Today we’d like to introduce you to Jordan Walker
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
So my name is Jordan Walker. I’m a 30yr old entrepreneur/basketball trainer. I have a fragrance company called Quinn’s Collection. I’m also a skills development specialist. So in regards to the basketball side, it started by me dm’ing my old trainer Tyler Relph. Back in 2018 I had a lot of free time. I was just working and studying for nursing school. So I hit Tyler up saying “if he ever needed help to let me know”. He told me that he could use some help and to pull up to his next workout. At first I was just his camera man. So I was mainly recording videos on his phone and his camera. You know, small stuff like that. Then he asked me I wanted to help by training. At first I told him no, because in my head I was about to start this nursing program and I knew how busy I’d be. But as I kept coming around it kinda just grew on me. And then I started to get cold feet on the nursing side. So between 2019 and all through Covid, I would still come and just help rebound, play defense. I guess you could say my role increased. Then once Covid happened we spent like 7 months locked in with Julius Randle. I feel like that grind every morning 6 days a week, along with seeing Julius become an all star the very next year really did it for me. Fast forward to March 2021. We were sitting at beside each other at the Colorado State/Memphis NIT game . And he asked me again to join him and help with training. Because at that point for the past 2.5yrs I had been pulling up to every session as it is. So he was like you might as well dive into it. So he hired me as one of his trainers. I did that for like another 2.5 years, and I saw an opportunity to potentially grow my brand in Houston. In February of this year I finally decided to take that leap. As far as the fragrance company, I had the idea in my head in 2021. Just sitting in my apartment adding up all the money I had spent on other brands of cologne. And the amount of blind buys I would do. So it was like, “okay why can’t I have my own cologne?”. So maybe 4 months later when I was working in the ER at Texas Health, I met my business partner. I was just talking to him casually about my idea, he loved it and we kind of took off from there.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I feel like anytime you make a drastic change in your life, it’s never smooth. Whether it is starting a new job, or moving to a new city. It’s all about how you view and react to it. For me, I knew what I was up against. Moving to a bigger city, not really having a name for real. On top of that, tons of people want to be in this profession. And it’s hard to tell the difference from sugar and salt off the eye test. So I had to do a lot of free workouts at first just to network and get my name out there. One of my mentors Anthony Walton sent me John Lucas number and told me to text him. I reached out and he told me pull up to see what I was about. He loved it and asked me to help every weekend with skills. So my first month out here I would wake up at 5am to help run JL3 workouts. I could’ve complained, but all in all I knew it would pay off. In the basketball training world there are going to be ups and downs. People will be here one day, then they will disappear. You can’t let that affect your day to day approach. Whether I’m training Tre Johnson or a JV kid, I give them the same energy and enthusiasm.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
So I’m a player development specialist. What sets me apart is my eyes and how detailed I am. I’ve been in workouts tons of pros, guarded them, ran workouts, etc. So I know what it looks like and what it doesn’t look like. During Covid I spent the entire quarantine with Julius Randle. 5 days a week from March til November. I saw the work he put in. And that very next season he was an All Star. I’ve also been in the gym with Buddy Hield, Seth Curry, Myles Turner, Scottie Barnes, Dorian Finney Smith, Jared Vanderbilt, Moses Moody, etc. For me I’m a very visual learner. If you show me something once and I’ll pick it up . So in relations to training, once you see perfection for so long it’s easy to tell the difference. Which helps me in developing the kids who aren’t on that level yet. Then you just set standards for each player and you’ll know off the bat where they are from a skills standpoint.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
I give a lot of credit to my mentors/brothers Tyler Relph and Barrington Stevens. I spent almost everyday from 2019-2023 with them. They ultimately gave me the confidence I needed to jump in this profession. Like I said before, I was planning on going to nursing school. But T kept me around something that I had always loved and been passionate about. Asking me to randomly run groups. And these groups were 20-25 kids. And I’ve never been one to fold under pressure. So ultimately him throwing me in the fire helped me grow as a person. Then he started passing me some high level D1 players and pro’s to train.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.theacademybasketball.org/jordanwalker
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coachjaywalk__/?igsh=amhlZjR3am90bW12&utm_source=qr
