The Compound 256

Donate to Madison City Crossing guard Terri Perdue, organized by Traci Reinhardt Terri Perdue is the crossing guard for West Madison Pre K in Madison, AL. On … Traci Reinhardt needs your support for Madison City Crossing guard Terri Perdue

We will be closing our doors 11/30/24 😪🥲
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It has been 5 incredible years of growth, learning, and community! From fitness sessions to skill development, to community events, we’ve had the privilege of creating unforgettable memories and leaving a lasting impact. Grateful for every athlete, parent, coach, business and organization who’s been a part of The Compound journey.

Sincerely
Louis D. Whitlow & Darwin Paris Salaam II
The Compound 256
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We appreciate you so much for everything. This chapter is ending but a new one will begin soon.

We will be closing our doors 11/30/24 😪🥲
-
It has been 5 incredible years of growth, learning, and community! From fitness sessions to skill development, to community events, we’ve had the privilege of creating unforgettable memories and leaving a lasting impact. Grateful for every athlete, parent, coach, business and organization who’s been a part of The Compound journey.

Sincerely
&
💪🏾✨
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We appreciate you so much for everything. This chapter is ending but a new one will begin soon.

PSA: We are now offering memberships! Spaces limited, act now!!

Send a message to learn more

SQUAD INC Training is starting their 2024 Calendar tomorrow February 1st! Contact Coach Salaam II for more information!

Kennedy Vaughn, Class of 2025 Volleyball Player is the 2023 Alabama Gatorade Player of the Year from Bob Jones High School! She touched 10ft during our workout tonight! That’s major!! She’s 5’10” and already a top tier player and athlete… I’m looking forward to seeing what the training continues to do for her athletic development! Very thankful to have her in my program!

Why I believe sending your child to me will be an integral part of their personal and athletic development:

When I left Sparkman I was top 3 in yards, receptions and touchdowns, started 31 games in a row… National Slam Dunk Champ and 2x BSU Team Dunk Champ. I was even invited to the North South Football game but HC didn’t tell me until AFTER the game. I had one offer and signed to Stillman College. I was apart of one of the few full scholarship classes the school ever had. The lights from Bryant-Denny and decided to transfer.

What I left behind was countless relationships, the opportunity to get great playing time and the chance to play with the best QB I’ve ever been on the same team with. I left a full ride to chase a dream and acquire student loan debt that reminds me daily. I do not regret any decision from my past, not one… because without those decisions I wouldn’t be the man I am today.

This perspective I’m abundantly thankful for and wouldn’t want it any other way. Have I had ‘what if moments’? Yes most certainly! I could have used my 5th year with Alabama Football. I would have had a chance for special team reps MAYBE and possibly earned a scholarship. I most certainly would have enjoyed a better Senior Night being that in 2007 my last game as a player was vs ULM and we lost that game. My roommate at the time Nikita Stover scored a long touchdown in 2008 Iron Bowl that I know would have been greatly celebrated by me on the sideline. Instead I made another brash decision to chase my dream of going pro. To be transparent I had a terrible GPA as I wasn’t fully focused on the STUDENT part of Student Athlete. I was sent home from the Bowl Game for breaking curfew and didn’t even get to celebrate the Independence Bowl Game win vs Colorado.

Upon returning back to UA I sat down with Coach Saban and asked him if I could clean out my locker and be a Student Assistant to the program while I finished school and chased my dreams of going pro. CNS gave me an opportunity to work in the Weight Room and Recruiting Office, both experiences that are with me to this day. I take a great deal of pride in being the first of many former players to come on to the Coaching side after playing for the Tide. I ended up going thru two lack luster Pro Days but got an opportunity to play for the Mahoning Valley Thunder in Youngstown, Ohio in the AF2. I was cut after training camp.

Upon realizing my dream to play professional football was dwindling away my Pops, DaddyDarwin Paris Salaam pulled me to the side and told me: Son one of MY dreams is to see you graduate because I never did. That simple yet impactful statement gave me the fuel to return to Tuscaloosa to finish my collegiate studies. Not knowing what my future would hold I reclassified my major to Political Science with an International Relations minor. I made Dean’s List Summer of 2009 and graduated later that year.

I DID NOT QUIT CHASING MY PRO FOOTALL DREAMS. Instead I tried to live a lifestyle that didn’t suit me at all but it served me an even greater lesson. I became wreckless in my free time and was arrested twice in a 4 month time span. After the second arrest, one in which brought much shame to myself and family my Mom, Valorita Salaam told me: you have your FATHER’S name, do not continue to disrespect it. That gave me fuel to focus on making better decisions.

