New Idaho Falls training facility offers an eventful journey to athletic success

IDAHO FALLS — When Ryley Nelson and Oakley Hussey met last fall, it was pure happenstance.

Hussey was leading a conversation about the need for a large-scale multi-sport training facility in Idaho Falls, during an Oct. 4 Hillcrest football game against Blackfoot. Ryley stumbled across that conversation and, agreeing with the sentiment, joined in.

Nine months later, Ryley and his wife, Madi Nelson, have partnered with Hussey and other coaches to open the Odyssey Athletics Training Facility.

“It was written in the stars,” Hussey said of his fortuitous meeting with Ryley and what has arisen from it.

While the facility is new, having officially opened last week, Odyssey Athletics has been in existence for six years. It started with Madi, a former Boise State University cheerleader, and her husband, a former Hillcrest High School football player and son of a cheer coach, teaching cheer and tumbling. But the dream slowly became much bigger — a facility where young athletes from all sports, could come to work toward major improvements.

“Around year three, we started to see this bigger picture,” Madi said. … “Then we ran into Oakley and we were like, ‘let’s do this.’”

The Nelsons bring an impressive resume when it comes to cheer and dance, and the strength, agility and endurance skills that come with those sports. Their goal though, is to attract the region’s top instructors specifying in other sports and skills. That is where Hussey comes in.

A former D1 football player, Hussey has, for several years now, coached area youth through his company, 12 Performance.

Hussey began coaching while home from Utah State University, where he played football, during the 2020 COVID-19 shutdown. He quickly found a love for instructing and that became his focus.

Now, he coaches teams and individuals in speed, strength, performance and recovery in skills related but not specific to football.

What makes the coaching offered by the staff at Odyssey, Hussey explained, is the fact that, in their mid-20s, the coaches brings a unique collection of the old and new way of coaching.

“We have a lot of passion,” he said. “We’ve seen the old-school coaching style and we know the new-school coaching style. I think, what makes us unique is, we’ve seen the best of both worlds and we’re able to teach off of the good experiences we’ve had, and we’re able to coach off of the bad experiences we’ve had.”

Students already training at Odyssey, according to the Nelsons, include their own National Championship-winning cheer squad, along with hockey, football and volleyball players, and track athletes, among others.

“The big focus of the training center, as a whole, is for any sport, any kid, to have a home where they can come train at,” Ryley said.

With Odyssey, Madi added, they are offering what had been a “missing piece” of the Idaho Falls community.

“We’re trying to create a place that we didn’t have when we were kids,” she said. “We want to be a big part of the community — to try to impact as many kids on whatever journey they’re on, as we possibly can.

Training at Odyssey is offered in public classes and both team or one-on-one sessions. A schedule of the public classes is available on the Odyssey website — here.

Anyone interested in more information about private classes can contact that coaching team — here.

The Odyssey Athletics Training Facility is located at 2281 Endeavor Street in Idaho Falls.