About Us
Read a brief bio straight from Coach Dom himself.
Meet Coach Dom
My story didn’t start on a football field.
Before I was 7 years old, I was in and out of the foster care system and experienced more trauma, abandonment, and abuse than any child should have to understand. At 7, I finally met my dad and went to live with him. But by then, I was already a troubled kid. All I knew was survival.
To a lot of people, I was a lost cause. Too far gone. A kid who would probably never amount to much.
Then I found football.
Sports became my escape. The field was the one place where the pain, anger, and confusion didn’t control me. Around my freshman year of high school, I finally started to straighten my life out and realized I had a real gift for football. I decided to go all in.
I still wasn’t perfect. I still got into trouble. I was still fighting battles within myself. But football gave me purpose.
By my senior year, I had interest from Division I programs and believed football was going to take me everywhere I dreamed of going. Then, during a scrimmage, I suffered an injury and watched those opportunities disappear. The one opportunity that remained was SAGU.
At 17 years old, I went on to play college football as a true freshman and proved that I belonged. But talent wasn’t my problem.
Maturity was.
I made the decision to leave school, and looking back, it was one of the biggest mistakes of my life. I continued playing football through semi-professional ball and eventually professional arena football. I had talent. I had opportunities. But I was still trying to live the party lifestyle instead of living for God.
The crazy part is… I grew up in church. I knew who God was.
I just wasn’t living like it.
Eventually, I had scouts looking at me and opportunities to potentially continue my career in the CFL. I felt like everything was finally coming together.
Then one day, God humbled me.
During a game, I broke my leg.
Just like that, the journey I had built my identity around came to an end.
Looking back now, I understand something I didn’t understand as a young athlete: talent can open doors, but talent alone won’t keep you in the room.
That’s why I started The Lion’s Den.
I see myself in so many young athletes. The angry kid. The troubled kid. The kid with all the talent in the world but no direction. The athlete who doesn’t understand that the decisions he makes today can affect the opportunities he has tomorrow.
I don’t want these kids to learn every lesson the hard way like I did.
My mission is bigger than making athletes faster, stronger, or more explosive. I want to mentor young men and women. I want to help athletes reach levels they may never reach on their own. I want to teach discipline, accountability, character, and most importantly, faith.
God gives us gifts, but we are responsible for what we do with them.
The Lion’s Den exists because I believe my mistakes, my trauma, my football journey, and even my failures can be used to help the next generation.
I’m not just training athletes. I’m helping build the person inside the athlete.