Ryan Smith drops everything to train, mentor some of Des Moines metro's top young athletes
Hockey practice is underway as athletes trickle through the doors of the Metro Sports Facility in Urbandale.
Instead of changing into pads and skates, they follow the music that bleeds through a set of black doors off to the side of the rink. On the other side of the doors sits a large artificial turf field, sandwiched between metal panel walls and hockey puck-blackened boards.
Some athletes lift weights. Others run sprints. Two athletes throw a football back and forth.
In the middle of it all: Ryan Smith.
Smith, the founder of and lead trainer and mentor at Innovative Athletic Sports Performance (IAP), shuffles between stations, offering tweaks and tips as his athletes rotate through drills.
He’s pulled in several directions: working on a football player’s footwork, correcting a track athlete’s sprinting technique, or instructing a volleyball player to get more air.
Even outside of the facility, that’s how Smith lives his life, dropping everything and giving everything for his athletes. That's why he is one of the Des Moines Register's People to Watch in 2024.
From athlete to trainer after landing in Iowa
Smith played four seasons as a defensive lineman at Abilene Christian University.
He had some shots to play professionally with teams like the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers, but nothing ever panned out. Then, he was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a condition affecting the left ventricle of the heart, forcing his dreams of going pro to fizzle.
Other opportunities brought Smith to Des Moines about eight years ago. But the native Texan, who originally wanted to pursue a career in law, wasn’t ready to leave athletics.
“I never thought I was going to be a trainer,” Smith said. “I thought, ‘What can I do to fill this void?’ I just started reaching out and helping some athletes. It wasn’t a job yet; it was just something I was passionate about.”
Smith felt like Iowa was behind in youth athletic development, compared to states like Texas, California and Florida.
He began training athletes at local gyms, but eventually, balancing a full-time job and training on the side was too much. So, Smith turned his passion into a career.
Creating a space in Des Moines for athletes to excel
One of Smith’s first clients was Malique Ziegler, who played baseball at Des Moines East and North Iowa Area Community College before being drafted by the San Francisco Giants in 2016.
Ziegler heard about Smith through mutual connections and trained with him later in his career. If Smith had been training in Des Moines sooner, Ziegler would have jumped at the opportunity.
"He brings that culture, that drive, that commitment that we wanted as athletes, and that we didn’t have here in the city,” Ziegler said
In the years since Smith trained Ziegler, his business has grown. Smith relies on word-of-mouth recommendations to attract new clients. And his success backs his reputation.
He's trained the state’s top football stars, including Xavier Nwankpa (Iowa), Kadyn Proctor (Alabama) and Abu Sama (Iowa State).
But athletes of all shapes, sizes and sports — not just football players — work with Smith. Dowling senior and Kansas volleyball commit Kenzie Dean trains at IAP. Smith beams with pride when talking about Johnston track and field star Jaida Bell.
And he understands what athletes need to succeed.
“He definitely helps train overall athleticism,” Bell said. “He’s given me tips on track that I haven’t gotten from other coaches.
“He knows what he’s talking about, and not just football. He knows the human body, how the muscles work and what you can do to train specific muscles for your sport.”
Innovative Athletics is about more than training
When Smith was younger, sports were an outlet through which he made friends and connected with new communities.
“Sports became my escape from reality,” Smith said.
When he started his business, he wanted it to be an outlet for the athletes he trained.
Erin Leifker’s son, Will — now a senior at Dowling — has worked with Smith since he was 10 years old. In all the years of training, one moment stood out.
“Will was in (middle school) and he’s growing,” Leifker said. “His knees hurt, his body hurts, and he was almost in tears one day because he didn’t want to work out. Ryan was like, ‘We’re going to the pool.’
“He just pivoted in the moment. He helped Will’s confidence, he got a workout in, and they spent time together.”
Erin Leifker described Smith as part of their family. Smith's relationship with Will transcends sports.
That connection isn’t unique to the Leifkers.
If one of his athletes gets injured, Smith will meet the family at the hospital. He will rush to a high school to mentor the kids he trains. Smith attends a high school football, basketball or volleyball game on any given weeknight.
Some of the kids Smith trains don't have a parent like Erin Leifker in their life. Some kids have only him.
He sacrifices his time for other people’s children.
“It’s about seeing the joy that they get from the process,” Smith said. “I was like a lot of these kids once. It’s a privilege to be there for them because some of these kids don’t have a support system or they need someone who’s been there in their corner.
“I consider it my duty to show up and support them when they put all this investment into building their craft and their dreams. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”
After training some of Iowa's best athletes, where does Smith go from here?
Even with a sizable training space and dozens of athletes on his roster, Smith plans to grow Innovative Athletics even more.
He brought on additional trainers in recent years, such as Des Moines native and former NFL player Rico Gafford. He moved into a larger space at the Metro Sports Facility and continues to expand his clientele.
Those are all pieces of a larger puzzle, one that Smith hopes, when complete, makes IAP one of the top training organizations in Iowa.
“The goal for 2024 is to really put everything together and grow,” Smith said. “We’ve placed the foundation, because a lot of this stuff, I’ve done myself. We want to continue to grow and have an impact on the athletes of Iowa.”
Alyssa Hertel is the college sports recruiting reporter for the Des Moines Register. Contact Alyssa at ahertel@dmreg.com or on Twitter @AlyssaHertel.
Meet Ryan Smith
AGE: 34
HOMETOWN: Fort Worth, Texas
EDUCATION: Bachelor's degree in political science, emphasis in business and education from Abilene Christian University
CAREER: Owner, mentor and trainer, Innovative Athletics Sports Performance
FAMILY: Mother, Sherry; brother, Jermaine; sister, Lanessa; partner, Em, and her son, Jace
About the Des Moines Register's 2024 People to Watch
It's a Des Moines Register tradition to close out each year and open the next by introducing readers to 15 People to Watch — individuals expected to make an impact on Iowa in the coming year.
This year's nominations from readers and our journalists totaled nearly 60 people and posed hard decisions for staff members charged with winnowing them to just 15.
The final 15 include people in business and the arts, those who train the world-class athletes of the future, chefs on the cutting edge, farmers teaching refugees how to run their own farms, and people fighting for representation through cosmetics and medicine. We hope that you are as inspired by reading about them as we were in profiling them.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Trainer of top young Iowa athletes coaches them about life, too
