Local athletes are making news here, there and everywhere this month. Perhaps none as much as former Griffin High and NFL standout Charlie Clemons.

Clemons, a part owner of Competitive Edge Sports in Duluth - one of, if not, the premier workout place in the state, training scores of NFL, NBA and MLB-caliber athletes - was in town Wednesday talking about his latest venture, namely Competitive Edge Sports’ partnership with Club Fitness in Griffin.

“Basically we’re merging with Club Fitness and bringing Competitive Edge Sports from its main hub in Duluth to what will be in main hub south of Atlanta in Griffin,” he said. “Right now we’re working on getting the buildings to the left and the right (of Club Fitness) and turning the whole thing into a sports complex.”

The move will, in effect, at least triple the size of the Cory Dade and Mark Brooks-owned Club Fitness, which is already, by far, the largest gym in the area.

Clemons said the complex’s primary focus will be to train football players, but that it will also have whole areas dedicated to training baseball and basketball as well as soccer, volleyball, etc.

“There’s no one we can’t train and enhance their game,” said Clemons, who played his NFL career with the St. Louis Rams, New Orleans Saints and Houston Texans.

Legendary Griffin High head football coach Lloyd Bohannon - who coached Clemons during his days as a Griffin Bear - walked in at Club fitness while Clemons and I were talking.

Bohannon agrees it’s the wave of the future. Years ago, he said, you could get by with just having superior athletes. Not any more, he added. They need to be in peek physical condition when they walk into summer camp.

Furthermore, he said, the appeal of working out in such a place and under the direction of a “fitness trainer,” is way more appealing to the new generation.

To which I interject, today’s athlete quickly reaches a higher level of training than athletes of an by-gone era, mainly because they often train year-round for one sport - see GHS’s Tim Beckham (baseball) , Toby Jackson (football) and Charles Corbin (basketball) and SHS’s Tyler McCarty (baseball).

Club Fitness will kick off its new partnership with an open-house style event from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., on April 5, complete with coaching clinics as well as speed, quickness and agility training demonstrations.

MOVING UP IN THE NFL: Charlie Clemons’ nephews, Chris and Nic, have recently changed addresses in the NFL. Nic, who played sparingly for the Washington Redskins last season at defensive end, recently signed with the Denver Broncos, while Chris, who enjoyed his the greatest season of his NFL career last year while playing linebacker for the Oakland Raiders, signed a five-year deal worth several million with the Philadelphia Eagles.

HARDWOOD HEAVEN: Two local basketball players are in the Big Dance this week, namely Charles Corbin ((Winthrop) tonight versus Washington State in the Men’s NCAA Tournament and Siarre Evans (East Tennessee State) Saturday versus Oklahoma State in the Women’s NCAA Tournament.