Personally, I was never a sports fan in general. That’s right, I said it! You’ve been reading sports articles written by a fraud!
BUT, I have grown to appreciate the passion and dedication I’ve seen throughout the years. I never thought I would be playing any collegiate sports, especially golf, or enjoying an hour of a football or basketball game every once in a while. I did enjoy baseball at one time: going to the stadium, eating hotdogs and yelling, “Charge!” But this was different; I actually participated, and being not as athletic as most, it was hard to be motivated sometimes.
Although motivation is mostly in your control, there are still those special people behind the scenes that help keep you focused and improve or maintain your physical (and mental) skill set. I happened to have interviewed one, and he works right here at Wesleyan.
He has been a major help to me as an individual. He helped me with this article, and is also helping me on another one even though the man has a hectic work load. He conditions all the sports teams at Wesleyan. So please, put your hands together for Coach Jett!
HC: What is your Job title and description; how long have you been doing it?
Coach Jett: My job title is Director of Strength and Conditioning. I have been here since August 1.
HC: Where did you attend college? What degrees have you received? Did you play any sports?
Coach Jett: I attended the University of Pennsylvania for my Bachelor’s, where I played football and wrestled. For my Master’s, I attended Indiana State University.
HC: How do you tailor each condition plan to each athlete? Do you take gender into account?
Coach Jett: First, I perform a needs-based analysis on each sport to determine what they require to grow. From there, I will build a program to fit these needs. When it comes to each athlete, I allow them to push themselves to establish where they are, and then I offer recommendations based on that. I will also inquire about injury history to see if there is anything I can do to help prevent further injury. When it comes to gender, at the current moment, I don’t train them much differently. When working with trainees who have only a short time of training seriously under their belt, there is not much need for differentiation. As they grow in training, a differentiation can start to come into play.
HC: Which traits do you find important (or admire) in a student athlete? Do you think your program is successful in building these traits?
Coach Jett: One of the traits I require of my athletes is hard work. To build this, I ask every athlete to beat themselves each week in some way to force them to grow beyond their limits. Whether it is adding five pounds to their last set or their third set, they must push themselves.
HC: What is your motto? Why did you choose it, and what does it mean to you?
Coach Jett: My motto is something I actually have the athletes repeat as a self-affirmation, and it goes: “Every day, in every way, I am becoming a better student, athlete and person.” I had a coach when I was in high school who had us say this after every lift.
HC: Do you think that you have grown from training student athletes?
Coach Jett: I have grown from training people because I have learned to be more and more patient as well as how to teach a variety of athletes, many of whom learn differently.
HC: How long do you spend, roughly, developing and researching different exercises for each sport? Please explain briefly each individual sport and your main focus for them.
Coach Jett: Initially, I spend about four to five hours researching each sport and coming up with the needs-based analysis and an initial program to address those needs. From there, I attempt to develop a yearly plan that takes into account various parts of the year, from off-season to preseason to in-season. This takes another five to six hours at least. Unfortunately, with 19 sports, I cannot always develop the yearly plan right off, and I am resorted to doing a month at a time, which takes about one to two hours.
As far as individual sports, it would take too much time to go into detail for each one, so instead I will talk about two: swimming and golf. With swimming, a large issue is injury-prevention within the shoulder, so I create a program that involves a lot of shoulder mobility work, and then take into account secondary issues, like core stability, weaknesses within the hamstrings and glutes, and address those as well. For golf, I have to address coordination, so I attempt to do exercises that require a lot of coordination, as well as simple general strength, as many golfers have never before lifted.
HC: How long do you spend exercising daily with the student athletes?
Coach Jett: If I am lucky, I will work out with the athletes for an hour a day. I have to spend most days coaching athletes through mistakes, so it does not always happen.
HC: Do you have any tips for girls (or guys) that want to exercise and train, but do not have you or another trainer to keep them motivated?
Coach Jett: If you do not want to go the route of a personal trainer, I recommend getting training partners. They can help push you and keep you accountable.
And there you have it, folks! An admirable man who knows what he is talking about (refer to question two if you don’t believe me). If you are thinking of doing a sport or just wanting to exercise a little but lack the motivation to do so, get a friend to feel the burn with! But remember guys, you have to want it. Push yourself, find ways to spice it up, and just have fun!
Happy motivating!