I have been lucky enough to work with a lot of great athletes and great teams. One in particular was the 2003 Columbus Academy football team which won the state title that year.

I was the strength coach at Academy so I got to work with all the teams (if they chose to send their teams to work with me), but the football team was one of my main priorities.

The fun part was when I got to call plays during the game.

Oh yeah, you read that right. I’d be on the sideline and go over to the head coach and put in my two cents.  “Hey coach, the defense is primed for you to call a bubble screen now.” I told him that I used to play football and watch a lot on TV, so I have enough knowledge to help him out.

Football wasn’t the only sport. I’d help out the basketball coach as well. “Hey coach, I don’t know why you aren’t running the 1-3-1 trap right about now. Then on offense do a high ball screen into an isolation play.”  

Don’t worry. I played basketball all the time. I also played in the central district All Star basketball game back in high school. I can help out.  Probably don’t even need to coach even though you have had decades of experience coaching kids. I got this.

Now, as you probably already have guessed, neither one of these scenarios happened. I mean honestly. These guys go to coaching clinics, talk with other coaches for plays, and try to understand the nuances of their sport inside and out.

It would be absolutely ridiculous for me to try and coach these kids. Yeah I might have enough knowledge to be dangerous, but I’d have to put in so much more time to hone the craft and make sure I was doing it right to get the kids to reach their maximum potential.

So as ridiculous as it sounds for me to coach a football or basketball team, don’t you think it is as ridiculous when your sport coach tries to take on the strength and conditioning duties for his/her team??

Some of you are probably going to say no. It’s just strength training and speed training. Anybody can read a book and do that.

I beg to differ!

When I took over Academy’s strength and conditioning program, they were doing cleans. A lift that the football coach saw at a one day coach’s clinic and decided to implement based on what he saw.

Needless to say, the form for these kids was awful. You know how long it took me to be proficient at the Olympic lifts. A good year!! A year of going to the Columbus Weightlifting Club 2-3 times a week being coached by Mark Canella and learning all the lifts and auxiliary lifts well enough so I could start teaching it to my athletes.

I see so many athletes that do a version of cleans taught by their coaches (not a strength coach by the way) and their form is so bad, I think they will hurt themselves.

I’m going to a state clinic this Saturday and will listen to strength coaches present on topics about developing linear speed and strength programs for a team. Is your sport coach doing that to improve his/her knowledge?

Probably not, but that coach is probably learning new plays and strategies for the sport all the time. Great!! Stick with that.

Let me handle how to implement all the latest speed drills and strength exercises effectively for your athletes.

I tell parents all the time, your athlete might do some of the same drills I do, but the sport coach doesn’t implement it correctly and effectively for your athlete.

Don’t know enough to be dangerous and waste time putting your athletes through drills that may or may not be right for each and every one of those athletes. Let a strength coach who has experience doing this with athletes and applying it appropriately free you to do what you need to do to prep your team for your sport.