield Park High School in New Jersey as a standout football player and javelin thrower. He pursues his passion for the javelin throw by attending Iona College in New Rochelle, N.Y., to train under world-class javelin coach Tony Naclerio.

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1988-1989. Bill becomes a two-time NCAA Division I All-American in the javelin throw and qualifies for the Olympic trials

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Summer 1989. Bill travels to Finland and trains with some of the world's top athletes and coaches. He meets 1988 Olympic gold medal winner in the javelin, Tapio Korjus, from Finland.

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Fall 1989. Bill attends dozens of strength and conditioning clinics around the U.S. as an undergraduate student. There, he meets Johnny Parker, head strength coach for the NY Giants. Coach Parker asks Bill to work with the Giants' starting quarterback, Phil Simms, on his arm strength in the off-season.

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Summer 1990. Immediately after graduating college with a degree in finance and completing his internship on Wall Street, Bill packs his bags and drives from New Jersey to Gainesville, Fla., with only $200 in his pocket

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Winter 1990. Bill lands a position as a Graduate Assistant with the University of Florida Gators Strength and Conditioning Department. It is at this time that Bill realizes he wants to pursue a career in Performance Training to help athletes of all ages reach their goals.

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Fall 1991. At the age of 24 and after one year at the University of Florida, Bill returns to New Jersey and begins his career as an in-home personal trainer, operating out of a home office in his parent's house. It is here that Bill comes up with the idea to create Parisi Speed School.

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Spring 1992. Two years out of college, Bill reconnects with NY Giants Strength Coach Johnny Parker and is hired to assist him with the off-season conditioning program. Bill begins his second stint working with Phil Simms.

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Summer 1992. Bill purchases a $500 van and begins driving to local high schools and youth recreation departments to give free clinics and seminars on speed training and motivation. His first client, T.J. Fay, increases his 40-yard dash from 4.67 to 4.45 seconds and the story is featured in the local paper.

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Fall 1993. Bill opens his first facility, a 3,000-square-foot personal training studio in Wyckoff, N.J., specializing in youth sports performance speed development.

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Summer 1994. Former Ramapo High School quarterback Chris Simms, who began training with Parisi as an eighth grader, becomes the highest profile high school athlete involved with Parisi Speed School.

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Winter 1994. Garfield (N.J.) High School's Wayne Chrebet trains with Parisi before trying out with the NY Jets. He would go on to have an 11-year career with the team. He set an NFL record for most catches in a receiver's first two seasons (150) and is second in Jets' history in receptions (580).

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Spring 1997. Bill Parisi is hired by NY Giants Head Coach Jim Fassel and Strength Coach John Dunn to work with the team and all-time receiver leaders Amani Toomer (1st All-Time) and Chris Calloway (7th All-Time).

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Spring 1998. Bill opens a second facility, a 16,000-square-foot full service Parisi Sports Club, with the Parisi Speed School occupying 2,500 square feet.

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Winter 1998. Bill Parisi hires Martin Rooney to take over as chief operating officer and to oversee all training and programming curricula.

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January 2001. Bill opens a third company-owned, full-service health club facility. The 32,000-square-foot building's space is divided equally between a Parisi Sports Club and a Parisi Speed School. This facility becomes the flagship of all Parisi Speed Schools. Phil Simms becomes national spokesperson for Parisi Speed School.

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Winter 2002. Bryan Thomas, at 268 pounds and a sleeper in the 2002 NFL draft, increases his speed from 4.65 to 4.42 seconds, surprising scouts at the NFL combine. The NY Jets draft him in the first round and he later signs a five-year contract worth more than $9 million with incentives.

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2003. Parisi begins to build a national brand with results from the NFL Combine and other world-class athletes. The company also starts its 10-part DVD series that focuses on improving athletes' game speed.

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2004. Parisi opens a fourth company owned facility — a 29,000-square-foot operation shared by a 20,000-square-foot health club and a 9,000-square-foot Parisi Speed School.

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2005. Parisi begins to sell franchises of its business systems and training methods, and signs a partnership agreement with global fitness equipment manufacturer FreeMotion Fitness. Six units are sold in five states around the country in the second half of the year.

Fabian Washington runs the fastest 40-yard dash at the 2005 NFL Combine (4.25 seconds), and is drafted in the first round to the Oakland Raiders.

Matt Jones, a 6'6" 240-pound quarterback from the University of Arkansas, shocks the NFL and runs an amazing 4.37 second 40-yard dash. The Jacksonville Jaguars draft him in the first round.

