Strength Coach- Why High Schools Need More Strength & Conditioning Coaches- Part I

Ryan Faer

Arizona Performance Coordinator for
Cleveland Indians Baseball

THE HIGHLIGHTS:

- There simply are not enough strength and conditioning professionals at the high school level. 

- A movement of integrating strength coaches into high schools is going to take a paradigm shift at the administrative level.

- Injury prevention is first and foremost the primary goal of the strength and conditioning professional. Weight room safety is major component that precedes any programming considerations for injury.

Introduction 

To appreciate my passion for improving high school athletics, you first need to understand where I started my coaching career.

My strength and conditioning career started differently than most others I've had the fortune of meeting and networking with in this profession.

As a high school sophomore I became fascinated with the preparation it took to perform at a high level in my sport—baseball. When I turned 16-years-old and could drive for the first time, I got a gym membership, joined a pitching academy, and drove myself to both nearly every day after school or practice.

I had no idea what I was doing.

Regardless, I was enthralled by the empowerment strength training gave me. I learned that I had more control over my abilities, and subsequently my career, than I ever could have imagined. Through trial and error I found out a lot of other things as well, like time management (I originally struggled with my IB/AP classes when I threw an extra hour or two of training into my daily routine), discipline, and attention to detail.

Upon graduating from high school I immediately began coaching baseball at my alma mater, first running warm-ups, and then designing my own training programs with nothing more than a personal training certification. Like my own training during high school, I had no idea what I was doing?—?at first.......Join StrengthCoach.com today to read this and thousands of learning resources.....