SPIRE’s Performance Director talks about his love of sports, the outdoors, and much more.

What is your role at SPIRE?

I am responsible for the physical development (strength and conditioning) programs for all of our academy athletes at SPIRE. This includes their strength, speed, agility, stamina, and recovery/mobility based training. We utilize our performance testing (athletic metrics) and FMS screening results (movement quality/analysis) to help us drive our programming for each individual athlete and team. This information, along with constant communication with sporting directors, helps us build programs that will have our athletes see continued progress throughout their time training with us at SPIRE.

Along with the SPIRE Academy athletes I am also responsible for helping develop and coach our Sport Performance staff in delivering our programs for local youth, high school, collegiate and elite athletes. We offer these programs throughout the entire year in small group and team based sessions along with testing and combines to identify and track progress.

Please share some of your earliest memories of sports.

I played soccer for Cleveland State University and have been a multi-sport athlete for must of my life being a 4 sport varsity athlete in high school (soccer, basketball, baseball and track). Most of my earliest memories were playing at my neighbors house where we would have local kids from the town show up and play for hours on end. This would include baseball, football, basketball or any random game we’d come up with. Feel this is something that helped me have such an appreciation for different sports and helps me be a better sports performance coach since I am able to understand the physical needs of a large number of sports.

What’s the most interesting thing we can give to our student athletes to prepare them for their college sport?

I feel that one of the ways we can prepare our student athletes for their sport and college life is to expose them to a similar structure and culture that we try to instill at SPIRE. We offer academic counseling, sport specific training, strength and conditioning, mental skills training and personal development. Each athlete may have one of the above areas as a strength or weakness and that is why I feel SPIRE can have such an impact on so many student-athletes because it is more multi-faceted than just sport or physical development. If our athletes have the correct attitude, concentration and effort in each area they will be able to achieve their goals during their time at SPIRE.

What does it take to succeed in a sport?

As a sports performance or strength and conditioning professional one of the most critical attributes is flexibility and adaptability. Sports performance is vitally important to each athletes ability to play at the next level but it is not however their main sport and sometimes practices run long, games show up, an injury occurs that could throw a wrench into the training plan. Couple that with athletes that are tired, fatigued and may not be motivated or enjoy weightlifting or performance training, it can create difficulties that coaches need to manage. This is something that really isn’t developed in your degree or education but from experience in the field working with a number or different athletes, teams and coaching staff.

Any reflections on the college experience of today’s athletes?

Every sport continues to be played at a faster, more physical and higher level. Couple that with a lot of sports specializing earlier and earlier it puts a premium on athletes still being able to develop their physical capabilities. This early specialization is also leading to an increase in over use injuries and more traumatic injuries at an earlier age so it is important that their physical development grows to not only increase playing ability but decrease injury risk.

What’s your favorite thing about coaching?

As a sports performance coach I am fortunate that my successes don’t have to be always measured by wins and losses but can be individual achievements. I enjoy hearing an athlete get really excited when they come tell me they were able to consistently dunk for the first time. Another could be an athlete coming back from an injury or surgery who was able to hit a PR in their competition jump or event. These are the things that help motivate me to work as hard as I can to help each athlete achieve their physical development goals. In my department the best and worst athlete on the team can still see substantial developments and that is one aspect of my job I enjoy. It doesn’t matter the skill level or abilities when you entered my gym when you started at SPIRE, but what is it when you leave.

As performance Director, what are you most proud of?

Like the previous question I am most proud of when my athletes begin to start achieving their goals. Some can be small goals like progressing back from an injury to an athlete winning a gold medal (which was fun to personally watch a friend achieve!). Each goal is meaningful to the athlete and those are things that make me happy that our staff was able to have an impact on them. My area is tough in terms of it is not their sport and most of our training isn’t fun so it is really enjoyable to see the athletes put in the work to achieve their goals.

What’s an excellent piece of advice you’ve been given?

Absorb, Modify, and Apply.

Joe Kenn is a former strength coach at the collegiate and NFL level and uses this phrase in reference to sports performance programming but I feel this works in so many different areas. The ability to absorb information, education and modify it to your situation and apply it is really where growth and development come from. I use this for helping our interns understand the training we do here at SPIRE may be different than groups you lead outside of SPIRE. If they have different athletic populations, facilities and equipment, time/days they may have to make some changes but there is still an ability to use what you learned and modify and apply it to your new situation.

What’s your favorite part about your job?

Seeing growth and development of our student athletes.

What is your favorite sport?

Soccer

What is your favorite home-cooked meal?

Fish Tacos (Walleye)

What is always stocked in your fridge?

Cheese

What movie have you watched again and again?

The Nightmare Before Christmas

Where is your favorite place to travel and why?

My Grandparents who passed away have a cottage at a lake about 2 hours south of here near where I grew up. My family and friends of the neighboring houses would spend a lot of time in the summer there and it is where I have a lot of my best childhood memories. We still go back a couple times a year and it is a great place to get away to a sort of step back and get back in touch with family, friends and the outdoors.

What is a fun fact we may not know about you?

I have three siblings all born on the same day….none of them are twins though. July 17th with them being 5 years apart. I am the second oldest being born in between them.

What is a cause you support and why?

I enjoy fishing and since moving up to the Geneva area have been on lake Erie and the surrounding rivers and streams more. It has been exciting seeing how the work from the EPA and the Ohio Division of Wildlife have helped create a cleaner environment and fishery through their efforts and programs. It has not only been beneficial environmentally but also economically to the region as the fishery has came back or gone beyond levels where it previously was.

What did you want to be when you grew up?

A professional athlete of some sort. That sport changed throughout my development but I feel I’ve landed a pretty good compromise with a profession that gives me great satisfaction at the end of a long day.