Parent Testimonial: Stacy Unser and Tim Bartell

My name is Stacy Unser. My name is Tim Bartell. And our son is Joshua Vlahos. He's finishing up his first year at GForce. We’ll be returning in August for his second year. He is currently with Chicago Jets.

What was your favorite part about GForce Sports Academy last year?

I think overall his favorite part of it was the in-detail training, whether it came on-ice or off-ice. He just enjoyed getting the more one-on-one time. For the academic part, he really liked that it wasn't so structured, that he had to have math at 9:00 and he had to have English at 10:00, and that homework was based off of, you know, when he had practice and when he had games, and it wasn't like everything's due tomorrow. He was able to have a flexible schedule, and if he needed help, they were definitely there for him.

What kinds of growth has your child made at GForce?

Athletically, he's gotten more skilled with his hands, and his skating's gotten ten times better since he started with GForce. This is the first time that he's ever been on honor roll since, like, first grade, and they were striving to get him to hit that honor roll mark. Between Aly and Shawn, I mean, those two were constantly in touch with me, almost on a daily basis. "This is what Joshua has to do. This is what we have set for him." Giving me updates on his test scores or homework-wise. And it wasn't negative. It was, "Let's help him get a little bit better at doing this. He might need a little more practice at this, so let's try this." Very accommodating with him.

What would you tell someone who is considering GForce Sports Academy?

In the beginning, I was a little apprehensive about doing this. But once that time came and I saw how much dedication he was in with hockey, I knew, and as well as Tim, we knew, that sending Joshua to a traditional brick-and-mortar school, we were setting him up for failure. If he wanted to excel in his hockey career, we needed to be more flexible with school. And it actually is set up for college, because that's how college is, too. It's not like your assignment's due the next day. You have a syllabus, and it tells you when everything's due. So, this is actually setting him up for college. He pulls up his computer. He looks at it. I'm just the bystander who happens to be paying for it and looking at all his work to make sure he is doing it. So he's got it actually both ways. He has the kind of traditional brick-and-mortar because he is inside a facility with a teacher, or he can do it online and ask right there.

What did you see as the driving factor in your son’s growth?

Overall, I think with the workouts, he tested low, and by the end of the year, with all the training that they did, he was in a higher percentile. I couldn't believe how well he developed through working out and the off-ice training. Shawn, Joshua loves him. He pushes Joshua to a limit that Joshua has never been to. He sees that in him. He will push him and push him and push him, regardless if he likes it or not. Shawn will take him to a side of the ice and start working with him. So then when we're watching a game of his, we see him on the ice doing things that no other child on his team is doing.