July 29th, 2021 | Josh Adelman
Soldiers to Sidelines recently completed its first Virtual Sports Performance Coaching Certification Seminar of 2021. The seminar was free for service members, veterans, and MilSpouses of every branch of military service. We had coaches of all experience levels joining in on the seminar and everyone had a great time and learned something new.
Gordin Palin, USAF and US Army veteran had this to say about his experience: “Soldiers to Sidelines puts on an incredible Sports Performance course. The network of coaches that are on the cutting edge of athletic performance who give back to this program makes it stand out above all other courses out there. I highly recommend any veterans with an itch for coaching attend.”
The Sports Performance Coaching Certification Seminar required a large commitment of time and effort. We met each weekday from July 12th to the 16th for two hours each evening. We gathered for an additional three hours on Saturday, July 17th, and had additional online coursework. Only the most dedicated and curious completed certification. Over 60 new coaches were certified, with less than 50% of those that registered ended up completing certification. But there are other opportunities to earn certification from STS in 2021 and beyond.
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 a Strength & Conditioning Specialist for KBR. 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 Martin Rooney, Founder of Training For Warriors. An internationally recognized trainer, speaker, author and pioneer of strength and conditioning, Martin holds a Master of Health Science and Bachelor of Physical Therapy from the Medical University of South Carolina. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Exercise Science from Furman University. Martin was a four-time All Conference, and four-time MVP performer in Track and Field at Furman and a member of the United States Bobsled team. Following his exposure to MMA in the mid 1990s, Martin began training with Renzo Gracie and started training fighters shortly afterward. Since the foundation of the TFW system, Martin has traveled around the world to train, compete, and conduct seminars and help prepare world class athletes and coaches. Martin has been the martial arts consultant to the NY Giants and the NY Jets and a coach on the IFL World Team Champion New York Pitbulls. Martin is currently a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu under UFC fighter Ricardo Almeida and a black belt in Kodokan Judo under Olympian Teimoc Johnston-Ono.
Aubrey Lancaster, USAF veteran summed up her experiences in the seminar with this: “I’ve taken some other coaching courses before, but none have compared to how well-communicated this content was. The speakers elevated the initial content and made me feel way better about the type of coach I can be and what tools are out there to help grow.”
Recent Comments