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2006. Parisi-trained athletes Valerie Fleming and Shauna Rohbock win Olympic Silver Medals in the two-woman Bobsled event.

Parisi produces three of the top six fastest athletes at the 2006 NFL Combine — an unprecedented result compared to any other training facility in the country.

Parisi's national brand expands after being featured in Sporting News and on ESPN for NFL Combine training and Olympic athlete results.

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2007. Parisi Speed School franchise network grows from 16 to 31 locations. Parisi NFL Combine program produces 15 more draft picks, bringing the all-time number of Parisi-trained athletes drafted to 103.

Parisi is hired by the Cincinnati Bengals and NY Jets for specialized training.

Parisi is the official trainer for the 2007 International Fight League World Team Champions— the NY Pitbulls.

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2008. Parisi franchise network grows to 40 locations across the U.S.

The Parisi NFL Combine Program sees 14 of its athletes selected in 2008, bringing the program's all-time total to 117 draft picks since 2001. The class includes the Number 2 overall draft pick Chris Long, who is selected by the St. Louis Rams.

Bill Parisi launches the NFL Youth Summit in Canton, Ohio.

HarperCollins publishes Parisi partner and COO Martin Rooney's book, "Training For Warriors."

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2009. Parisi Franchise Network grows to more than 50 locations in the United States.

Parisi signs on with a newly formed nutritional supplement company, Inner Armour, to help formulate a banned-substance-free nutrition line specifically designed for athletes.

Rick Caro joins the Parisi franchise board of directors.

Parisi signs a partnership agreement with Perform Better.

Men's Health Magazine's panel of fitness advisors names Parisi Speed School as one of the 10 best gyms in the nation. The panel's criteria include operations that feature top-quality equipment and trainers versed in the latest exercise science.

The Parisi NFL Combine program produces 10 more draft picks to bring the all-time total of players drafted to the NFL to 127.

Martin Rooney presents the Parisi Training System to the United Kingdom Strength and Conditioning Association in London and the Finnish Coaches Association in Helsinki, Finland.

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2010. Parisi franchise is featured on Spike TV. Parisi franchise grows to 61 locations in 28 states and one international location in Barcelona, Spain.

Martin Rooney releases his second performance-training book with HarperCollins, "Ultimate Warrior Workouts."

Bill Parisi and Martin Rooney release the book, "Success Patterns: The Bill Parisi Story," the 25-year history of how Parisi Speed School originated and transformed training for athletes in the U.S. The GameSpeed DVD Series is released.

Martin Rooney's "Train To Win" (10th Anniversary Edition) is released.

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2011. Based on the success of his books, Martin Rooney launches an adult training program, "Training For Warriors."

The Parisi franchise network grows to more than 70 locations.

Bill Parisi is honored at the 2011 NFL Strength and Conditioning Coach's dinner with the Professional Achievement Award. Thirty-two NFL head strength and conditioning coaches were the judges for the award.

Parisi partners with TEST Football Academy to run the 2012 NFL Combine Training Program. TEST becomes a Parisi franchise.

Parisi launches Gamespeed.com, a customized online coach's assistant training platform, to help drive team-training sales for the franchise network.

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2012. Parisi Speed School celebrates its 20th anniversary. Martin Rooney releases his third book with HarperCollins, "Warrior Cardio." Greatist names Parisi Speed School 1 of 2012's 21 Most Innovative US Gyms

Parisi Speed School signs with Atlantic Health Hospital to become part of the facility's sports health program, which includes the NY Jets and NJ Devils. The program operates inside the state-of-the-art Atlantic Sports Health Performance Testing and Training location in Morristown, N.J.

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2013. Parisi initiates the launch of a new non-profit NFL Flag Football League. The American Instructional Football League (AIFL) kicked off its pilot flag football season in North Jersey and was met with great success. AIFL/NFL Flag Football is now offered to all locations in the network to help engage more children and parents with Parisi-backed programs.

The Parisi corporate office expands to offer more support and performance training innovation to the network. New positions added include strategic development director and manager of education, designed to bring the Parisi network to new heights of success.

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2014. Parisi grows to more than 85 locations in 31 states. AIFL registers over 400 Flag Football participants in its first full year of operation, proving to be a huge success. PM4 is launched throughout the U.S. as a systematic approach to the 4 Parisi Methods to training sports teams of all levels. Parisi Franchise is named as one of the Top 500 and Personal Service Franchises by Entrepreneur Magazine.

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2015. The Active Times names Parisi Speed Schools #1 in America on their Top 31 Gyms in the Country list. Parisi Franchises MVP and Results U are names #3 and #5, respectively.