RPS Academies: Where Athletic Dreams and Academic Excellence Collide

Ever wondered what it takes to build world-class athletes? Tucked away at the former Club Med location in Port St. Lucie lies a hidden gem that's been shaping champions for 15 years. Meet Gabe Jaramillo, founder and CEO of RPS Academies – a high-performance sports institute where students from 32 countries pursue their athletic dreams while receiving top-tier education.

Gabe shares his remarkable journey from corporate life to founding an elite academy that sends athletes to prestigious competitions like Wimbledon. With a philosophy inherited from his Olympic swimming coach mother – "honesty, hard work, and perseverance" – and his father's mantra to "follow your passion," he's created an intensive training ground where students immerse themselves in a competitive culture of excellence from 7 AM until 9 PM daily.

What sets RPS Academies apart is its three-pillar approach: academics, intellect, and sports. Students specialize in tennis, golf, beach volleyball, or soccer while studying in a private school that will soon offer the Cambridge program. The results speak volumes – four current students competing at Wimbledon, state soccer championships, world-class beach volleyball players, professional golfers, and most impressively, a 100% college placement rate with scholarships for graduates. Despite these achievements and contributing significantly to the local economy with 72 employees, Gabe expresses surprise that many locals don't know they exist. Listen to discover this world-class training facility that's putting Port St. Lucie on the map and preparing young people not just for sports success, but for life.

Want to see champions in the making? Visit rpsacademies.com or call Gabe directly at 941-518-8606 to schedule a tour and witness firsthand how dreams are transformed into reality through discipline, education, and elite training.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, GarfieldBowen.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast.
Are you looking for ahigh-performance academy to send
your kids?
Well, one may be closer thanyou think.
Today I have the pleasure ofintroducing your good neighbor,
gabe Haramillo, the founder andCEO of RPS Academies.
Gabe, how are you doing today?

Speaker 3 (00:33):
Garfield, I'm great.
Thank you for having me on theshow.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Listen, we're excited to learn all about you and your
business.
Tell us about your company.

Speaker 3 (00:43):
We are RPS Academies.
We've been in Port St Lucie for15 years.
Where we are is we are a highperformance institute and we
build in three pillars academics, intellect and sports.
We offer elite programs indifferent sports, like we have
tennis, golf, beach volleyballand soccer, and alongside we

(01:06):
have a top-tier education.
We have our own private schooland next year it will be a
Cambridge program.
We're very excited about it.
We offer both boarding andonboarding options.
Today we have 150 students fromall around the world.
Each of them arrived with adream of becoming professional

(01:27):
athletes.
By their senior year, theyfaced two clear paths Either
they play professional or theycontinue the journey to college.
On average, our students spendthree years with us and the
daily routine is very hard.
They go from seven o'clock inthe morning to nine o'clock at
night, fully immersed in acompetitive culture of

(01:50):
excellence, hard work and verydifficult part, which is the
discipline.
This is how we make champions.
In short, we have a beautifulbusiness.
We have a beautiful businessNow.
What we're trying to do andwhat every day we get up for, is
to prepare these children tosucceed in life.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
I've been in Port St Lucie for a while and I'm sure a
lot of listeners are saying tothemselves where are you?
West, east, north, south?

Speaker 3 (02:29):
Do you remember where Club Med used to be?
Club Med yes, we're right there.

Speaker 2 (02:35):
Okay, okay, nice place, perfect location.

Speaker 3 (02:40):
It is perfect location in every sense of the
way.

Speaker 2 (02:44):
It's the perfect location.
And what kind of sports wouldyou say?
The student is excellent.
What is it?
Football, basketball, a littlebit of everything.

Speaker 3 (02:56):
No, right now we have tennis, we have golf, we have
beach volleyball and soccer.
But to give you an example,which was in tennis alone this
year, we have four of ourstudents competing in Wimbledon,
you know.
Just to give you an idea of howbig we are.
You know, we in the sports, wedo extremely, extremely well and
that's the sad part that nobodyknows that we're here.

(03:17):
In soccer, we won statechampionships, you know.
In volleyball, we are some ofthe best beach volleyball
players in the world.
Golf, we have professionalplayers.
We do really well in sports and, like I said, people come from
right now we're 32 countries.
There are people from 32countries that are with us at
the academy today.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
So tell me, Gabe, how did you get into this?

Speaker 3 (03:42):
business?
That's a great question.
Everything starts with a dream,and mine was to be the best
tennis coach in the world.
I grew up in colombia and mymother was an olympic swimming
coach, and she expected from ushonesty, hard work and
perseverance.
And she taught us from the verystart to believe in ourselves,

(04:07):
to fight hard and to never, evergive up.
And growing up, my father hadone mantra that he repeated like
a drum beat Do what you love,follow your passion.
So one day I did.
I quit the corporate job life,packed my bags, moved back to
the States to chase my dream.

