Ryan Metzger

I think it's safe to say strength coaches love the weight room. It's where we coach, where we develop physical qualities and build relationships. It's also where we can control exercise selection, loading, volume and progression. It's easy to get excited when numbers go up. A bigger squat, a higher jump, a faster sprint, those improvements matter. But none of them are the reasons we get to coach our athletes. The baseball player is here to play baseball. The volleyball player was...

Strength and conditioning can be a busy profession. Early mornings, coordinating with sports medicine, attending practice, staff meetings, programming for your teams, testing analysis, monitoring, emails to read and send, pre-game prep, post-game work, travel etc… the list can seem endless. Somewhere between all of that, you’re supposed to find the time to actually coach. Days will be long and that’s part of working in athletics. We all know this, but I’ve learned there is an important...

Early in my career, I thought being a good coach meant always having the answer. As a graduate assistant, I put a lot of pressure on myself to be perfect. Don't mess up. Don't miss any details. Know the answer before someone asks. Think three steps ahead. If something went wrong, I felt like I should have seen it coming, or that if I were better, nothing would’ve happened. I took it all very personally. Don’t get me wrong, some of that pressure was useful. It taught me to prepare. It...