Author: Ryan LaPaglia, BSU student
I sat down & interviewed with Maxwell Ditondo, a South Shore native born and bred on the baseball fields of Marshfield. Highly recruited out of High School as a Center Fielder for the graduating class of 2012; Max joined the Franklin Pierce Ravens where he would go onto to earn himself many titles & accolades. He graduated from Franklin Pierce in 2016 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Finance.
As Max was achieving these milestones throughout the years, both him & his father, Frank Ditondo (Co-Owner), remained very active in the south shore baseball community. In 2007, Frank opened the doors for ‘BaseballPlus’, a local baseball/softball facility on Rt 139 in Marshfield.
The facility was on old garage warehouse that was modified into a training powerhouse for some of the best local talent. Equipped with five batting cages, spacious turf, & some of the best training technology for baseball/softball at the time; ‘BaseballPlus’, with the help of the overwhelming support of the community that surrounded them, would outgrow itself and adapt over the years to become known now as Atlantic Sports Performance out of Hanover, MA.
Frank was the true pioneer behind the business model and the financial capital to execute it, seeing how Max was just in 8th grade in 2007. Frank started this business out of true passion for baseball & his family. It was a way for Frank to be closer to his family & spread the love for the game. He accomplished both overtime & was eventually able to share the business within the family. Max became a co-owner of the Atlantic Sports Performance in 2016 and has helped the business grow even more today.
Since Max has Joined, Atlantic Sports Performance has moved to a much larger facility in Hanover. What was once the home of Building 19’s furniture section, now sits a two story 20,000 sq./ft elite level sports performance training facility that offers hybrid strength & conditioning training across multiple sports.
What ways have you had to adapt your business in recent years to stay competitive in your market?
“We are in a market that’s rapidly evolving, there is always new studies and information on health and fitness that comes out, so we are constantly learning as we go and implanting some of those best health and training practices into our programs. We are constantly updating are programs to fit the personal needs of our athletes. We understand every individual is different and we believe we have the most up-to date and best training techniques in our programs.
We also implemented a strong online presence and created and very useful interactive app. These are two tools that have helped push our business forward and stay relevant. Having the app has been huge. We are able to interact with clients from anywhere and closely monitor their progress in our programs. The analytics that we receive because of this technology helps us give elite level feed back to our clients. Another thing would be our equipment. We have updated our facilities tremendously and invested in the best lifting and training technology in the field today.”
What has been the most exciting part of running a business?
“Probably just coming to work everyday and being inside a gym is the best. To see others grow around me, only pushes myself to grow both personally and professionally. Being surrounded by something I love everyday is just a blessing and its exciting everyday to come in here and pass on the knowledge I have to these guys and see results.”
What is the toughest part about running a business in 2020?
“I guess the toughest part would just be overall running the business. Making sure everything is scheduled correctly, making sure we are adapting our programs to our clients needs, keeping an eye on finances… stuff like that. I don’t necessarily find anything tough; it certainly keeps me busy though”
If a customer was to choose between your business and 3 others just like it why would you suggest they at least give you a try first? What makes you stand out?
“Why they should invest in us and because we will invest in you. We personalize & tailor our programs to your goals as an athlete. We have elite level training where you are pushed to you highest potential by certified professionals, and some actual professional athletes in the MLB. We create an atmosphere that leaves you wanting more.”
What is the number 1 way you currently bring in new customers?
“At the moment, mostly word of mouth and Facebook/Instagram. Being local and having been established in the baseball community around here for quite sometime now we find ourselves having clients bringing in friends directly or reaching out to us through Facebook/Instagram. We don’t do too much advertising directly online because we have a healthy flow of happy and recurring clients and we have are happy with the size of our business right now.”
If you had to look 6 months to a year into the future where would you like to see your business be?
“So we are actually implanting a new sport into our training facility on the second floor. We just recently installed wrestling mats and are going to start implementing some of the training techniques in our program. So it would be cool to see more wrestlers come to us for training within the next year. I think we can offer them elite level training overtime and it would help our business grow even more. Within the next year I just hope we are in a healthy place as a business with loyal clients who believe just as much as we do in what we do.”
We also implemented a strong online presence and created and very useful interactive app. These are two tools that have helped push our business forward and stay relevant. Having the app has been huge. We are able to interact with clients from anywhere and closely monitor their progress in our programs. The analytics that we receive because of this technology helps us give elite level feed back to our clients. Another thing would be our equipment. We have updated our facilities tremendously and invested in the best lifting and training technology in the field today.”
What has been the most exciting part of running a business?
“Probably just coming to work everyday and being inside a gym is the best. To see others grow around me, only pushes myself to grow both personally and professionally. Being surrounded by something I love everyday is just a blessing and its exciting everyday to come in here and pass on the knowledge I have to these guys and see results.”
What is the toughest part about running a business in 2020?
“I guess the toughest part would just be overall running the business. Making sure everything is scheduled correctly, making sure we are adapting our programs to our clients needs, keeping an eye on finances… stuff like that. I don’t necessarily find anything tough; it certainly keeps me busy though”
If a customer was to choose between your business and 3 others just like it why would you suggest they at least give you a try first? What makes you stand out?
“Why they should invest in us and because we will invest in you. We personalize & tailor our programs to your goals as an athlete. We have elite level training where you are pushed to you highest potential by certified professionals, and some actual professional athletes in the MLB. We create an atmosphere that leaves you wanting more.”
What is the number 1 way you currently bring in new customers?
“At the moment, mostly word of mouth and Facebook/Instagram. Being local and having been established in the baseball community around here for quite sometime now we find ourselves having clients bringing in friends directly or reaching out to us through Facebook/Instagram. We don’t do too much advertising directly online because we have a healthy flow of happy and recurring clients and we have are happy with the size of our business right now.”
If you had to look 6 months to a year into the future where would you like to see your business be?
“So we are actually implanting a new sport into our training facility on the second floor. We just recently installed wrestling mats and are going to start implementing some of the training techniques in our program. So it would be cool to see more wrestlers come to us for training within the next year. I think we can offer them elite level training overtime and it would help our business grow even more. Within the next year I just hope we are in a healthy place as a business with loyal clients who believe just as much as we do in what we do.”
Visit Atlantic Sports Performance at:
389 Columbia Road, Suite 25, Hanover, MA
Contact them via:
Email: info@atlanticperformancetraining.com
Telephone: 781-837-4263
Website: www.atlanticsportsperformancetraining.com
Facebook: @atlanticsportsperformance
Instagram: @atlanticsportsperformance
@maxsgainzpage
