Draft:Bill Parisi

Bill Parisi (born 1967) is considered to be one of the founding fathers of youth performance training. His company, Parisi Speed School, has over 100 locations worldwide and has trained over 1 million youth athletes and 135 NFL draft picks and first-round picks in every major sport.

Early Life and Education:
Bill Parisi was born in 1967 in Hoboken, New Jersey. He attended Ridgefield Park High School, where he excelled in Football (Team Captain & MVP) and track & field (High School All-American), particularly in the javelin throw. He continued his education and athletic career at Iona College, winning multiple NCAA Division I All-American honors in track and field. He also competed at the 1988 U.S. Olympic Trials in the javelin throw. He still holds the Iona College school record for the javelin at 236’10”. Parisi graduated in 1990 with a degree in Business Finance before pursuing further education at the University of Florida in Anatomy and Exercise Physiology. At Florida, he served as a Graduate Assistant Strength Coach to the Gators’ Track and Field and Football teams, earning a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (C.S.C.S.) designation through the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) in 1991.

Career:
Armed with only $500 and a van, Parisi founded Parisi Speed School in 1992. By the following year, he opened his first facility in Wyckoff, New Jersey. Not only did Parisi work with young athletes, but one of his first clients was New York Giants quarterback and two-time Super Bowl champion, Phil Simms.

By 2001, Parisi was nationally renowned for sports performance training. He built and opened his flagship facility in Fair Lawn, N.J., a 32,000-square-foot center that has been home to more than 250,000 athletes and hundreds of professionals in every major sport. This facility remains the flagship of all Parisi facilities and is one of the few training facilities in the world of this size that has demonstrated multiple decades of success.

In 2004, Parisi launched his national franchise. Since then, the Parisi Speed School has grown into an international team of coaches with facilities in more than 100 locations worldwide, having trained more than 1 million youth athletes between the ages of 7 and 18 and produced first-round draft picks in many professional sports—including more than 135 NFL draft picks—as well as a host of Olympic medalists and UFC fighters.

In addition to his work with youth athletes, Parisi founded the Professional Football Strength & Conditioning Coaches Association (PFSCCA) in 2013. He hosted annual summits for strength and conditioning coaches from all 32 NFL teams, featuring presentations on the latest research in speed, power, and injury resilience.

In 2019, Parisi launched Parisi Academy, a small, private supplemental educational enrichment program that provides 8th grade students with the opportunity for academic growth as well as personal and physical development prior to entering high school.

Parisi furthered his impact on the fitness and performance training field by establishing the Fascia Training Academy in 2019, providing educational resources on training the body’s elastic connective tissue system. He served on the Board of Directors for the Fascia Research Society from 2020 to 2023.

In 2019, Parisi was featured on an episode of the Today Show to discuss injury mitigation.

Bill Parisi has authored several books, including Fascia Training in Application (2023), The Anatomy of Speed (2021), Fascia Training: A Whole System Approach (2019), Don't "Should" on Your Kids: Build Their Mental Toughness (2015), and Success Patterns (2011).