Meet Forrest Nishi of Nishi Athletics

Today we’d like to introduce you to Forrest Nishi

Hi Forrest, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Growing up, I always played sports, but as I got older I began to gravitate more towards basketball. I started getting into the training aspect of the game when I was around 13 years old. I ended up playing basketball competitively through high school and college. Over the course of my playing career I was always trying to learn more about how to make myself a better player and a stronger, more resilient athlete.

As I began to think about career options. I realized that I loved nothing more than being in the gym and working on my craft as an athlete. I loved to see tangible results from the hard work that I had put in and wanted to share that experience by helping others discover their own passion for training. I felt that I could help develop basketball players by passing on the knowledge that I had acquired over the course of my own playing career and training.

In 2020, during the Covid pandemic, I took a gap year from college and became an NSCA Certified Personal Trainer. When I finished college in 2022, I began working as a strength coach at Allegiate Gym in Century City. At Allegiate, I have been able to coach a lot of people with different amounts of experience, different goals and different needs. I have also learned a lot by working alongside the great coaches there.

Outside of my position at Allegiate, I began to build my own training business, working with basketball players on the court and in the weight room. I started off by training some friends and former teammates of mine, and I built up steadily from that point. Now, I am training clients both in-person and online.

I also created an Instagram page where I’ve now posted more than 70 basketball training videos. The videos are designed both to bring value to my target audience of up-and-coming basketball players, and also to market my training business. I’m not a big social media person, so this was uncomfortable for me at first, but it’s been really rewarding to see my page grow. Posting consistently gives me a place to concisely articulate my thoughts and fine-tune my training philosophy, while also sharing those ideas with aspiring athletes.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
In the year and a half that I’ve been coaching athletes, I’ve certainly been experiencing some of the growing pains that come with starting a business.

At the very beginning, the biggest challenge was just figuring out how to get started. How would I convince people to trust me as their trainer if I don’t have a long track record of training other people? I got my first few clients by using the CoachUp platform, and I was able to get good results with them, which has allowed me to continue to develop the business.

Now, as my client list continues to grow, there are other challenges that I have to figure out. Right now, I’m usually training clients 7 days a week and driving to different locations for different sessions throughout the day, which isn’t very time-efficient. I’m looking to find a more permanent training facility, and I’m working to optimize my schedule so that I can accommodate as many clients as possible over the course of a week.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Nishi Athletics?
Throughout my career as a player, I was always considered one of the most dedicated and hardest workers on every team I played on. I also have a deliberate and analytical approach to the game. As a coach, I stress to my clients the importance of not only working hard, but also being strategic about where to apply that effort. I share these values through my Instagram videos, and I believe that my philosophy is apparent to my clientele and the rest of my audience.

My goal is to give my clients the confidence that they can get where they want to go if they apply their hard work in a strategic and calculated way. I believe that the best way for me to do that is through my coaching. I want to give my athletes what they need to get to the next level in their sport. Whether you’re trying to make your high school team, earn a college scholarship/pro contract, or you just want to play better and have more fun in your weekly pickup games, my job is to show you the path to get there.

I offer on-court basketball skills training, and I also provide off-court strength and conditioning training for basketball players and other athletes. For my athletes in the Los Angeles area, I do in-person training, and for those who don’t live locally, I offer coaching and programming in an online format.

Can you share something surprising about yourself?
One thing most people might not know about me is that during Covid, I learned how to cut hair by watching YouTube videos. In college, I would sometimes do haircuts for my friends, and I still cut my own hair to this day.

Pricing:

• In-Person Training Session – $55/hour
• Online Performance Training – $70/month
• Online Basketball Training – $80/month

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nishiathletics/

Image Credits
Arin Keshishian
Kumar Bhowmik