The Devilfish Athletics Team

Naomi Cookson & Andrea Paloian

Founders

Naomi and Andrea met at a Muay Thai sparring event and quickly connected over a shared passion for coaching. Over the course of many conversations, they decided to create a space where people could learn Muay Thai, but not prioritize competition. They hoped to create a training culture that encouraged growth and longevity over competition.

Shortly after opening Devilfish Athletics in 2019, New York City went into pandemic lockdown. Over the next two years, they witnessed how strong the connection is between mental health, fitness and community. They saw this firsthand while working with hundreds of people. For many people, Naomi and Andrea were the only people they saw during the week. Sometimes, their training sessions were also their only real movement.

They re-evaluated their mission and committed to coaching sustainable fitness, centering broad fitness skills and community, rather than just Muay Thai. They realized that most people didn’t actually need Muay Thai, which is inherently a high impact, high injury sport. Luckily, Naomi and Andrea both also had experience in strength and fitness training. They focused on growing a fitness program, teaching people how to build strength, resilience and skill. They want each person to enjoy their learning process, to take pride in their accomplishments and to feel independent and empowered in their training.

The guiding principle at Devilfish Athletics is that your training should always make you feel bigger, never smaller. Everyone starts somewhere. Taking steps to make your life better is hard, and they want to help you expand and invigorate your life and fitness. Naomi and Andrea know that the minute you commit to doing something for yourself, you will feel better. It’s not just about the physical results, though those are great too! Feeling better is a huge part of this process and they can pretty much guarantee that starting strength training will help you feel better. And when you feel better, you live better.