Personally, I found this week’s education extremely helpful. So often we are taught the qualities and scientific information it takes to be a great strength coach, but seldom is the advice given that helps new professionals get their first strength coaching job. This week, we were given scenarios we may encounter, and probably will, during a job interview and one scenario for those first couple of awkward days at a new job, as well as a hypothetical situation involving coach-to-coach relationships. This exercise helped me think about what I would do and say in situations that I had not yet been presented with.
I have often been told that one of the hardest parts of being a strength coach is forging the relationships with the sport coaches who’s athletes you will be working with. There can be differences in philosophy when it comes to off season conditioning, preseason testing, in season training, or really, any other aspect of the full athletic year. One way to alleviate this, especially if you are hired to work with one specific team full-time, is to have a conversation with the coach. Ask the coach what their goals are, what they would change, how often they work their athletes out during the week, or anything else that you find would be helpful in creating a program tailored towards that team. Not only will starting that conversation answer specific questions you have but, more importantly, it will open doors for other questions and will help to create rapport with a colleague who’s mutual respect is important in both of your successes.
Just as often as we hear the phrase, “develop your coaching philosophy,” we should be hearing the advice “develop your programming process.” In an interview setting, there is a good chance that the interviewer will be asking the interviewee how they go about writing a program from beginning to end. Having a clear and concise answer as to what your entire programming process is, and relating it to your coaching philosophy, will solidify your chances of being hired due to your appearance as an organized and deliberate professional. Along these lines, having a sample program on hand, with your resume, can only better your chances of landing the job.
Lastly, a scenario was given to us interns that detailed a situation in the weight room. Our first day at a new job, while on the floor, you see a member of the football team is performing an overhead press with prominent extension of his lower back. The music is loud, the athletes are pumped up, cheering each other on, and this particular athlete is lifting more than he should be. What do you do? We all have our own answers to this question, most based on our values as a strength coach. Personally, I would rather an athlete have perfect form at a lighter weight first, then once they master the exercise, their weight goes up. However, what is most important here is that this story is taking place on your very first day at a new job. You could be the most knowledgeable coach in the industry, with a “toolbox” full of tricks, but you do not know a single athlete at this school or their history. Would you still want to correct their form even though you know nothing about them? Do they have a history of back pain? Are they currently injured? Did an athletic trainer tell them to lift a certain way for rehab? These questions must be answered individually, but they must answered. Chances are, situations like this will arise in every strength coach’s future. Knowing the correct way to respond may go against what you stand for as a strength coach, but it can help your future at this particular job.
This education session, to me, was one of the top three we have had. It assured me that, though knowledge of the “particulars” is very much an essential to success in the field, knowing how to deal with the interpersonal circumstances that life throws at you can be just as important. I love to learn as much as I can on the weight room floor from fellow interns and the full-time coaches, however, listening to coaches with these experiences and learning from their choices is one of the most valuable lessons to be given. I feel very fortunate as a new member of this field to have started my professional path at a place with such open and honest coaches that are so eager to share and teach.