What Does It Take to Be an Effective Strength Coach?
By
Daniel Roose
What are the attributes of an effective strength and conditioning coach? I
was recently asked this question, and as I stumbled over myself for a few
minutes, I thought it would make a great topic for an article. My staff started
off the brainstorming with a few ideas, which included championship rings,
level, certifications, and lots of jokes about large men with bald heads and
facial hair.
During these brainstorming sessions, we decided that our best course of
action was to come up with a few simple questions that would elicit a broad
range of answers. We presented these questions to professionals from an elite
division that I program as well as to a successful high school strength coach
and a few guys in the middle.
The three basic questions were:
With that in mind, here are the contributors to this article:
- Jon Sanderson, basketball strength and conditioning coach, Clemson
University
- John Hark, director of strength and conditioning for Olympic sports,
Marshall University
- Cameron Davidson, head strength and conditioning coach, College of
Charleston
- Andrew Kingsley, head strength and conditioning coach, Victory Christian
Academy
1) What are the biggest challenges that you face on a day to day basis?
Sanderson: My greatest challenge at Clemson is finding new ways to
motivate and challenge our guys. It seems like our guys get bored with doing the
same workouts week after week. Sometimes adding a new exercise or changing up
the warm up goes a long way.
Hark: Proper pre-season and in-season planning is my greatest
challenge at Marshall. In our business, we make our money in the summers. This
is because over the summer, the external stressors on our athletes are greatly
reduced. Full-time classes are out of session. There are no 3.5-hour practices.
The significant others have all gone home for the summer! This is when we make
our biggest impact and are truly recognized in the progress that we can make on
an individual basis with each of our athletes. The frustrating part begins when
these stressors are reintroduced. We go from having our fresh and open-minded
athletes four days a week to not knowing if we will lift during the current
week! Gains diminish, and you’re left with average to minimal final results.
It’s sad, but the “more is better” principle that is reintroduced once school
begins slashes the gains we’ve worked so hard to make with our athletes in half.
Performance nutrition is also a vital challenge. Fortunately, I have the
capability of giving my athletes as many nutritional bars and shakes as they can
stomach, but the meals that are provided for them at the dining halls and the
availability of healthy choices in our city are creating epidemic-like
nutritional habits! Athletes have no idea what to eat, when to
eat, or how much to eat!
Davidson: One of my greatest challenges at the College of Charleston
is making sure all teams feel they are treated the same as everyone else.
Obviously, there are teams that require more than others, but I don’t want them
to feel like they are ever taking a back seat.
Another challenge is making sure my teams are motivated to train every day.
Everyone has bad days outside of the weight room. It is my job to make sure they
are giving their best effort while getting my best effort, regardless of how the
rest of their day is going.
Kingsley: My greatest challenge as Village Christian Academy’s
strength coach is working with multi-sport athletes who have no off-season. In
some cases, their sports overlap. Educating the parents of young athletes is
also an obstacle. Many parents still believe that resistance training has an
adverse effect on the growth plates of young athletes. Motivating students to
step outside their comfort zone and train at the next level is a challenge that
probably occurs at most levels. The challenge of working in a small, private
school environment is that the top athletes aren’t necessarily top athletes in
relation to their peers in the community.
2) What is the most enjoyable aspect of your job?
This question got almost the same response across the board. Seeing athletes
improve is and will continue to be the most enjoyable aspect of our job
regardless of level. Whether it is on the playing field or court, in the weight
room, or life in general, the gains our athletes make are always a victory. I
think this is a direct connection with the amount of time we spend with each
athlete or team.
To make the rest of us jealous, Sanderson also chimed in with how much he
enjoyed his courtside seat at every ACC basketball venue.
3) What in your mind makes an effective strength coach?
Sanderson: I think it takes a combination of knowledge, hard work, and
passion to be effective in strength and conditioning. All of these attributes
are important. However, being passionate separates good strength coaches from
great strength coaches.
Hark: Be open-minded to new theologies, techniques, and methods. Take
something from everyone and everywhere and never stop learning! Motivate,
inspire, and care for each and every athlete.
Davidson: There are many things that I think about when it comes to
being an effective strength coach. I narrowed it down to my top five.
1) Plan your work, work your plan. Proper planning for each cycle is
imperative for athletes to make gains. If there is no plan, you have no way of
knowing how the athlete is improving or where they are going. “Shooting from the
hip” should me minimized whenever possible.
2) Be a motivator. Each athlete and team is motivated differently. I
don’t coach my basketball team the same way that I coach my baseball team. I
think it’s very important to tap into what makes each team work for you. I feel
that as long as your team is working hard in the weight room and being safe,
there is no reason why they can’t like it at the same time and have a little
fun. It’s what keeps them coming back for more.
3) Do what works for your weight room and your team. I’d like to use
programs that I’ve written from other schools where I’ve coached, but that’s
just not possible. I don’t have the same equipment, set-up, or athletes at every
place. It’s pretty obvious that we must adapt to the situation, and the more we
learn, the more we accommodate and change.
4) No job is too small. No matter what position I’m in, I always want to
be the guy who jumps in and helps. I don’t like watching others work while I sit
at my desk. If my assistants are cleaning or unloading/loading equipment, I want
to grab a rag or a piece of equipment and jump right in there and help out.
5) If you don’t coach it, it doesn’t get done. All athletes are human.
If you give them an inch, they’ll eventually try for a foot. This applies to
doing everything right whether it is the warm up, proper lifting technique,
attitude, or stretching. I’m careful not to over coach, but I like to make sure
that things are done and done the right way.
I couldn’t have said it better myself. These contributors all run very
successful strength and conditioning programs within the framework of successful
athletic departments at thriving academic institutions. I could tell you about
the championships that they’ve accumulated or the All-Americans who they’ve
trained, but I think we have established that being an effective strength coach
comprises much more than that.
Getting not only athletes but sport coaches and the administration to buy
into your program provides a great starting point for running a successful
strength and conditioning program. If people believe in what you’re doing, half
of the battle has been fought and won. This is when the passion takes over, as
Jon Sanderson says, and the great ones separate themselves from the good.
Daniel Roose is in his second year as the head strength and conditioning
coach at UNC-Pembroke. He received his undergraduate degree in physical
education at Appalachian State University and his master’s degree in exercise
physiology from Marshall University. Check out his website at
www.roose-strength.com.
daniel.roose@uncp.edu
