Discussion
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Comments
i thought i had this published before but now it should be viewable by everyone
I think that this proposal is a good idea. When I played softball at Everett Community College in Washington, my softball coaches hired our local physical thereapist to be our conditioning coach. He was also the boys baseball conditioning coach. He also was all the teams physical therapist. We met with him every monday, wed, friday at 6:30 and worked out, did conditioning and weight training. He was very knowledgable and helped us out with any of our problems. I think that with all the athletes at EOU, a strength and conditioning coach would be a good idea, because I know that not all coaches have the knowledge of good weight training. It would be to our schools advantage to have one of these coaches.
Excellent idea! Strength and fitness training is critical to preventing injury - especially in athletes. Having someone who specializes in this field would be helpful. My son plays ice hockey and occasionally get his shoulders dislocated due to large growth plates. He spends several hours each week working on strengthening the muscles around his shoulders in order to prevent this injury. He also works on various other skills in order to develop explosive speed and power in his legs. Like many other hockey parents, I rely on the expertise of a trainer who understands and has studied the specific needs of my son's sport to know what are the critical areas that need attention.
This sounds like a great idea for EOU to invest in. Especially if they are currently having their coaches, who may not be experts in conditioning, in charge of the conditioning of the participants in their respective sports.
I also like this idea! A suggestion may be to do some research on cost of employing this new strength and conditioning coach and possibly doing a survey to generate support for the need. Pitching such an idea is easier when administration knows how much it will cost and if the need is great and if the end result of hiring such a person offers benefits that outweigh the cost. For example, avoiding the risk of lawsuit, severe injury and even death, could be a good argument for supporting the hiring of a strength and conditioning coach at EOU. I also like the idea, because as a coach I feel often I don't have enough time to address strength and conditioning as much as I'd like. Most coaches may have much experience in the field, but may not be experts which would also be a benefit in hiring the strength and conditioning coach.
This proposal is a great idea! EOU sports has been rising since I started to go to school here 4 years ago, and have shown year in and year out that we can compete on a national level in sports. Having a strength and conditioning coach would just be an added benefit for all the sports teams here at Eastern. Each sport requires different muscle use to provide maximum results and each sport has specific areas of the body needed to be trained due to the differences in body and muscle use. Having a coach that knows what each sport needs to train and target would be hugely beneficial for the student athletes. One question about this that I have is where would you propose an office for the strength and conditioning coach? A job like this that would require exstensive research and planning would need a work space to create schedules and programs.
There is an office in the corner of the weight room that would be sufficient for this position. Currently, two football coaches who maintain the weight room are located there. One, or both of their offices could be moved with the other football coaching staff to make room for this new position.
I couldn't agree with you more Andy! I came here and began lifting with the track team, but I had never lifted before. I had to guess on how to do some lifts, the coaches were there but there were so many athletes that they didn't have enough time to stand there and watch my every lift to make sure I was lifting correctly! I would have been so helpful to have a lifting coach there to teach me the right way! If we had a lifting coach this would also give our coaches a lot more time and in turn would improve the other aspects to our sport! I wold really love to see this happen!
Great ideas for your proposal! If EOU did decide to do this, this coach could help (or fully) teach the personal training I class I proposed as other students have suggested. This truly would be a great addition.
Let me start by clarifying, I am not a student athlete, so I am not fully aware of all that goes on between a coach and his/her athletes. But I do work in the athletic department and see the coaches a lot and hear a lot of discussion of budgeting, etc.
With that said, to me, a Strength and Conditioning coach does not seem like a huge priority. It definitely would benfit the athletic program, no doubt, but shouldn't collegiate coaches know about strength and conditioning? Isn't part this a part of their job? I would think it would be cost effective to have each coach take a seminar with a S&C coach to learn and then implement and oversee their own programs.
Lasa mentioned she doesn't have time to oversee conditioning for her athletes, but she also works and is a student. If coaching were her only responsibility, I'm sure it would be more doable. Orie commented that the track coaches are spread thin between athletes, but adding only one S&C coach won't make the situation a whole lot better. (It would be better for Track to add multiple coaches!)
Would all the coaches be on board with donating money from their funds to use this S&C coach? I know budgets are tight and coaches aren't so willing to give up their funds. I dont' think raising all students tuition for this position is fair. Would student athlete's be willing to give up some of their scholarship money for this to happen?
You commented that many of the coaches use programs they find online to create programs. I'll bet a S&C coach would too. I'm job shadowing certified personal trainers and they told me they find a lot of ideas of fitness plans online.
Just a couple critical thoughts from the perspective of an outside source. Please correct me on any misperceptions.
With all that said, I think it would be great if EOU had the funds to do this. It would definitely enhance the athletics program! It would be great if someone was there to walk around and critique and instruct everyone in the gym if they were open to it!