College summer leagues will be starting up at the beginning of June, which means a variety of personalities, including the coaches, will mesh together over the course of 2-3 months.
Depending on how productive an athlete’s school season was, will often determine what their primary goals will be for the upcoming summer season. As a strength coach, you must be familiar with how to train these types of players and be able to communicate effectively to make sure they understand that it’s about THEM and NOT about YOU.
Summer Coach + S&C = Mutual Respect
We realize that some of the players will want to limit how much training they do during the summer season, especially if they’re a position player and playing everyday, but it’s important for the coaches to communicate with the strength coach and it’s important for the strength coach to communicate with summer coach and even their college coach!
Here are a few things you can do to develop a great relationship with summer college coaches!
1. Email, Call the Coach or Have an open door policy
A simple email or phone call will go a long way. If there are any restrictions or elements of training the athlete was working on at school, it should be integrated into the current training program. Get on the same page.
We also have an open door policy in which coaches can come and watch our training sessions to see what we do, how we cue our athletes so they understand the format, warm-ups, movements and recovery!
2. Invite the Coach to the Facility
As mentioned above, we have an open door policy, but it’s also great to personally invite the coach to the facility to check out the operations and see how a program is implemented. If they don’t come to you, go to them!
3. Discuss Programming
Show how you program for the athlete. You may have a different progression based on pitching rotation or days the athlete may be throwing. An open line of communication is important so you can adjust as needed and let the coach know you can adapt to their schedule.
Program Design
When designing summer programs for college athletes, there needs to be adaptability built in each day. How the player feels, their goals, their playing schedule and their personalities will change day to day, so you need to be ready to adjust on the fly.
Body language can play a big role in how you train an athlete, so get your head out of your butt and pay attention to the details of your client. Here’s a breakdown of how we may program for the summer athlete.
Position Players
- Assessment
- Soft Tissue Series
- Warm-Up + Movement Prep
- Lower Body Push/Pull (based on assessment and needs)
- Upper Body Push/Pull (based on assessment and needs)
- Auxiliary Lift (based on assessment and needs)
- Carry Variation
- Recovery
Starting Pitchers
- Assessment
- Soft Tissue Series
- Warm-Up + Movement Prep
- Working back from the potential start date is how we create an effective training program for summer starting pitchers
- Lower Body Push/Pull (based on assessment, needs and day of the week)
- Upper Body Push/Pull (based on assessment, needs and day of the week))
- Auxiliary Lift (based on assessment and needs)
- Carry Variation
- Recovery
Relievers & Closers
- Assessment
- Soft Tissue Series
- Warm-Up + Movement Prep
- Understanding that this player may pitch multiple times in a week, we need to program based on how they feel each day. No set, strict program but a fluctuating schedule in which we can choose heavy loads vs light loads vs movement days vs recovery days.
- Lower Body Push/Pull (based on assessment and needs)
- Upper Body Push/Pull (based on assessment and needs)
- Auxiliary Lift (based on assessment and needs)
- Carry Variation
- Recovery
Thanks for reading and you can always email me at austin@wassermanstrength.com or follow me on social media!
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