The lessons, values, and habits they establish today will serve them well beyond tomorrow.
People will tell you ‘strength coaches just need to coach strength, it’s not their job to get into the kid’s personal lives.’
Nonsense.
Our kids need all the help they can get growing up in a battered, backwards, broken world.
Pour into them.
‘Strength’ transcends the barbell.”
-Ray Zingler on Twitter
You hear banter on social media all the time about how strength coaches, just need to “do their job” and “coach strength”.
“There is no reason to travel beyond the titled means of your job requirements.”
I think this is the biggest load of crap in the world.
In the field of Strength & Conditioning we have job descriptions that are vastly different from typical sport coaches.
As performance coaches, it, as the title literally implies, is our job to aid in the enhancement of performance.
And performance isn’t just physical.
It’s mental, emotional, and even spiritual (throw stones at me for saying it, 2023!)
For this reason, it is essential for strength coaches to get off the surface with athletes and work tirelessly to develop quality relationships.
Of course professionalism and boundaries need be established and maintained, that is a given, but it is important for strength coaches to gather as much context about the individual as possible so that he or she can serve them to the best of their ability.
This doesn’t mean one should go probing and snooping around in personal business, trying to pry information out of kids.
This means that a coach should be level-headed and self-aware enough to know that trying to billy badass kids around doesn’t actually help them in the long run.
These kids have enough pressure and coaches screaming at them.
Take the time to make yourself available. Be kind. Develop trust. Follow through. Prove to them that you care.
Simple, intentional “Hey how are ya’s?” & “Tell me about you’re day’s!” can open a lot of windows into the lives of your athletes if you’re patient enough to care and recognize this whole gig is about them and not you, anyway.
Strength is a broad term.
It’s an essential one, too.
And if I’ve learned anything in a decade + of coaching strength it’s that strength transcends the barbell.
If you’re blessed to have access to kids as a strength coach, pour into them beyond the exercise selection and sets and reps.
You, unlike any other coach, have the ability to make an impact that not only serves them today, but well into their futures.
Don’t miss it.
Give them all you got.
