Coach Hess on Staying in Contact with other Schools to Combat COVID-19
The pandemic of COVID-19 something we've never seen and sadly, we aren't sure how to tackle it or know how long it's gonna last. Coaches are having to invent new ways to deal with a situation they never prepared for.
During a time like this, community is important. We could all use a helping hand in making sure we come out on the other side of this pandemic safe and in one piece. While google can generally give you answers, Coach Brian Hess recognizes the help he needs in something all coaches of strength and conditioning are facing, "How in the the world do I train 100+ kids at once?! Better yet, how do I give team atmosphere virtually?!" During his presser, Hess described his experience in calling coaches and implementing team workouts,
"I've been calling a lot of the coaches that I've worked with in the past and definitely, ‘What are you guys doing? What do you think of this?’ And throwing ideas around. I said earlier that one of my first stops was Harvard and I was the low man on the totem pole, so I had a lot of the unique teams. And with that, a lot of those athletes would do some unique internships in some remote areas being at Harvard."
“And so our take home programs over the summer were always, you had to include a body weight section of it, or a makeshift workout. So I had that background in immediately just went to some of the things that I had done there and I picked goals that I wanted to achieve during this time at home and then worked around that as far as exercise selection. And I knew the situation they would be in and what they had access to. So it wasn't too hard as far as shaping that. The template that they're looking at at home is the same template they have here for individualized cards. And we just rolled out a program that my staff and I thought would fit the needs of the goal.”
While all workouts are voluntary, there hasn't been one athlete yet that hasn't taken advantage of the virtual workouts. Staying in shape is crucial for any athlete. These weeks at home will shed light on those who were disciplined and dedicated to the saying, "If you stay ready, you don't have to get ready."
