14/03/2024
“I got into fitness training reasonably late compared to a lot of people,” admits Bryan Beinke, but he had a fair excuse. After all, he spent his twenties winning three SANFL premierships with the Port Adelaide Magpies and was part of the Adelaide and North Melbourne AFL teams before spending seven years as a coach.
When Bryan hung up his boots and moved into fitness training, he initially focussed on general fitness until being asked to help several young AFL prospects prepare for the draft combine. “That’s when the competitive juices really came back,” he recalls. “It reminded me that I’m an athlete by nature.”
So he started The Nth Degree in the same facility as Karmony Performance & Wellbeing at 32 Magill Road. He describes it as “a gym for athletes to develop their all-round abilities,” with coaches helping young stars reach their potential in sports as diverse as football, basketball, hockey, tennis, soccer, taekwondo, swimming and athletics.
And while Bryan works with some truly elite athletes – he’s especially proud that hockey and basketball players from the The Nth Degree Hall Of Fame will represent Australia at the Paris Olympics later this year – he insists that it’s more about attitude than ability. “We look at whether someone has a willingness to get better,” he explains. “Provided they're focused, they can pay attention in sessions and follow instructions, they don’t need to be a potential Olympian, AFL or NBL player. For some kids, getting into their school’s first 18 or first 11 is a huge achievement, so we work towards their goals.”
A big part of what sets The Nth Degree apart is the coaches, who are former athletes themselves. The current team includes former Bulldogs and Port Power player Scott Bassett, who is also Norwood Football Club’s current strength and conditioning coach. It means that clients “can be in an environment that is built around what it takes to be an athlete. They can live and breathe it, see the ups and downs and be around former athletes who guide them through that process and make sure that everything fits together so they can perform better come game day.”
In the gym, they work on everything from stability and balance to speed, changing direction, jumping and landing mechanics, conditioning, strength and power. There’s also a strong focus on body mechanics and movement, ensuring the athletes know how to get the most out of their bodies with confidence.
Group sessions foster a competitive environment, but as the kids progress from Little Tackers, through Foundations (for 11-15 year olds) and into the Advanced cohort, there’s an increasing emphasis on individual work. That allows the coaches to challenge them in the areas they need to take their performance to the next level, whether that’s speed, power or endurance.
In addition to regular classes, The Nth Degree runs a Development Academy with three weekly sessions during the school holidays. “We’ve been running them for two years now and they’re going really well,” says Bryan. “Some kids come in to get an intro to what we're about, some use it to get an extra edge and some are so busy during the term that it’s the only time they can come in.”
The Nth Degree School Holiday Programs run on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings at 10:15 between April 15 and April 26.
