In Spring of 2019, I was just like you. I was young and eager to coach athletes, but I didn’t know
where to start with my desire to become a Strength and Conditioning Coach. My life would
change forever when I transferred my credits from Raritan Valley Community College to Temple
University and met my program director, Dr. Anthony Sgherza. Through our first meeting
together, he was pivotal in guiding me in a positive direction on how to reach my goals and in
selecting the best internship sites possible. In this post, I will break down important lessons and
steps for you all to consider when you go through the process of selecting your internship site,
and how to succeed as an Intern
.
Don’t Chase Logos Chase Learning
Dr. Sgherza showed me some opportunities, but the one that stood out the most at that time was
the opportunity to intern in my home state of New Jersey at Reach Your Potential Training
(RYPT) with Coach Bobby Smith, Jake Ruch and Pat Livsey Jr. For my application, I not only
had to submit a cover letter and resume, but also a video of myself coaching an athlete through a
movement in the weight room. This application process confirmed that I would be coaching and
gaining practical experience. At other internship sites that had the flashy logo, they did not have
applicants submit a video of themselves coaching another athlete and explicitly stated in the first
few points that the applicant would be setting up/breaking down sessions. Avoid those internship
sites at all costs; they will not develop you into a coach and will only slow your development
down.
Getting Hands-on Coaching Experience
Next, Coach Bobby and I set up an on-site interview at RYPT. During the interview, Coach
Bobby had me shadow all the sessions from 4:00-8:00 pm and during that time, I was given a
little glimpse into what my experience would be like there. I helped set up the session, I sat
through the meeting before the sessions started to review all the programs for the day, and then I
was asked to provide exercise demonstrations during my interview. During the interview, you
need to be observant and ask the Internship site direct questions on if you will be expected to
coach and what their curriculum looks like. Down below in Figure 1, you will see a table of
green vs. red flags of internship sites for yourself. When you all determine your internship site,
you need to review these key points below because they will truly determine if the experience
will help you get to where you need to go.
Failing Forward Why Mistakes Accelerate your Growth
People often fear the moments of rejection and failure, and in human nature, it is natural for us
not to want to face that. However, I can tell you that without the numerous times I was given to
fail at this internship, I wouldn’t have become the practitioner I am today, without these
experiences listed below.
❌ Failures in inconsistent coaching deliveries
❌ Messing up program designs
❌ Demonstrating the exercise entirely wrong
I have made all these mistakes listed, and at the time, I felt embarrassed and beat myself up for
committing these mistakes. However, I’m here to tell you that these mistakes are inevitable to
happen if you’ve never coached before and are brand new. All the coaches at RYPT guided me
through those mistakes listed below by helping me with:
✅ Communication Skills in leading groups to clear up coaching delivery
✅ Learning how to program for the overall population you have in the team sport setting
✅ Preparing for the little details so that demonstrations are performed correctly
The Most Underrated Tool in Coaching Development
Reflection is a powerful tool that is not utilized enough in the field of strength and conditioning
professionals. It can be as simple as thinking about the moments that transpired during a session
and writing down certain details you may have liked or didn’t at the time. And then, you decide
what you want to do the next time to either repeat what you’ve done or change for the better.
Sometimes, we as practitioners have blind spots and it’s important to seek feedback from your
mentors on how to improve. At the end of the RYPT internship, we went over my SWOT
analysis (Figure 2) and the feedback I was given was invaluable. Find a mentor that will be
honest and transparent so that you are going in the right direction and avoid making the same
mistakes twice. Your first internship won’t make you; it will refine you.
Why Volume of Coaching Reps Matters
Knowing my end goal of becoming a strength and conditioning coach and having the ability to
coach anywhere I wanted, I knew I needed to continue coaching to get better. So, after RYPT,
even as a full-time student enrolled at Temple University, I made it an obligation to myself to
make time to volunteer/intern for the rest of my college tenure. I completed about 15-20 hours
per week interning for the Olympic Sports Strength and Conditioning staff in Fall of 2019.
To break it down further, this was committing about 3-5 hours per day. Figure 3 is an example of
how I found pockets of time to coach and complete my coursework. Looking at this breakdown,
with the right discipline, this can be done and this time given can go a long way with not only
helping the staff out but also being intentional with creating learning opportunities for yourself.
Stay tuned for part 2 of this blog series. If you need help preparing for an internship or a GA interview, reach out to me through my email at mike@coachmbbrown.com or my Instagram @coachmbbrown. Thanks for reading, everyone!
