Terrell Warren thought he had left his basketball days behind him.
He moved to the Golden Triangle to “get away and start fresh” after playing high school basketball in his hometown of Birmingham. He attended Mississippi State University and then worked for Steel Dynamics in Lowndes County for 12 years. He has lived in Columbus since 2009 and is raising four children with his wife, Tiffany.
Then two years ago, he started a summer basketball team for his eldest son, now 14, and “the love for the game came back to me,” he said. He decided his true passion was to help youth develop both their athletic and life skills, especially since the two often intersect, he said.
“I tell people all the time that one thing I love about sports is that it makes individuals interact with people they wouldn’t in their normal lives,” Warren said. “So it gives you an opportunity to interact with (them), and also you have to be able to come together and solve problems as a team.”
Warren left his six-figure job at Steel Dynamics two weeks ago, and TNT Elite Training on Highway 69 South opened a week ago. So far the gym has two youth basketball teams with 10 players each — one of which is the original team Warren started two years ago — and seven kids signed up for one-on-one basketball training with Warren or the two other trainers, he said.
TNT isn’t just a sports training facility: Warren said he’s going to hold free seminars on financial management and career options to make sure kids are prepared for life after sports.
“Sports is how I get their ear, and once you have their ear, they listen and you’re able to hopefully give them some valuable information,” Warren said.
While the gym has membership fees, some kids can attend via sponsorships, he said.
Under normal circumstances there could be 30 kids in the gym at a time, but due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the limit is 15 kids, or five at each basketball hoop. Everyone is required to wear a protective face covering, and staff checks everyone’s temperature at the door and fully sanitizes the gym daily, Warren said.
He is aware that this year is “a tough year” to be starting a business, but he says he has a “great supporting cast,” including his wife. Tiffany Warren is a nurse practitioner and runs the Chosen 2 Care family medical center in Columbus, and he said he was lucky to have her example of running a small business to follow.
“She helps remind me of the same thing I’m trying to teach young kids, that I need to follow my own example,” Warren said. “2020 has been tough and it’s been a tough transition, but once you have a goal and a vision in mind, and you see it, it’s kind of hard to turn away from it.”
His now-former coworkers at Steel Dynamics supported his decision to change careers, which also made the move easier, he said. He hopes to include a tour of Steel Dynamics in TNT’s career seminars in the future. He also wants to expand the gym’s repertoire to include strength training in addition to agility and basketball skills training.
He said he hopes to see his students go as far as their athletic careers take them, whether that’s high school, college or professional sports. Ideally some of them will come back to Columbus and help mentor the next generation.
Whatever the next phases of their lives are, Warren hopes he can help them transition smoothly.
“I love basketball, but it took me finding a job at a steel mill to be able to build my career, to be able to help kids now,” he said. “It doesn’t matter where you start, it’s all about where you finish in life.”
Tess Vrbin was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 46 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
