GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — During his senior season, before the annual rivalry game against Michigan State, head coach Mark Dantonio spoke to Kirk Cousins and the rest of the Michigan State football team. The alleys of your hometown. ”
To this day, Cousins still does.
“I knew the importance of those words,” Cousins said. “I don’t think I fully understood how much I wanted to come back to West Michigan as an adult.”
Kirk Cousins, ETS Performance Opens Youth Sports Training Facility in Grand Rapids
Dutchman Christian Maroon, who spent the NFL offseason at Western Michigan, attended the grand opening of a youth sports training facility in Grand Rapids on Friday and committed to the Minnesota Vikings.
“I understand what kids are going through because I've been through that situation myself,” Cousins said. “I was looking for a place to train.”
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In an effort to take his son's game to the next level, Cousins' father would drive him from his native Netherlands to Grand Rapids three days a week for training.
“We were looking for ETS,” Cousins said. “They weren't that common.”
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While training with the Vikings, Cousins noticed that his teammates, including Adam Thielen, were training at Minnesota-based ETS Performance.
He invested in a company that aims to “develop athletes not only as players, but as people,” and partnered with ETS to open a facility at the MSA Sports Spot in Grand Rapids.
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ETS provides personal training programs and coaching for ages 8 to 18 and has produced more than 2,500 college athletes and 250 professional athletes.
“You don't do it alone, you have a great team around you,” Cousins said, referring to his months-long recovery from a torn Achilles tendon suffered last season.
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“Western Michigan always seems to keep pulling me back,” Cousins said. “Take me with you, even if it's a lifetime away.”
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