First off, none of us would have ever gotten to where we are without a support system. First and foremost, thank you to my family that has supported and followed me every step of the way. Thank you to all my mentors, Micky Marotti, Brady Collins, Rick Court, Quinn Barham, Phil Matusz, Jeff Uhlenhake, Kenny Parker, Niko Palazeti, Bobby Steiner, Parker Showers, Mike Stacchiotti for helping to mold me into the strength coach I am today. And a huge shout out to everyone I have had the chance to work alongside Zach Higgins, Danny Folino, Jeremiah Ortiz, Austin Stephen, for bringing new ideas/concepts and being that extra support system, we all need.
One of the ideas that is seldom talked of in Strength and Conditioning is the somewhat gypsy lifestyle, and not knowing where your next opportunity might take you. Just speaking from experience, I have had the opportunity to take my talents to four different schools in the past five years and have learned a lot along the way.
The most important concept for a strength coach to remember in transition is that it is not just a transition for you. Going into a new school/job also brings new expectations for everyone involved from administration, athletic trainers, sport coaches, and most importantly the athletes. In transition the most important thing to remember is that trust is earned and not given. You do not know what your athlete’s previous relationship was like with the strength coach before, and weather good or bad trust is a necessity for everyone to have success. Yes, we all talk about it! You must build relationships with your athletes, this means, having open hours, keeping your phone available for them to reach you, and trying to find out more about them than just their athletic goals. The more bought in you are to your athletes the more they will buy into you.
This also goes for the new colleagues you are going to have in your new position. It is inevitable that everyone outside of strength and conditioning will have a different idea of who we really are. in some cases, I have experienced administrations that think we are always aggressive, intimidating, and uneducated meat heads. In order to break these stereotypes, you must take the time to build relationships with administration knowing that they may be working with you longer than your athletes depending on the duration of your position.
Lastly when it comes to programming the KISS principle never fails, Keep It Simple Stupid. Remember your athletes are undergoing a change as well. Strength and Conditioning has been around way before most of us were even born and there is no reason to try and reinvent the wheel now. Design a program that both you and your staff are completely bought in. If you don’t have 100% faith that your program will work more than likely your athletes will feel the same way. And lastly make sure when you program something you can do it as well. There are so many gimmicky ideas out there that if you just throw something in make sure it makes sense, and you can do the exercise yourself. If not, it probably doesn’t belong in your program.
Jimmy Rodenberg
Director of Football Sports Performance
Youngstown State University