Our Story

It Started With a Parent Asking a Better Question

Players Box began with a deeply personal experience.

Founder Charlie McMahan watched his own children—a daughter immersed in dance and a son competing in basketball—excel in the activities they loved. But as the level of competition increased, so did the pressure. What had once brought them joy began to feel heavier, and Charlie saw firsthand the toll that stress and expectations could take on both performance and well-being.

It led him to an important realization:

We spend countless hours developing a student’s skills—but far less time teaching them how to handle the pressure that comes with using those skills.

Charlie became determined to change that.

Rather than waiting until young people were overwhelmed, burned out, or questioning something they once loved, he wanted to give them practical tools before they reached that point—tools to better understand themselves, navigate pressure, build confidence, communicate effectively, and rediscover the freedom to play.

From an Idea to a Movement

Charlie began teaching these foundational concepts around 2011, initially working with young athletes at a local tennis center. What started as personal teaching and individual conversations gradually developed into a structured curriculum and, eventually, became Players Box.

The vision continued to grow.

Players Box expanded beyond individual athletes and into teams, schools, clubs, universities, youth organizations, and community programs. What began in athletics soon revealed a much bigger need: pressure isn't limited to the court or field.

Students experience it in the classroom. On the stage. At auditions. During exams. In friendships. At home. And while deciding who they want to become.

Today, Players Box serves students across Athletics, Academics, and the Arts, helping young people develop the mental and emotional tools they need to perform under pressure without losing themselves—or the joy that brought them there in the first place.

Just as importantly, Players Box works alongside parents, coaches, teachers, and mentors, equipping the adults in a student’s life to become stronger advocates, communicators, and role models.

Growing Through Community

Over the years, Players Box has had the opportunity to work with students, teams, educators, coaches, and organizations throughout the region and beyond.

Partners and organizations have included programs connected with:

University of Dayton • Robert Morris University • Cedarville University • Cincinnati Tennis Foundation • Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy • Dayton Christian • Centerville • Springboro • Lebanon • Fairmont • Miamisburg • Bellbrook • National Trail • Bethel • Valley View • Carlisle • Newton • Ohio Premier Volleyball Club • Air City Chicks Volleyball Club • Midwest Basketball AAU • Phenom United • Hope Squad • Dayton Children’s • Terre’s Dance Workshop • Dayton Christian CRU, and many others.

Players Box has also developed relationships and partnerships with community organizations, including Kettering Health, while continuing to work one-on-one with students and families.

Each partnership has reinforced the same belief:

When students understand themselves and are equipped to handle pressure, they are freer to learn, compete, create, lead, and grow.

Building a Home for the Mission

As the reach of Players Box grew, so did the vision for what it could become.

Beginning around 2021–2022, a major capital campaign raised several million dollars toward creating a dedicated Players Box facility—a place intentionally designed to bring together physical development, personal growth, academics, creativity, and community.

The facility includes spaces for basketball, volleyball, pickleball, strength and performance training, classrooms, tutoring, and the performing arts.

But the building was never the mission.

It was built to give the mission a home.

A place where students can train, learn, perform, compete, build relationships, discover their strengths, and develop tools they can carry far beyond their sport, classroom, or stage.

Players Box Today

Today, Players Box continues to grow through multi-week programs, skills academies, academic support, performing arts opportunities, camps, team training, school partnerships, parent education, and individualized student development.

Programs may look different depending on the student, but the purpose behind them remains remarkably consistent with the idea Charlie began teaching more than a decade ago:

Prepare young people not just for the skills their moment requires, but for the pressure that comes with it.

Because talent matters.

Preparation matters.

But students also need to know who they are when the moment gets big.

At Players Box, our goal is to help young people develop the tools to step into those moments with confidence, resilience, self-awareness, and joy.

To perform under pressure.
To recover when things don’t go as planned.
And, ultimately, to bring PLAY back to pressure.