As the host of 65 episodes of the elitefts Sports Performance Podcast—recorded during his time as elitefts Director of Education—Mark Watts has a lot of experience with podcasts. He has hosted many of strength and conditioning's best and brightest, including coaches such as Joe Kenn, Martin Rooney, Cal Dietz, Buddy Morris, and many others. Now Watts is on the opposite side of the microphone, as a guest on the Pacey Performance Podcast.
The Pacey Performance Podcast, hosted by Rob of Strength of Science, aims to make "the world's best coaches and sports scientists" available to listeners. In this episode, Podcast #114, Rob speaks with Mark Watts and Aiden Oakley. For those unfamiliar with Watts, check out his author page here on elitefts.com. In short, Watts has worked with college athletes in over 20 different sports at the Division I, II and III levels for over 15 years as a strength and conditioning and/or football coach at institutions such as Denison University, The United States Military Academy at West Point, Allegheny College and Clarion University. Additionally, Oakley is currently a strength and conditioning coach at Aspire Academy in Qatar with extensive experience and expertise in rugby. He has worked in a number of countries and has held a variety of positions in rugby league.
In this podcast, Watts and Oakley each share their backgrounds in strength and conditioning, including positions they have held and teams they have worked with. They also discuss how much the strength and conditioning industry has evolved over time and explain what information can be gained from the "state of the industry" survey. They also dissect many current issues facing practitioners today and debate the responsibilities of formal organizations such as the UKSCA, ASCA, and NSCA.
LISTEN
By the minute:
- (1:15) Introduction of podcast topics
- (1:50) Aiden Oakley's background
- (5:44) Mark Watts' reaction to Oakley's article
- (7:02) Watts' background
- (10:20) The problem of strength and conditioning in one sentence — a lack of objective quantifiability
- (12:20) Process-base profession in outcome-based system
- (16:40) The youth of the strength and conditioning profession
- (19:50) Responsibilities of UKSCA, ASCA, and NSCA
- (29:15) Who should help young coaches struggling to make it in the industry?
- (33:17) Unpaid internships: if you don't have the money, you shouldn't have the staff.
- (41:30) Accreditation and hiring protocols
- (45:30) What happens when a sport coach leaves and you're back on the job search?
- (49:34) What can coaches do to help themselves and the profession?
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