Madison’s newest sports performance facility is officially here with owners who are more ready and excited than ever to serve our Madison community and surrounding areas.
The Compound, located on Highway 72 right across the street from Redstone Federal Credit Union, is the brainchild of Louis Whitlow and Darwin Salaam. I recently sat down with Whitlow to learn more about The Compound, and his joy about launching this new facility was contagious. He has big dreams coupled with a big heart.
Whitlow and Salaam founded Squad Inc. two years ago, which is a mobile training and sports performance business. While they love training teams at various schools and parks in the area, they desired a physical location where individuals and teams could come to them under one roof indoors.
When the former autobody facility became available a few months ago, they quickly hopped on it and began to bring their visions of The Compound to life.
“We built this facility so that youth have a place to train and develop in a place where they always feel comfortable,” Whitlow explains. “We want them to walk in, feel our positive energy, and then walk out a different person.”
Whitlow explains that The Compound is an indoor sports facility that offers athletes coaching for technique performance as well as overall physical training.
“We quickly became a small-business hub,” explained Whitlow. “We offer coaches in our area a place to come train athletes one-on-one or as a collective team.”
The Compound currently has softball and baseball hitting coaches, pitching coaches, awakening sports performance coaching, and more. They pride themselves on SQUAD performance training: Superior Quality Unmatched Athletic Development.
They welcome individuals looking to refine their skills as well as entire teams who are interested in engaging new physical training challenges.
Whitlow has a deep passion for coaching via a total body method. He says that his athletes will work hard, but that he will also work just as hard to train them mentally.
“The mental aspect is what is needed but often missing when athletes are playing the game.”
Whitlow says that they are constantly thinking about how to give their very best to their athletes, both as coaches and as role models.
“We think The Compound is a very unique and exciting new facility here in Madison.”
When asked about where their business name comes from, Whitlow says that they were inspired by Darren Hardy’s book The Compound Effect.
According to author Darren Hardy’s website, The Compound Effect “is based on the principle that decisions shape your destiny. Little, everyday decisions will take you either to the life you desire or to disaster by default.”
The Compound had its soft opening in January and hope to re-open as soon as possible. Though hours are subject to change due, owners hope to continue with their normal hours of operation for students between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Adult training classes will be available throughout the day, and those interested are encouraged to monitor The Compound’s social media pages for information closer to the facility re-opening.
The Compound will offer lane rentals for interested coaches and athletes who desire to come train on a variety of schedules.
Off-site coaching for entire teams is still available as well.
The Compound is located at 7731 HWY 72 in Madison. Those interested in learning more about The Compound can find them on Instagram and Facebook.
