PJ Strebel

My name is PJ Strebel, and I am the owner of MaxWay and if you asked me how we got here I'd laugh, and say beats the hell out of me.  I opened MaxWay in the summer of 2019 with one real goal in mind... to Coach.
To me Coaching means so much and why I feel it is up there as one of the most important jobs in the lives of others.  Writing this is a challenge for me because the gym isn't about me or what I have accomplished; but I do feel as though I have a unique perspective that can be helpful for others, especially young athletes, as they navigate a world set up for them to be anxious, stressed, and overwhelmed.

My journey in life hasn't always been smooth, and there have been some sad and pretty tragic moments that have directly impacted who I am, why I am the way that I am, and the reason why I opened MaxWay.  
I am here,  and where I am today because of very specific people & things:
1. my mother & my sister
2. coaches in my childhood
3. strength training & team sports
4. mental health counseling & therapy

If it weren't for me finding a weight room, a therapist, and having the mother and sister that I do, chances are none of this happened.  This is why I advocate the way I do for the importance of the things above.  I am the product of a single mother because of a father with substance abuse and unresolved mental health issues which ultimately caused him to take his own life in 2018; 2 months before I became a Dad myself.
I've dealt with anxiety and depression throughout all of the stages in my life, but in my youth, I relied heavily on two of my friend's Dads to coach me in sports, teach me about growing up, and about being a Dad.
These two friends were Jacob MAXfield and Davis Hemingway. Davis' Dad gave me my first set of golf clubs because he and I were both lefty, and Jake's Dad would drive me home every time after a failed sleepover attempt, no questions asked.  Those two men were my first lesson in what a coach does and who a coach can be for a young boy.

Tragically, Davis drowned in a swimming accident in the summer of 2003 when we were 16.. 5 years later in 2008 I got the call that Jacob had died in a car accident when he fell asleep driving. We were 21. Two of my best friends were gone before I graduated college.  I had a ton of survivor's guilt after Davis died and it only amplified after Jacob passed away. But as Jacob's wonderful Mother Mary, taught me, guilt is a useless emotion.

So I had to figure out why I was still here, and what I could do to make sure that their stories and the lessons I've learned through the tragedies could be passed on to younger athletes.

Enter MaxWay.

I opened MaxWay as a way to create an opportunity for young athletes to spend time with their buddies, learn how to compete, learn how to do something challenging and become better, more well-rounded human beings. As I didn't know it, but these were my favorite memories with friends that were taken way too soon, and want to give kids that chance as well.
We may not take ourselves too seriously, as you can see in the photos, but we take our mentorship and our craft very seriously. Because I know firsthand that a Coach and a weight room can save someone's life.