Joshua Mora: With 919 KVCR news. I'm Joshua Mora. Exciting things are happening in the city of San Bernardino, where Inland Empire native Michael Flores has launched MF Training, a new local gym. He shares how his journey began.
Michael Flores: I've always played sports all my life. I've played sports since T ball all the way up. It made me feel good to you know, work out, especially cardio, always got me thinking, always made me feel good. So I stayed with it for years and finally got an opportunity to open up something, you know, for the kids. I actually opened it up, mostly, you know, to spend more time with my daughter and for other families to build a memory with their kids. So I've always wanted to do something like this, like I said, I've always, um, loved sports, you know, and never found a facility that I liked, you know. I never really found something that was gauged for something massive that I wanted to do. So it's like when I got this and I turned the go kart track into a field, and I get a lot of feedback from coaches saying that they like it because the kids are playing in their elements. You know.
Joshua Mora: The facility is home to six batting cages, 17,000 square feet, an outdoor turf and a boxing ring. Michael explains his reasoning for why focusing on different sports,
Michael Flores: All of them utilize something out of each thing. Like we have some boxers that do the same thing, some baseball players do, baseball players that join the boxing class, you know, to get that cardio in, to get them, you know, ready, you know, I got some football players, the same thing that go into the boxing. I just love the sports, you know. So it's like it just all went together, and then eventually, because I had the field, soccer came, and this is the reason why I built it for kids to explore new things, not just baseball, not just that, you know, not a lot of facilities have that, you know, where they can see in something else, and they see a little kid, or they see another little another girl or another little boy walk in the box and be like, Oh, if they can do it, I can do it, you know. And I'm like, yeah, it's, it's open for anybody, you know. It's not, don't just stop yourself at one thing, you know, start trying other things.
Joshua Mora: MF training looks to be more than just the gym, as there's hope to start an academy and sponsorships for athletes around the Inland Empire.
Michael Flores: Eventually, I want to open up an academy here for the kids, get started a little sponsorship for the kids, because I get a lot of kids in here that kind of can't afford the classes that we offer here, because my place is more for rent, for rentals. So coaches come here, trainers come here, and classes, and there's stuff like that, and some kids can't afford it, so it's kind of so I'm want to start a sponsorship program here for local businesses, which I have a lot of real estate, fence, social media, TVs, and which I would I'm going to start a sponsorship program which they will pay a certain amount and that will go towards the kids to enjoy these classes that we have offered here, and try to get some of them into the programs for this with the state, to allow them to do the classes that we have here.
Joshua Mora: As a former athlete himself, Michael understands the importance of taking care of mental health, which is why he looks to add counseling to the facility.
Michael Flores: But, you know, talking to the right person sometimes can help you, you know so, that's eventually, I want to have counseling here for athletes to, you know, talk to somebody just, you know, nobody that's, you know, I want the counselor to be athletic and to be some somewhere that they were in that to know, understand what they're going through, how they feel their bodies pushed, you know, this and that, and you know, hopefully, that talking will eventually, you know, help them. When I see the kids that walk here, brings my spirit up, you know, and to have a safe environment for them, you know, that takes a lot too, you know, the only thing negative I've gotten here is, why here ? you know. And I tell and I have the great answer for them, say, why not here? There's, we have kids here too, you know. And we have kids that want to be something. Why not here, you know, and if I have to, you know, go through the trenches with them, I'll do it.
Joshua Mora: MF training is located at 2044 Foothill Boulevard in San Bernardino. Visit their website, mftrainingsb.com, and their Instagram @mftrainingsb, for updates and inquiries. From KVCR, I'm Joshua Mora.
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Joshua Mora. Media and Cultural Studies major