December 22nd, 2020 | Josh Adelman
As the majority of the country finished celebrating Thanksgiving with family and friends, for the first time virtually, Soldiers to Sidelines completed its Virtual Sports Performance Coaching Certification Seminar. The seminar was free for service members and veterans of every branch of military service. It did not matter your current expertise or knowledge of sports performance; everyone had a great time and learned something new.
Merle McLain a 30 year US Army Veteran who coached college women’s basketball and high school men’s basketball decided to attend the sports performance coaching seminar after achieving a Soldiers to Sidelines Basketball Coaching Certification. He aimed to take his coaching craft to the next level. He comments about his experience; “Soldiers to Sidelines Sports Performance Seminar was very well done with a tremendous amount of practical information delivered in an excellent manner. The information and acquired skills learned in this seminar will greatly help me be a better coach both in the sports arena and in life. This seminar was a terrific use of my time and I highly recommend it to all Service members and Veterans to assist them to better help their athletes regardless of sport.”
The Soldiers to Sidelines Virtual Coaching Certification Seminar required significant time and effort. We met each weekday from November 30th to December 4th for two hours each evening. We gathered for an additional three hours on Saturday, December 5th, and required additional online coursework. Only the most dedicated and curious completed certification. Thirty-eight of the 170 registrants decided to show up and accept the challenge. Of those thirty-eight, only 30 were able to complete the certification. Life can happen fast, and for the eight that could not complete the course this time around, Soldiers to Sidelines has plenty of opportunities in 2021 to join the tribe again and earn certification.
Soldier Coaches learning in the virtual classroom during the Sports Performance Certification Seminar.
The sports performance content was orchestrated by some of the most well-respected coaches in the field. Johannah Zabal MS CSCS, Soldiers to Sidelines Director of Sports Performance, was the head coach of the event. She has decades of experience coaching collegiate volleyball, collegiate strength and conditioning, football combine prep, and she is currently the laboratory coordinator for the Metabolic and Exercise Testing Lab at George Washington University. Soldiers to Sidelines Founder and Executive Director, Harrison Bernstein CSCS, assisted Coach Jo in this effort. Harrison has decades of experience in strength and conditioning at the NFL, Div1, Div2, and High School Levels.
This class of Soldier Coaches had the opportunity to spend time with our keynote guest Jesse Ackerman, Head Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Atlanta Falcons. Before working with the Falcons Jesse was the Assistant Director of Strength and Conditioning at the University of Florida and served as Strength Coach for the 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment. His inspirational message will resonate for years to come and we cannot thank him enough.
Adding to the amazing content provided by Johannah, Harrison, and Jesse was a select cast of special experts. Stephanie Mull a registered dietician, sports nutritionist, and adjunct faculty at American University delivered a practical engaging presentation on how best to fuel our athletes and ourselves for optimal performance. Dr. Allison Brager Maj. US Army is a neuroscientist, elite CrossFit athlete, and author of Meathead; Unravelling the Athletic Brain enthralled the class with best practices and strategies to improve recovery and performance through rest and sleep. To cap the event, we heard the true-life story of a veteran turned strength coach, Nate Palin. Nate is currently the Director of Education for FitOps, a community of veterans, active-duty military, and civilians that have come together to create new opportunities by helping our community rediscover a renewed sense of purpose through the power of fitness, health, service, and community. Before FitOps Coach Palin served as a leader in the 2nd Ranger Battalion for seven years and eventually earned the position as the Tactical Strength and Conditioning Program Manager for the NSCA. He proves to be a living example of how veterans can become great coaches in sports performance.
Lisa Wynn of the Army National Guard and Girls Hockey Coach near Cleveland, Ohio summed up the seminar experience best when she said, “The Soldiers to Sidelines Sports Performance seminar was the perfect blend of information on every-day coaching tactics with sports performance information. I would have easily paid hundreds to thousands of dollars to attend an event like this. To have the chance to learn from experts for free? An amazing opportunity. Kudos to everyone at STS for putting together this program to help current service members and veterans take the next steps in their coaching careers.”
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