Call me coach - need advice!

[musketeer]

I have no experience of powerlifting so I cannot give advice, but I wish you well...

 

[bblazer]

I have no experience of powerlifting so I cannot give advice, but I wish you well...

Thank you!

B-

 

[joe d]

After a lot of pushing on my part I got what I wished for (remember to be careful what you wish for). The local High School I teach at has started a powerlifting team beginning this school year and has asked me to be the head coach. To say I am excited and scared as hell is pretty accurate.

Here is what I have going for me:

1) Jason Bergman and Jason Christus have offered their services on a limited basis to help access the form of the lifters and are willing to come in on a once a week or once every other week basis to help out.

2) My wife is going to be my assistant. She is actually a volleyball coach, and 2 of her girls have gone to the Olympics, and she paid for college with a NCAA D1 full ride for volleyball. In other words, she is a real coach with a lot of experience unlike me. She just has never coached PLing.

3) My experience personally and my education background in exercise physiology, and my ties to the PLing community for support.

4) A brand new weight room at the school that was designed by the head football coach that has a lot of knowledge of strength training. I have enough equipment that I could probably host a small (3-5 school) meet.

5) An formal interest list of students including 6 boys and 3 girls. 2 of the boys can squat 500+ and are under 200 lbs. Informally I am told to expect 3-5 more boys and 2 more girls.

6) Football and track coaches are in my corner and highly supportive as is the athletic director.

What I have going against me:

1) I have never coached anything

2) I don't deal with stupid well and have a temper

3) I curse a lot when I am mad

4) I am not sure how to run a practice for both boys and girls of different skill levels, all of whom are individuals rather than part of a team, ie I can't really run drills like in basketball or football.

5) I have no idea how to train each member as an individual and have time for everyone (maybe after initial assessment, they all go on the 5x5?)

6) I have a pissed wrestling coach and basketball coach who lost some players to me, and who don't see the benefit of a PLing team and are gunning for my failure.

7) Individual equipment costs for the team. Several on the team are below (very below) the poverty level, and even for those who are not, asking them to buy a power belt, knee wraps, bench shirt, squat suit and DL suit is going to be a problem. Fortunately I have been able to put some money aside and am willing to help out as much as I can, but I won't be able to help everyone get everything - maybe a bench shirt and power belt.

I would really appreciate any and all advice, help, etc that the group here can offer. This is an opportunity to get these kids on the right track physically for the rest of their lives! I am not concerned about beating records as much as I am getting these kids excited about taking care of themselves and having good clean competitive fun. I'm also really excited to see the turnout from the girls! I really wasn't expecting that. Shannon Hartnet is a friend of a friend and I was thinking that she might be able to be convinced to come over and help inspire these girls even more. Plus, I get to lean on Bergman and Christus - two of the best there are.

Anyway, please, any help, support or suggestions would be really appreciated. I will keep the board posted on the team's progress too - I promise.

Thanks again!

B-

anything with the kids is always a rewarding experience in numerous ways. you learn twice as much as they do. i would definately leave the crotchless leather spiked squat suit at home though. they may get the wrong idea.

heres a tip if you havent thought of it already. they will want to do all kinds of dangerous shit from playing to lousy form. i would start with talking about the serousness of safety, once they have that i would move on to form with light weight until they all have that. then i would get them all to figure out their start weights and show them how to log on a big poster that everyone can see ( like a leeder board) then when the stronger kids start bragging i would show them what a real sqat is and bang out a heavy one and rub it in a bit.

 

[SaiBoT]

lucky for you, i was a speed/strength coach and have had experience working as leader for large groups of young kids to college age adults. you lucky s.o.b.

1. you never coached, doesnt matter. have a plan. day 1, 2, 3. do assessments of the big movements. bb bench, trap bar dead (great starter tool to see if they have a weak vmo which would limit both deads and squats as well as every other lower or upper body movement which requires knee stability), and squat if the deads are not complete garbage. if they are, steps ups and walking lunges.

2. never yell. convey your message with a nasty face. dont raise your voice. you lose all credibility. unless its a huge crowd and you need to get attention, never yell.

3. never, never, never curse. its a teachers role. teachers cant curse. i dont care what people say about coaches elsewhere. you can be fired for it if parents complain.

4. get a roster. seperate academic level (seniors, juniors, sophomores, freshman) and gender. go from here. after the assessments have specific levels and then differentiate your groups based on ability. boys and girls mix. strip the weight for the monster chicks and keep them with the boys. the girls are motivated by that and they are great cheerleaders creating a group dynamic based on the whole group versus individuals. i saw a 160 pound female gymnast flat bb press 185 for 23 reps. our program and mentality owned that girl. she became a disciple.

5. you set leveled routines but they arent specialized. novices should not do 5 x 5 due to joint instability alone not to mention lack of power exertion under strict control. make sure the tiers are labeled and out in the open like on posters for all to see. its a visual motivator, it will work. to get moved from one level to another, gotta be this good. ALSO, HAVE A RECORD HOLDERS BOARD FOR LIFTS AND WEIGHT CLASSES! JUST DO IT! LEAVE IT OUT IN THE OPEN ALWAYS AND ALWAYS MAKE REFERENCE TO IT. short and long term girls have to be labeled.

6. make friendly or avoid them. just do what youre being paid to do and avoid the noise.

7. you will not need specialty gear. make it an all raw group. make that a mantra. have chalk. do alot of abs and ditch the belts too.

good luck. remember you are the coach, not a friend. be kind, understanding, give clear/concise directions via tons of examples by you, be very firm. thats all.

and the most important piece -
dont ever put your hands on a kid. after a huge victory in public a hug is obvious. outside of that, i would not make hand slaps a regular reward. verbal praise.

my wife is a teacher and administration certified. i hear about this shit all the time.

These are all great advices, you won't be needing much more Bblazer.

Regarding the gear I think you will be good with the APT stuff, Alan is a straight up guy, once my over $200 order got stolen and he reshipped without questions, sent me a magazine and a 15% discount for life ( too bad I can't use that PL bands kit, my squat racks all suck)