• ony@onymomah.com
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1990

Lawn Street Where it all started 

I grew up on Lawn Street, where football wasn’t just a game, it was survival training disguised as sport. We played from telephone pole to telephone pole, with the tackling zone on the pavement right in front of the church. Every Sunday, people sitting in the pews could look out the window and watch us throwing, catching, and hitting on the asphalt. Getting knocked down on concrete taught me one lesson early: do everything in your power to stay on your feet. That street was a factory for champions. It produced over a dozen college football scholarships and three NFL players. More importantly, it produced resilience, grit, and the unshakable belief that you could rise above your circumstances if you were willing to work for it. Coaches Will and Fred Thomas saw something in me during one of those street games and recruited me to the Huntington Bulldogs. Football became my identity, my structure, my path forward. 

2001

The Scholarship

  • I played for the Huntington Bulldogs through fifth and sixth grade, then continued at Elwood Middle School. By the time I got to John H. Glenn High School, football wasn't just what I did, it was who I was. Mainly because of Coach David Shanahan, who taught me that being an athlete meant more than physical performance, it meant character, discipline, and leadership.
  • But my father enforced a rule that would shape the rest of my life:
  • "Any grade below 80 means no sports. Period."
  • In ninth grade, I played only three games. In tenth grade, I didn't play at all. While my teammates were under the lights, I was at home with my books. It was painful. It felt like punishment. But looking back, that year taught me something most athletes never learn early enough:
  • Discipline precedes excellence. Structure builds freedom.
  • I came back hungry in eleventh grade. Our team went undefeated that season, but one moment stands out above the rest, our rivalry game against Harborfields.
  • We were down by four points with just minutes left on the clock. They were running it out. Everyone on the sideline felt it slipping away. But in the defensive huddle, we looked at each other and said what we all felt: we need a miracle.
  • On the very next play, my brother delivered a crushing hit. The ball popped loose. We scooped it up and took it to the house. The game ended in a tie, but that moment became my internal compass:
  • Never count yourself out when there's still time on the clock.
  • My senior year was cut short by injury, but my performance earned me scholarship offers from the University at Buffalo (as a linebacker) and the University of Maine (as a running back).
  • I chose Maine. I became the first football scholarship athlete from John H. Glenn High School.
2006

The Dream

  • From 2001 to 2003, I played running back at the University of Maine. In 2003, I transferred to Hofstra University, where I finished my college career and earned my Bachelor of Science in Psychology in 2006.
  • The plan was simple: make it to the NFL. That was the only acceptable outcome. Everything I'd built, every hour in the weight room, every film session, every sacrifice, was aimed at that singular goal.
  • In 2006, I got the call.
  • The Cincinnati Bengals wanted me for training camp.
  • I showed up in peak condition, ready for my shot. I was confident. Prepared. This was everything I'd worked for.
  • I showed up in peak condition, ready for my shot. I was confident. Prepared. This was everything I'd worked for.
  • "Hand in your playbook."
  • Four words. That's all it took to end my dream before it started.
  • My agent told me I was blacklisted. I was considered a medical liability, and no team would take the risk. Years of discipline, sacrifice, and preparation, gone in a single morning. My family had sacrificed everything to support me, and I felt like I'd let them all down.
  • For the first time in my life, I had no clear path forward. No plan. No identity.
2006

The Fall

  • Most people told me to move on. Get a "real job." Accept reality.
  • I refused.
  • I found a new agent who believed in me. We hired a film crew and created my own combine reel from scratch, drills, routes, interviews, everything. We sent it to all 32 NFL teams.
  • For months, silence.
  • Then my phone rang. The Buffalo Bills. They gave me 24 hours' notice: "Be here tomorrow."
  • That's when I learned what "stay ready so you don't have to get ready" really means.
  • I walked into that workout and executed flawlessly. Every drill. Every route. Every catch, including the deep wheel route that had haunted me in college. At 260 pounds, I wasn't supposed to move like that.
  • The Bills invited me to their free-agent camp with over 30 hungry competitors from the NFL and CFL. I outperformed every running back there. I was the only one invited to training camp.
  • When the first round of cuts came, my name was on the list.
  • The coaches pulled me aside and said something I'll never forget:
  • "You're a square peg trying to fit into a round hole."
  • They liked me. They respected my abilities. But they couldn't find a role that fit their system.
  • That's when I understood: talent and effort don't guarantee the outcome you want, but they always prepare you for what's next.
  • I kept chasing opportunities, CFL tryouts, AFL camps, even failed leagues like the AAFL and UFL. I trained for the 2012 Olympics. But something fundamental had shifted. The passion that once drove me was fading. The identity crisis was deepening.
  • Who was I if I wasn't a football player?
2008

