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Travis Kelce Returns to South Florida to Train with Longtime Coach Tony Villani
Travis Kelce, the Kansas City Chiefs' tight end, has returned to South Florida to work with his longtime speed and agility coach, Tony Villani. Villani, based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, operates his gym, XPE Sports, where he first trained Kelce in preparation for the 2013 NFL Combine and throughout various points in his career.
Kelce took a hiatus from training directly with Villani when he spent recent summers in Los Angeles, focusing on entertainment opportunities and off-field pursuits like acting and hosting a podcast. This period coincided with a slight decline in his on-field performance. However, ahead of the 2025 NFL season, Kelce has reunited with Villani in South Florida to regain his elite athletic form and work back toward winning another Super Bowl.
Villani is recognized for his specialized training philosophy that emphasizes Kelce's mastery of maintaining speeds between 14 to 17 mph on the field, using agility and illusion rather than just raw speed. This focus has been crucial to Kelce’s success as a tight end.
During a recent visit to Miami, Kelce found a new culinary experience in the form of hamachi crudo. A raw, finely sliced, and opalescent dish, it was a stark contrast to the fish dishes he encountered at Red Lobster, a restaurant his family frequented growing up in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. In Miami, Kelce was served the hamachi crudo in a dimly lit dining room, featuring a horseshoe-shaped booth. A young woman was performing Sade's "The Sweetest Taboo" and other quiet storm standards to set the mood.
Kelce's return to South Florida is not just for comfort as a multimillionaire. As a child, Red Lobster was a special occasion restaurant, offering a unique experience akin to an aquarium. Now, Kelce's off-season home is in South Florida, and he has come back east to regroup from last season's lopsided defeat in the Super Bowl. With Villani's guidance, Kelce aims to reclaim his place among the NFL's elite tight ends and add another Super Bowl victory to his resume.
- Travis Kelce, in an effort to regain his elite athletic form before the 2025 NFL season, has resorted to Tony Villani's unique training style at XPE Sports in South Florida, known for emphasizing agility and illusion rather than just raw speed.
- Despite his recent forays into entertainment and acting, Kelce's focus on American football remains unwavering, as evidenced by his decision to train for the upcoming NFL season in a place that has been pivotal to his sports career - South Florida.
- Harnessing the sports-analysis insights he has gathered over the years, Villani targets maintaining Kelce's speeds between 14 to 17 mph on the field to maintain his dominance as one of the NFL's elite tight ends and increase his chances of winning another Super Bowl.
