LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) – Outside of being great athletes in the mid-Michigan area, what do Michigan State linebacker Jacoby Windmon, 2023 DeWitt graduate Bryce Kurncz, and 2019 Grand Ledge grad Makenzie Todd have in common?

They are among the many top athletes in the area to train with ‘3D Athletes’ in Lansing.

“I was so uncoordinated first coming here, but now I say he’s built me into the college athlete I am,” said 2020 East Lansing grad and linebacker at Albion College Jayth Joseph, who has trained with ‘3D Athletes’ since he was in high school.

Todd added, “I run faster, I jump higher, and honestly, it’s all because of him.”

The “him” he is referring to is Nate Schafer, who founded ‘3D Athletes’ in 2009.

He has helped Kurncz and Todd reach their goals of playing at the next level and works with other local athletes like former East Lansing wide receiver Andrel Anthony, former Jackson Lumen Christi and Michigan State safety Khari Willis, and former DeWitt standouts on the 2020 state championship team Tommy McIntosh and Ty Holtz.

“They need to know that you care and that you have their back because it’s not always easy,” Schafer said. “We’re going to be there during the good times and the bad. And a lot of times during those tough times, that’s when you grow, and that’s when you get better too.”

Schafer graduated from Williamston in 2004, and he created this program for younger athletes after he dealt with injuries in high school.

“I got hooked up with a guy named Gary Gray, who founded the ‘Gray Institute,’ and he kind of took me under his wing and started to mentor me and helped me get through me injuries,” Schafer said. “That turned into a passion.”

The ‘3D Athletes’ Instagram page has over 130,000 followers and shows videos of the different movements and explosive exercises the athletes perform with Schafer.