Blog Get the Right People on the Bus "I hire people brighter than me and then I get out of their way." - Lee Iacocca Part of my responsibility is adding the highly skilled and incredibly talented coaches as a supportive staff to our high performance training department. It is always a never-ending task of providing
Blog It's About the Athlete At the beginning, the middle, and the end; it's about the athlete and the progress made. Behind that athlete is the person that drives their athletic prowess. Coaching is a process and an art. Although strength & conditioning is deeply routed in science, the act of coaching should
Blog Not What You Do; It's How You Do It It is too easy in this profession to get caught up with chasing the next perfect program or spending hours critiquing every rep scheme, volume base, or periodization model. As strength and conditioning coaches, we all are guility of this. I'm advising you to trust your gut and
Blog Attention to Detail One of the most important lessons my Father taught was how important even the smallest detail was. I feel that is something many people has lost sight of now days. Call it the modernization of self-correcting technology, simple laziness, or any other combination of generational factors or ineptitude; needless
Blog Lions & Zebras As a leader, it is vital to identify others members within your organization that will help support your cause and leadership efforts. Identification of other potential leaders is a valuable task which will allow you to best utilize your time and efforts supporting the environment and culture you are trying
Blog You Are Your Team When I was first starting my career in Strength & Conditioning, a mentor of mine once told me, "What you see is what you coach". He couldn't be anymore correct. Let me explain. 💡Key Takeaways • What you see is what you coach: every behavior you walk
Blog How to Lose Talent Within an Organization Introduction Michael Fertik wrote an excellent article titled “Managing Employees in Their Twenties” in the Harvard Business Review last month. What I enjoyed about Michael’s blog post was the simple to read tips about what it is that keeps talented employees in their mid-twenties within the same company.
Blog Be a Beginner “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few.” Zen Master Shunryo Suzuki * Be Present Don’t get caught up in wondering what should come next or the grand illusion that there is a sequence of events that one should follow. Throw
Blog On Details It's the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen. - John Wooden The secret to success is often so obvious that it hides within plain sight. I don’t claim that there are too many hidden secrets within strength & conditioning that will make or
Blog On Coaching and Leadership Coaching requires a great understanding of leadership that is rarely taught in any kinesiology or exercise science coursework. You will rarely find it taught in any conference or certification body. It is often only developed through personal growth or obtained from other coaches who’ve been in the field and
Blog Nuggets of Wisdom This semester has nearly passed by and with another tick of the second hand on the clock, another year of coaching had passed. Throughout the year, I keep accurate notes on everything from: leadership development, my staff’s performance, athlete/team progress, and a wide variety of other topics and
Blog Leave it at the Door Rachael had her head down throughout the beginning of the lift and I could tell that she wasn’t herself. She did little to motivate her partner nor did she respond to the vibrant enthusiasm her partner Taylor was giving her. “Rachael, may I speak with you?” I said. Rachael
Blog Something From Everyone A valuable lesson I was taught early on is that everybody has one lesson to teach you. If you approach all the people you meet with an "empty glass" approach, you'll be more likely to walk away with useful information or a perspective that you otherwise
Blog Your Energy Transfer “The speed of the boss is the speed of the team.” - Lee Iacocca As a coach, your athletes will follow the tempo, pace, and energy of the coach. you set the tempo for the team; so set a good one! Find a strategy that works for you. I’ve done
Blog Growing Future Leaders It’s our responsibility to grow future coaches as well as developing your own coaching abilities. You cannot do one without doing the other. It is vitally important to bring out the best in the people you work with. In our internship program, my mission is to develop the interns,
Blog A Leader's Oath The ladies came together gathering around the central pillar in our weight room to receive feedback from our strength & conditioning staff regarding the outcome of their mission. They circled up standing shoulder to shoulder while their hands were still covered in chalk and sweat still pouring down their faces.
Blog Leadership. It's a 24/7 Responsibility Being a leader isn’t a temporary job. It’s not season position or a typical nine to five. It isn’t a trait that you can turn on or off at your disposal. Being a leader is a permanent characteristic that defines a person. Coaches often ask for my
Blog Stop Learning...Start Dying? What a fantastic quote by Lillian Smith. Â Too often coaches get set in a routine that becomes 'comfortable'. Â When you ignore current research, advice, science breakthroughs, in relation to your training programs, then it is time to die. Don't neglect research at the expense of comfort.
Blog Preparing Athletes From the Neck Down & The Neck Up Be a Team Player Despite what the formal Wichita State Strength & Conditioning job description specifies, part of my responsibility is protecting the WSU teams’ integrity from opponents and from within. This may mean preparing the team for the physical and mental difficulties that they will face on the field/
Blog Applying the Five Levels of Leadership What The Five Levels of Leadership Are Level 1: Position (Power) - Given by Company People Follow Because they Have to. Level 2: Permission (Relationships) - Earned People follow because they Want to. People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care. Level 3: Production
Blog Coaching Philosophy: Introspective Look INTRODUCTION "You do not merely want to be considered just the best of the best. You want to be considered the only ones who do what you do." Jerry Garcia. There is no doubt that within competitive athletics, athletes and coaches alike are always striving to be the
Blog Keeping Your Athletes Focused Those who work with athletes (or even individual clients) will know this. Some time athletes don't necessarily give you 100% of their focus and attention. It is our job as coaches to ensure that the athlete is giving their attention so that skill development can occur. But what
