They’re still in sync, 18 years after they shared the first dance as Prom King and Queen at Bishop Brady High School.
These days, James and Sarah Christie are business partners. They opened Elite Sports Academy in Epsom six months ago and offer high-octane local and travel programs in basketball, baseball, softball, lacrosse, and more.
The 26,000-square-foot facility is a cavernous playground, featuring synthetic turf fields, weights, batting cages, and mobile basketball courts, which can be packed away when not in use.
The Christies say business has been good, despite the fact that the academy isn’t clearly visible from any main street in the area, nor is there a sign introducing the public that something new is open in the Suncook Valley.
“We’re just off Route 28 and it’s not really a good spot for a sign anywhere,” James said. “We’re not known as a place where you drive by and decide to drop in. If you need those things, you find us.”
These two found each other at Bishop Brady High. James was a linebacker on the football team, Sarah a ballet dancer and cheerleader. She learned at Turning Pointe Center of Dance in Pembroke. She danced at Disney World in Florida and she performed in New York City, where she trained with the Rockettes.
She joked that at 5-foot-2, she was too short to be a full-fledged Rockette. She found her calling somewhere else.
“This feels great,” Sarah said. “It feels like something I was meant to do. Sports like softball are very community-oriented, and we’ve always been community-minded.”
James grew up in Epsom, Sarah in Chichester. The local entrepreneurs were friends at Brady as juniors. They began dating as seniors, which is when they were crowned King and Queen and had that slow dance together.
Sarah knew what was on James’s mind early on, when she said he told her, “I couldn’t date you because I could never break up with you.” She said she blushed.
They married in 2007, three years after graduating from Bishop Brady. After college, Sarah stayed home with their two daughters. She taught dance.
James worked for Lincoln Financial Group in Concord. He traveled around the country on work-related trips for 10 years and grew tired of, as he said, “Corporate America.”
Once his two daughters were old enough to play (James coaches them now at Prospect Mountain High School), the family got a taste of organized, competitive, serious softball. James coached his kids on the Lady Cannons travel team and later founded the Granite State Elite Program. The girls traveled around the country to play in prestigious national tournaments.
“They came from all over New England, but also all over the country,” James said. “We also had players from Georgia, Houston, Vegas, Florida. We won the Under Armour Tournament in Vegas, we were third in Houston. That was the genesis to build this facility in Epsom.”
The usual laborious process ensued over two years, with planning, meetings, zoning laws, variances in specific town ordinances, and other details that continuously needed to be addressed.
They opened right after the country was getting back on track after the COVID-19 pandemic. Their clientele includes AAU basketball teams, a program essentially for players with a chance to play college ball.
And while multiple teams in multiple sports now rent space from Elite Sports Academy, James said the center isn’t just for serious athletes.
“We run the facility working with local youth that may not be in the travel program, but that is very competitive,” James said. “It gives them a chance to get better and show improvement in the rec leagues or middle school teams.”
Their business plan, while in its early stages, is working. Sarah stays behind the scenes, coordinating tryouts, doing the books and beefing up the business’ social media presence.
Meanwhile, James is out front, coaching kids and supervising a staff that includes former high school and college softball players, parents of players and kids who are active in the center’s programs.
James inherited the money needed to open the business from his mother, Leslie Christie, who died three years ago from liver disease at the age of 59. She’s part of this dance as well.
“Mom was a lover of youth sports,” James said.
No doubt she would have been proud of this dance team, its chemistry working these days as it did on the dance floor 18 years ago, during their First Dance.
“I grew up in town,” James said, “and I thought it would be nice to give back something to the community.”