Around that same I was playing Semi-Pro football in Warrior and Birmingham, Alabama and finally got film to show teams my potential. I signed a contract to play in the Indoor Football League for the Bloomington Edge / Extreme in Bloomington, Illinois (my birth state). It felt surreal getting a chance to move and extend my journey. I played in one game vs the Omaha Beef… it was a great experience but I really just a practice player like I was in college. I met people whom I’m friends with to this day and the experience brings me a lot of joy and pride. I was one of the 2011 IFL Community Service Player of the Year Finalist for my charitable work in the community and what I did for Tornado Relief back home in Alabama.

Still wreckless I was arrested again! Thankful to say the third time was a charm and haven’t been back “in front those people faces” since then. I moved back to Huntsville after meeting a Swedish woman who became my wife. I tried my best to put my dreams to the side and be what I had never really been, a full time working man. I sold EMV Debit & Credit Card machines for Pace Payment Systems ten years before people in the US started getting cards with the chip. I started coaching, worked construction and ended up getting a position with Girls Inc. Of Huntsville.

I was the first man ever in the program’s 40 year Huntsville footprint to be a program director. O was in charge of the 6th - 8th group. I believed that if I could inspire the young ladies of the program to be Smart, Strong and Bold I would be indirectly inspiring the young men to do the same. I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Girls Inc and am immensely proud of the young ladies now women who I see have grown to be Master’s Degreed, professionals and responsible mothers. My time with the organization ended, and soon after my marriage ended.

Around the same time my dearest teenage years Coach Len Lanier offered me an opportunity to join him at Discovery Middle
School and be the WR Coach and Strength and Conditioning Coach! We had an IMMENSELY special group of guys who were as talented as they were hard working and determined. We won the North Alabama Middle School Championship, something that hasn’t been done by a Madison City School since. During my two year stint at DMS the program had multiple scholarship athletes and still holds a special place in my story and heart.

I DID NOT STOP DREAMING OF PLAYING PRO BALL. This was 2016, after traveling to Sweden multiple times for my previous relationship I received an opportunity from the Uppsala 86ers to be a Player/Coach almost a decade after the Senior Night loss to ULM, Graduating from UA, three arrests and a divorce… I never fully gave up on the idea to play professionally. I played in one game, my role was to be the Assistant OC and a year later I was hired to be the Head Offensive Coordinator and Assistant Head Coach to Moe Kadkhodai. I was given an opportunity by Team President Martin Söderberg to travel throughout central Sweden and do my HIT SQUAD training and introduce Amerikansk Football to school aged children.

I finally knew I wouldn’t play in the NFL, took some time but I finally found peace in that. My dream shifted from playing to building generational wealth through my training brand. I was able to train hundreds of kids and really establish myself as the trainer I am today. I have countless friendships with people in Sweden to this day! The connections I was able to make in Uppsala opened the opportunity to link up with the 東京ガスクリエイターズ (Tokyo Gas Creators Football Team) in the Xleague. Thank you Yamamoto Shinji for linking me with itai masato! I went to Tokyo in 2018 and 2019 to train their team. I had a goal and aspiration to go back in 2020 but we all know how the world changed then!

During my time in Sweden I met a very special person who told me: Darwin you need therapy, there are things about that are special and some things that need to be fixed by no one but a therapist. That gave me the fuel I needed to move home and seek that help, establish a foundation for my business and be closer to my family. My Dad survived a stroke while I was gone and my dear friend Fernando McCray passed away from a heart attack. I had every reason in the word to move back home, none greater than prioritizing my mental health.

My time with Debbie Duquette (2018-2019) gave me the necessary tools to learn the difference between my perceptions and my reality, I earned the tools that would save my life after a fatal car accident in February 2019. After my last session with Debbie we both believed I was capable of fulfilling my traveling trainer plans I made for 2019. I planned a Global Tour for SQUAD INC Training that took me to LA-Tokyo-NJ-Sweden from March - June of that year.

As I reflect on this journey I’ve been on I haven’t been alone thru any of it though at times I believed it was me vs the world. It was really me vs me. I was introduced to my business partner Louis D. Whitlow in Summer of 2018, and we opened The Compound in January 2020. I’ve been able to Coach at my Alma Mater in both football and basketball. I met my Life Partner in 2018 and we have the most healthy bond and union I couldn’t ever imagined. We have a beautiful growing family that inspires me daily to stay committed to my growth and development. I am back actively going to therapy thanks to 57 North Hampton! I am a Creative in the realm of Art & Music, I am holistically in the best shape of my life. I am so much more than I believed I ever could be. I am a positive member of my global community and am in the position to inspire the youth of my local community.

I am everything and more that your child needs to grow because I’ve literally seen it all. I started this post off by wanting to let the world know why you should bring your child to me to train and as I finish this reflective post I realize that not only am I an accomplished, fulfilled, disciplined and growing person I am also PROUD of everything I’ve done and thankful for everyone I’ve connected with along the way. Should you choose to continue to bring your child to me or start doing so they are in the BEST hands to help them grow into exactly who they are destined to be.

If you took the time to read this I appreciate you.

Much love, energy and respect.

ps. There’s so much more to the story left to be told.

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