The Pivot

  • After the NFL dream ended, I had to rebuild from nothing. But first, I had to survive rock bottom.
  • For six to eight months after the Buffalo Bills released me, I lived in my dad's basement. Barely employed. Barely functional. I spent my days playing video games and waiting by the phone for a call that would never come.
  • I felt like a complete failure.
  • I was supposed to be the one who made it. My family, my parents, my four siblings, five cousins, and my aunt, had all lived together in one house. I was supposed to be the NFL prodigy who changed everything. Who brought us out of debt. Who made the sacrifice worth it.
  • Instead, I was sitting in a basement feeling worthless, useless, like I had no purpose.
  • I told myself I wasn't smart enough to go back to school. That I didn't deserve to do what other people could do. My mindset was crippling: "It's NFL or nothing." And since the NFL was gone, I was nothing.
  • Then my father came down the stairs.
  • I heard his footsteps, loud, deliberate. I braced myself. My dad never yells, but he's stern, and I was waiting for the lecture. Waiting for him to tell me I was wasting his money, eating his food, accomplishing nothing.
  • He said my name: "Ony."2
  • Here we go, I thought.
  • But that's not what happened.
  • He said: "Ony, I'm proud of you."
  • I was stunned. Proud? For what?
  • He continued: "Every day you wake up and you leave the house, and I know you have a purpose. You've done something by playing football professionally that no lesser man can do. And now is your next chapter and your next step, and I just can't wait to see what you'll blossom into."
  • That was it. One conversation. One moment of belief.
  • He filled my heart with worthiness. I felt like I deserved to be happy. I felt like I belonged. I felt empowered.
  • That's when my mindset shifted.
  • It wasn't instant. I didn't jump out of the basement that day and change my life overnight. But something fundamental changed. I stopped feeling sorry for myself. I stopped waiting for permission to move forward.
  • I made a choice: either I could feel less than, or I could move and groove and make it happen.
  • In 2006, I founded Revo Athletics, my first gym, while still pursuing football opportunities. I got my NASM certification in 2008, committing to training others with the same discipline I'd brought to my own athletic career.
  • The 2008 recession forced me to close Revo Athletics, but the experience taught me something crucial: setbacks don't define you, your response to them does.
  • I kept training athletes. I kept searching for my next arena. And slowly, a new purpose started emerging.
  • In 2011, I was accepted to Physician Assistant school at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University. That was my pivot point. That was the moment I stopped being a former athlete trying to hang on and started becoming something new.
  • Football had been Phase 1. Medicine was becoming Phase 2.
2013

Phase 2 Begins: The Rebuild

  • I graduated from SUNY Downstate in 2013 as a board-certified Physician Assistant (PA-C). For the next nine years, I practiced in orthopedic and sports medicine, treating hundreds of athletes through injuries, surgeries, and recovery.
  • But I noticed something that most providers missed: the physical injury was only half the battle.
  • When athletes got hurt, especially when injuries ended their careers, the mental health impact was devastating. Identity crisis. Depression. Loss of purpose. I found myself having as many mental health consultations as orthopedic ones, because you can't separate the body from the mind, especially for competitors.
  • That realization led me to specialize in psychiatry.
  • In 2016, I founded Select Fitness, my second training facility, continuing to train athletes and high performers while building my clinical expertise. COVID forced me to close in 2018, but by then, I'd learned how to pivot faster and adapt smarter.
  • In 2022, I founded Good Spirit Psych, providing psychiatric care. Today, I serve over 600 patients monthly, helping them navigate mental health challenges, identity transitions, and life after competition.
  • In 2025, I earned my Doctor of Medical Science (DMSc) with a concentration in Psychiatry from Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions.
  • I became the first football scholarship athlete from John H. Glenn High School. Now I'm a Doctor of Medical Science helping others navigate their own Phase 2 transitions.
2022

The Mission

  • I graduated from SUNY Downstate in 2013 as a board-certified Physician Assistant (PA-C) and was selected to deliver the commencement speech, speaking to my classmates about resilience, reinvention, and finding purpose beyond our first dreams. For the next nine years, I practiced in orthopedic and sports medicine, treating hundreds of athletes through injuries, surgeries, and recovery.
  • But I noticed something that most providers missed: the physical injury was only half the battle.
  • When athletes got hurt, especially when injuries ended their careers, the mental health impact was devastating. Identity crisis. Depression. Loss of purpose. I found myself having as many mental health consultations as orthopedic ones, because you can't separate the body from the mind, especially for competitors.
  • That realization led me to specialize in psychiatry.
  • In 2016, I founded Select Fitness, my second training facility, continuing to train athletes and high performers while building my clinical expertise. COVID forced me to close in 2018, but by then, I'd learned how to pivot faster and adapt smarter.
  • In 2022, I founded Good Spirit Psych, providing psychiatric care as an independent contractor. Today, I serve over 600 patients monthly, helping them navigate mental health challenges, identity transitions, and life after competition.
  • In 2025, I earned my Doctor of Medical Science (DMSc) with a concentration in Psychiatry from Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions, graduating Summa Cum Laude, the highest academic honor.
  • I became the first football scholarship athlete from John H. Glenn High School. Now I'm a Doctor of Medical Science, Summa Cum Laude, helping others navigate their own Phase 2 transitions.

