Today we’d like to introduce you to Amanda Barnett. They and their team shared their story with us below:
Praxis Elite Sports Academy started early in 2023 with a phone call to a good friend to see if the idea of starting a school is crazy. When she heard our idea, she assured us it was not crazy and it should absolutely exist in the world–so our vision began to take shape with an insane timeline to get a micro-school off the ground with a Fall open date.
That’s the origin story of how our school began, but our foray into the sports world started when both founders were kids. Nick Barnett began playing football at age 8 and turned that love of sports into a first-round selection of the Green Bay Packers in 2003. Nick was initially a standout track star in high school. Nick harnessed those skills to catch the eye of recruiting scouts and garner a football scholarship to attend Oregon State University. After blowing away the competition at the collegiate combine, Nick took the Packers top draft spot in 2003. Nick spent 11 years in the NFL before making San Diego his home. His accolades include a Super Bowl, the Rookie of the Year nomination, a Pro Bowl selection and numerous Pro Bowl nominations. Since moving to San Diego, he has been the head coach of many youth championship teams across multiple sports. Most recently, he was the head coach of the La Costa Canyon Pop Warner 14U team, winning the WestCon championship in his first year as head coach. He was recently hired by Del Norte High School as the head coach of the football program where they are currently working towards a division 2 CIF championship in his first year as Head Coach.
Praxis Elite Sports Academy is led by Director Amanda Barnett, who holds a master’s degree in strategic communications from Washington State University. Having grown up around professional sports her entire life with both her parents working for the Portland Beavers minor league baseball team, the Portland Trailblazers basketball team, and her dad also working as a high school football ref, most of her early childhood memories revolve around being somewhere on a sideline.
Her first job was at age 14, in the concessions stands at Civic Stadium, now Providence Park in Portland. In undergrad at the University of Oregon, Amanda was a cheerleader and president of many on-campus organizations. She held internships with HBO Sports in NYC and NASCAR Digital Entertainment in LA. Upon graduating, she was an active board member of the Packers Women’s Association in Green Bay for several years, chairing and implementing a program with a local domestic abuse shelter for women and children that still exists to this day. Most importantly, she’s a mom to five kids and is still most often found somewhere on a sideline.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The road to opening was almost too easy at first–we kept saying that this school must be meant to exist because everything that came up, we found a solution for almost immediately. However, in June, the location we were supposed to be using decided they wanted to sell the business. That meant we had to scramble to find a new classroom space as well as football and basketball training facilities–and they all needed to be within a 10-minute walk from each other. With a lot of scrambling, we were able to find three different options and narrowed it down to where we are now–but didn’t get the keys to our classroom until 2 days before the first day of school. But we opened our doors and welcomed our first students the day we said we would.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Praxis Elite Sports Academy is a co-educational middle school that focuses on both academics and athletics. Our school is dedicated to empowering young athletes and providing them with a comprehensive education that prepares them for success on and off the field.
At Praxis Elite Sports Academy, we’re dedicated to empowering young athletes to achieve their full potential. We believe that education and athletics go hand in hand; that’s why our innovative middle school curriculum combines both academics and athletics in equal measure.
We serve students in 6th through 8th grade and offer a specialized 8th+ GAP year program for students who have finished their 8th-grade requirements and want to hold back for one year in a curated, individualized athletic and academic curriculum before they enter high school.
At Praxis Elite Sports Academy, we believe that sports and academics go hand in hand. That’s why we offer two classes in athletics and two classes in academics each day. We are partnered with Hoop HQ, a full-court basketball facility, Optimum Training and Performance, a state-of-the-art weight training and speed facility that includes a 40-yard turf field and a dedicated classroom where our talented students hone their skills in a supportive environment.
How do you define success?
Our definition of success is the confidence our students feel upon promoting from our middle school to high school in both academics and athletics. “Unshakeable confidence” is our motto and goal for every student in our program.
Contact Info:
- Website: praxiselite.com
- Instagram: praxiselitesportsacademy
- Facebook: praxiselitesportsacademy
Image Credits
Amanda Barnett
