By Marla Jones, Sports Editor
marla@southerntorch.com
FORT PAYNE, Ala.—A couple of years ago Coach Shawn Turner posted a picture on Facebook of he and his wife that would ultimately change his life.
After seeing Turner’s photo online, an old friend that hadn’t seen Turner in a long time called excitedly to make an observation. He said, “Shawn! You’re chubby like me now!”
The friend’s comment didn’t hurt Turner’s feelings, but it did wake him up. He was out of shape. His friend’s comment, and concern he already had about recently developed blood pressure problems made Coach Shawn Turner decide to make some life changes.
Coach Turner was no stranger to physical fitness. He had seven years of coaching experience. Turner helped coach at Shorter University for a number of years and is currently the running backs coach at Lafayette High School. While at Shorter, he took the time to ask a very muscular player on his team about his fitness secrets and diet plan. Turner used this information, along with his own techniques and research on body weight management, and formed a plan.
After a few months, people started to see results in Turner. Several friends wanted Turner to help them with a diet plan. Turner felt led to help others on their path to physical fitness but was not really sure how to begin. Two friends, Rebecca Lowman and Carrie Crane asked him to come workout with them one day and show them his routine.
That was the beginning of Team Fit. The very first class only consisted of those three and nearly a year later, Team Fit has quite the following. They meet every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday at 6:30 pm. Depending on weather conditions either at the Alabama Fan Club in Fort Payne or the Dekalb VFW Fairgrounds. Price is $20 per month. The “Fit” means, formative, intensive, and training. Team FIT’s mission statement is:
“As a group of hardworking, God fearing people, our mission statement is to simply do our best. We all have goals that we want to attain and we must put forth all our efforts to do so. Always thinking positive and encouraging others to put forth maximum effort. Simply stated, if you want it, you must work for it.”
After following the inspirational Team FIT on facebook, a group of employees from Southern Torch have committed to get in shape. Everyone that we have talked to at Team Fit has been supportive and encouraging, but also honest about the level of commitment required and what it takes to reach your goals.
Turner explained that it took years to get in our present shape, and said we could reach our goals but that we shouldn’t expect to lose the weight in weeks. We know it will take a great deal of commitment and we are excited about the challenge ahead.
We will start attending meetings next week and will tell you about our progress monthly. Follow us in the paper and on Facebook as we start our fitness journey. As Coach Turner says, “Something is better than nothing!”
