Total Hours for Week 5: 5
Since this was the week of the fourth of July there were not many coaches at the office. Coach Ison wanted me to use this time to do a complete cleaning of the weight room since there were not many people using it. If I had any extra time Coach Ison wanted me to do some research on drills for camps that were scheduled for later in July.
I only worked on Monday and Tuesday of this week because I was going home to Virginia to spend the fourth of July with my family. After Coach Ison and I went over my tasks for the week for about 30 minutes, I spent 2.5 hours cleaning the weight room on Monday. I put all the weights on the racks and ensured everything looked organized. I wiped down all the benches with cleaning solution and a towel. After I got all the equipment cleaned, I swept the floors. On Tuesday, I spent 2 hours looking up drills for the upcoming camps.
Total Hours for Week 4: 10
This week was a lot like last week. The one big difference was that Coach Ison wanted me to talk to the athletes to see how they were doing with their summer workouts. I called the out-of-town athletes to check to see how they were doing and answered any questions. Some of the athletes were having issues with sticking to the workout plan or nutrition plan. I reminded the athletes that if they stuck to the workout and nutrition plan in the manual, camp would be easier in August.
This week I focused on the new athletes who were coming to Tiffin to work out during the summer. I tried to introduce them to some of the other athletes so they could start coming with the current football players and start building relationships with them. I encouraged the current players to be leaders to the new athletes. Leadership is an important part of a team and I wanted the current players to step up to challenge of being leaders on the team. I took about 30 minutes on Friday to do a quick cleaning of the weight room since Coach Ison wanted me to do a complete cleaning next week.
The organizational culture that exists with the Tiffin University football team is a compete culture (Cameron, Quinn, DeGraff, & Thakor, 2003). This type of organizational culture is results-driven, competitive, and goal-oriented. The head football coach is the leader of the team and he works with the Athletic Department and the Athletic Director. The head coach trusts the strength and conditioning coach to implement a program that makes the athletes successful on the field. If the head coach wants the strength and conditioning coach to work on a certain area for improvement, he will speak to the strength coach about what he wants to be accomplished. The strength coach will then plan and implement a program to reach that goal. The strength coach will communicate his plan to me as his intern and I will help him follow through with the plan. If the strength program is doing something the head coach does not think is accomplishing the goal he gave the strength coach, he will speak to the strength coach in order to fix whatever issues the head coach has with the program. Ultimately, the head coach is the leader of the team and all the staff under him is working towards the goals of the head coach.
Cameron, K. S., Quinn, R. E., DeGraff, J., and Thakor, A. J. (2003) Competing Values Framework. Retrieved from: http://competingvalues.com/competingvalues.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/Competing-Values-Leadership-Excerpt.pdf
Total Hours for Week 3: 10
This week Coach Ison wanted to do some research for conditioning workout ideas for during the football season. The athletes would be doing a heavy conditioning workout on Mondays during the season so Coach Ison wanted to see if there were any new ideas on the Internet for these workouts. The Mondays during the season would be after a game on Saturday and a day of rest on Sunday. Coach Ison wanted to make sure these workouts would not become too boring since athletes often dread these workouts.
Coach Ison wanted me to review some online videos to see examples of drills and exercises. He said that there usually were videos online demonstrating exercises and drills that discussed the benefits of the exercise. I reviewed a lot of videos just trying to see what was out there online. There were some that were very useful and others that were not as descriptive of the exercise.
I worked with some athletes in the weight room helping them lift and demonstrating the exercises. I ensured that the weights were back on their racks. I spent 2 hours on Friday cleaning and wiping down the equipment.
Total Hours for Week 2: 10
This week Coach Ison and I gave out the summer workout manuals to the athletes. Some of the athletes were staying in Tiffin during the summer and some were not so we had to make sure they all had their manuals so they could try and keep in shape during the summer. Coach Ison would discuss the importance of staying in shape with the athletes because if they stayed in shape during the summer, it would be easier for them to go through the team camp in August. We answered any questions the athletes had about the manual.
Coach Ison wanted me to clean the weight room at least once a week to ensure that the equipment was sanitized and the weight room stayed in order. He discussed the importance of safety not only with the layout of the weight room equipment but also the germs that could remain on the equipment after an athlete finished using it. The athletes were instructed to clean the equipment after they used it but there were other people who used the weight room so the weight room still needed to be cleaned and sanitized once a week.
A lot of the athletes would come in pairs or groups to work out so that each athlete had a lifting partner but some could not come with another athlete so I would assist them with their lifts. I would also demonstrate proper technique of the lifts and workouts to the athletes. Coach Ison wanted me to do this to ensure the athletes were doing the exercises appropriately and not putting their bodies at risk for injury. He also wanted me to do this in order to develop my skill of instruction of exercises.
Total Hours for Week 1: 18
The sport mentorship/internship (course number SRM 670) that I have to complete for my Master of Business Administration degree with a concentration of Sports Management will be done with Coach Josh Ison. Coach Ison is the Head Strength Coach for the Tiffin University football team and is responsible for developing and implementing strength and conditioning workouts for football athletes.
The location for my mentorship will be at Tiffin University. My role during the mentorship will be Coach Ison’s strength and conditioning assistant and will help Coach Ison with strength and conditioning duties during camps and practices during the football season. The tasks that I will do during my mentorship will include:
-Assisting with planning strength workouts.
-Showing proper technique for drills and exercises.
-Assisting the players with the exercises and spotting with the lifts.
-Putting the weights back and cleaning up weight room after workouts.
-Setting up drills to run in camps and practices.
-Conducting research on drills, exercises, and nutrition ideas for a strength and conditioning manual.
-Assisting with putting together the strength and conditioning manual for the players.
The first week of my mentorship I sat down with Coach Ison so we could go over the tasks that he needed me to do for my mentorship. Before I started my hours, Coach Ison wanted to make sure that I knew the proper way to do the exercises that the athletes would be doing throughout the summer and during the season. So, he went through a demonstration of the types of exercises he would be putting in the workouts for the athletes. He demonstrated the exercise himself, made me try the exercise, and then he would correct my form in the exercise to ensure that I was doing it correctly. He wanted me to review some videos online to see how other coaches would demonstrate and explain the exercise. This week we put together a summer workout manual to give to the athletes.