(04:28):
But here's the twist the samefather who taught me passion
over position didn't speak to mefor two years, perhaps because,
you know, he was a generalmanager of Goodyear in Colombia.
He had a very prestigiousposition, but I really think
that deep inside he never hadthe courage to really follow his
dream.

(04:48):
And you know, to follow yourdream it takes courage.
Becoming a world-class coachrequires basically the same
sacrifices that an elite athletehas to follow.
And now my mission is to makethis academy the best in the
world.
I am a coach, that's who I am,and I love what I do.

Speaker 2 (05:10):
Now we know marketing is the heart of every business,
and I know you say you attractpeople from all around the world
.
Who's your target audience andhow do you attract them?

Speaker 3 (05:26):
Well, there are millions of young people around
the world with the same dream tobecome superstars.
But also we know that parents,for the parents, the most
important thing for them, theirpriority, is their education.
So for us, it's a perfectbalance because we offer both.
In reality, 99.999% of thesestudents end up going to college

(05:50):
.
The advantage that we have isthat in these 15 years, we have
sent 100% of our students tocollege with scholarships.
So we attract families from allover the world because we have
the results.
We have a strong social mediapresence and we have a very good
.
Loyal agents have been with usfor a long time, sending

(06:14):
students for a long, long time.
We also travel a lot.
We travel to tournaments.
You know, in the united stateswe travel to tournaments around
the world and we go to recruitthe students.
We go give clinics, teachingpeople basically our our product
, uh.
And then the key for us is thatparents are willing to invest

(06:37):
whatever they can in theirchildren.
They know that the bestinvestment they're going to make
is in their children.
So for us, in a way, it's aneasy sale.

Speaker 2 (06:47):
Have you ever thought about doing your own podcast?

Speaker 3 (06:52):
No, you know what, now that I'm talking to you?
Before we started, I thoughtabout that.
I thought it would be great forus.

Speaker 2 (07:00):
Listen when you're not busy running your business.
What do you like to do for fun?

Speaker 3 (07:07):
This is my life.
Really, this is my passion.
You know I love what I do, butoutside the academy, I love to
write.
I've written four books.
One of them is called how toMake Champions.
It has been translated toSpanish and Mandarin, and
writing gives me another way toshare the lessons that I have

(07:28):
learned through all these yearsof coaching and, to be honest
with you, I love coaching but Ialso love writing.

Speaker 2 (07:40):
Okay, we're actually coming to the end, but I want
you to leave our listeners withone thing.
If there's just one thing theyshould remember about RPS
Academies, what would that be?

Speaker 3 (07:55):
Well, I would love for people in Port in person
lose to know who we are.
We contribute a lot to thelocal economy.
You know we have we employ 72people.
We have parents that come fromall over the world and a lot of
them buy houses around theacademy.
Uh, when we go out in theweekends, you know the parents
that walk on the weekends.
We contribute a lot to everyshop.

(08:18):
You know every business.
In terms of sports, we put inport san lucio on the map too,
because we have some of the bestjuniors in the world, you know,
working and coming out of here.
So I would love for people toknow that we're here.
We have 15 years and people inport st lucie don't know that
we're here.
And now where I wanted toinvite people, if they're close

(08:39):
to to the academy, if they'reclose to where klomer used to be
, which is now some piper bayresort, I would love to invite
him to come, you know, and spendsome time with us.
Okay, that leads to the.

Speaker 2 (08:51):
the final question how can our listeners learn more
about rps?
Question how can our listenerslearn more about RPS?

Speaker 3 (08:59):
Academies.
They can visit our website.
It's rpsacademiescom, but thebest way to watch it we have
Facebook, youtube.
I would love for them to come.
If they come to our place, Iwould love to give them a tour,
show them what we have, showthem the school, show them the
facilities.
We have soccer fields.
We have we building.

(09:19):
We have 22 courts.
We're building 25 more tenniscourts.
We were going to build twostadium courts.
I mean, we're in the process ofgrowing, so I would love for
people to come and see what wedo and what we have for those um
mothers or fathers is like justlike to push the buttons on the
phone.

Speaker 2 (09:36):
Is there a, a number you'd like to share?

Speaker 3 (09:38):
Yeah, I'll tell you what.
I'll even give you my personalnumber so people can call me.
I'd be more than happy to talkto them, it's 941-518-8606.

Speaker 2 (09:56):
Well, Gabe, it's been a pleasure speaking with you.
We wish you and your businessthe very best moving forward.

Speaker 3 (10:02):
I feel that I appreciate this opportunity.

Speaker 1 (10:08):
I would love for you to come and visit us also.
Thank you for listening to theGood Neighbor Podcast Port St
Lucie.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go toGNPPortStLuciecom.
That's GNPPortStLuciecom, orcall 772-362-3840.