Stacking the odds in your favor

Sporting News, The, March 25, 2005 by Vinnie Iyer

Stack is a magazine with a message for high school athletes: If you want to be like Mike--Jordan or Vick--there is no magic formula. Stack's mission is to help improve the performance of athletes in a safe, effective and legal way.

Simply put, steroids aren't the answer. The alternative solution is getting the proper training and nutrition necessary to compete at one's highest potential. Founded by 23-year-old former college football players Nick Palazzo and Chad Zimmerman, Stack's contributors include coaches, trainers (including Jordan's onetime trainer Tim Grover) and performance-enhancement specialists. The magazine reads much like Men's Health--diagrams of exercises and how-tos on a wide range of sports skills are the core of the publication. The first issue's cover teases the secret training program of LeBron James.

"Whether it is to make the team, become a starter, earn a scholarship or go pro, every athlete wants to improve," Palazzo says. "As high school athletes, we were desperate for information on how to improve our performance. We searched newsstands, libraries and the Internet but found nothing. After our careers were over, we set out on a personal mission to create a magazine to give high school athletes the credible information we never could find."

Stack, a must-read for serious athletes, will distribute 300,000 free copies to high schools in 52 major cities this spring. It initially will publish eight issues annually--one a month during the school year. For more information, e-mail letters@stackmag.com.