CO:Member Spotlight: Jamaal Brady and Helping Others Reach Their Fitness Goals

“I’m smiling really big right now,” Jamaal Brady, founder and manager of Better Balance Sports and Fitness, says as I inform him that he’ll be our next CO:Member Spotlight, and even through the phone, I can tell his smile reaches from ear to ear.

Better Balance Sports and Fitness was a dream that blossomed into a reality for Brady because what began as a mentorship to train young athletes became a full-time business to teach people of all ages (“I've got kids from four-years-old all the way up to guys that are playing football overseas”) how to make their fitness and athletic goals come true. 

He believes it is important for young entrepreneurs to invest their time in creating a business that they are passionate enough about to wake up every day and do, even when the challenges of being small business owners arise. When I follow up by asking what challenges he has faced in his time being a business owner, he laughs as if saying, “where do I even begin?”

“It's a lot that goes into starting a small business, and a lot of it you just learn as you go,” Brady answers. “Experience is going to be the best teacher. I'm coming into my second year now and have survived a COVID, so that's definitely given me a confidence booster.”

Luckily for Brady, he was able to take his own advice because he knows he gets to wake up every morning and love what he does, and as a stranger who is interviewing him over a phone call, I can tell that is evident in every word he speaks.

Since Better Balance Sports and Fitness started in 2017, Brady has seen the business evolve in ways he could only have dreamt of. After using theCO’s tools, classes, and resources, he has been able to host a variety of events like speed, footwork, and skill training programs, along with a Super Bowl and Draft Day event for the youth within the community. He is continuously thankful for the support and encouragement theCO has shown him in realizing his business goals and his efforts to give back to the community he was raised in. 

“Being [at theCO] just opened up so many possibilities for me,” says Brady.

These possibilities have not yet ceased for Brady and his business as he prepares to open his own facility and to further develop new programs, helping even more people in their fitness journeys—a dream he has held to since the very beginning.

“It's really not a business for me because I get to connect with the youth and get to guide people to weight loss and fitness,” says Brady. “I was always active and just really wanted to use that to give back to the community.”