From "I'm not smart enough" in my father's basement to Summa Cum Laude with a Doctorate in Psychiatry. That's the power of Phase 2.

2025

The Purpose

  • Today: Where All Three Arenas Meet
  • Football taught me to read defenses, anticipate plays, and perform under extreme pressure.
  • Medicine taught me to read people, understand psychology, and respond with compassion.
  • Entrepreneurship taught me resilience, adaptation, and how to build from nothing.
  • The field changed, but the mission stayed the same: help people stay on their feet when life hits hard.
  • Today, I integrate my experience from all three arenas through:
  • 🎙️ Phase 2 Podcast
  • Real conversations with athletes and high performers navigating identity, purpose, and major life transitions.
  • 💪 SWEAT Mindset / SWEAT 3X
  • Holistic fitness and accountability coaching that combines physical transformation with mental performance training.
  • 🧠 GRIT EnMotion
  • Mental performance training for athletes, professionals, and leaders facing high-pressure situations.
  • 🏆 Playmaker Academy
  • Youth mentorship programs teaching resilience, discipline, and leadership through sport and life skills.
Ony Momah

3 Pillars

CLINICAL EXPERTISE

Treating 600+ patients monthly with psychiatric care backed by DMSc

ATHLETIC EXPERIENCE

Former Division I / NFL athlete who lived the worst transition and rebuilt from zero

STRATEGIC GUIDANCE

Creating systems that turn discipline into direction and purpose into impact

HELPING ATHLETES & HIGH PERFORMERS NAVIGATE PHASE 2 TRANSITIONS
Ony Momah

The lessons I've learned from Lawn Street to now shape everything I teach:

Discipline Builds Freedom

The structure my father enforced taught me that constraints create clarity. The athletes who struggle most in Phase 2 are the ones who had no structure outside of their sport. Discipline isn’t restriction, it’s the foundation for everything meaningful.

Identity ≠ Activity

You’re not what you did. You’re not the uniform, the jersey, or the title. The traits that made you elite, discipline, resilience, mental toughness, are YOURS. You brought them to the sport; you didn’t get them FROM the sport. Phase 2 is about transferring those traits to a new arena.

Failure is Preparation, Not Endpoint

Getting blacklisted by the NFL felt like the end. It was actually the beginning. Every setback I faced, failed physical, closed gyms, career pivots, prepared me for what came next. The question isn’t whether you’ll face setbacks. It’s whether you’ll let them define you or refine you.

Phase 2 Can Be Greater Than Phase 1

Most athletes believe they peaked in their playing days. That’s a lie. Phase 1 was training. Phase 2 is where everything you learned actually matters. The impact you have, the lives you change, the purpose you build, that’s where real greatness lives.

My mantra: "I May Not Be The Best At Everything But I Will Challenge The Best At Anything."

Resume

Beyond the Resume

Father, husband, coach, and lifelong student

Credentials

  • DMSc (Doctor of Medical Science), Concentration in Psychiatry, Rocky Mountain University (2025), Summa Cum Laude
  • PA-C (Physician Assistant-Certified), SUNY Downstate (2013), Commencement Speaker
  • BS in Psychology, Hofstra University (2006)
  • NASM Certified Personal Trainer (2008)
  • Board-Certified by NCCPA since 2013

What Drives Me

  • Helping athletes find identity beyond the game
  • Training the next generation of competitors
  • Building businesses that create impact
  • Family legacy and faith
  • Continuous learning and growth

What You'll Find Me Doing

  • Treating patients at Good Spirit Psych / Southend Psychiatry
  • Recording Phase 2 Podcast episodes
  • Training clients through SWEAT Mindset
  • Speaking at universities and athletic departments
  • Spending time with family
  • Still hitting the weights (once a competitor, always a competitor)

"I May Not Be The Best At Everything But I Will Challenge The Best At Anything"

Testimonials

What Clients Are Saying

“Ony’s not just a coach, he’s proof. He lived the transition, studied the science, and built a system that actually works. I went from lost to locked in.”

Parker Roben

Former College Athlete

“Having someone who understands both the clinical side and the competitive mindset was game-changing. He speaks both languages fluently.”

Parker Roben

High-Performing Professional

“He gets the identity crisis that comes with the end of competition. Not from a textbook, from experience. That made all the difference.”

Parker Roben

Athlete in Transition

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Trusted by former NFL, CFL, NCAA athletes, Brands, Institutions & Movements and high-performing professionals across the country.

Ony Momah

Every Season Ends. Your Purpose Doesn't.

  • If you're navigating life after sports, reinvention after setback, or searching for structure in your next chapter, I've been there.
  • I've been blacklisted by the NFL, lost businesses, rebuilt my identity from scratch, and found purpose on the other side. Phase 2 isn't theory. It's lived experience backed by clinical training, 25 years of performance coaching, and the willingness to fail forward.
  • The game ended in 2006. Purpose began that same day.
  • Your Phase 2 starts now.
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