Why I chose strength and conditioning: an intern's perspective

As the newest intern at The Spot for the fall, it's a pleasure to say I am lucky enough to be in this position. My name is Bryce, and I am just finishing my second week of shadowing, learning, and best of all cleaning. My path to being here has been full of uncertainty about my future. In less than two years, I will be graduating from The Ohio State University with a degree in exercise science and about a million choices to make. Most students in my major will go the physical therapy route. After all, there is good money in it and the profession is on the rise. What's not to love? Well in theory it sounds great; working with injured athletes to recover and get back to training for their sport. Then you realize it's 90% old people complaining the whole time because honestly they don't care if they get better or not.

I realized quickly that whatever career I choose, I am going to have to look forward to getting out of bed everyday and going to work. I can't do cubicles or sitting behind a desk for the rest of my life. Luckily for me, the one thing I truly love to do is to train and be in the gym. So it occurred to me, why not combine something that can be an obligation (work) with something that I love (the gym)? Now there is all sorts of things you can do to be involved in a gym setting from personal training to supervising the facility to being a janitor. However, the only one that sounded appealing to me was training, but I have always told myself that I never want to end up as a personal trainer. You know, the old and out of shape guy at most gyms that always seems to spout nonsense like he knows everything because he has a certification. In all honesty, that has been the extent of my experience with personal trainers since I had always trained at commercial gyms and rec centers. I truly just needed more.

Strength and Conditioning seemed like the perfect middle ground for me. I would get to train athletes and program their training, but it would give me more than your typical gym employee. I feel that being an intern at The Spot is one of the best opportunities that I could ever have to prepare myself to be a strength and conditioning coach. The chance to learn under some of the best coaches around is one that not too many people get, so I'm going to definitely make the most of it. I have no doubts in my mind that after my internship here I will be well on my way to succeeding as a coach wherever it may take me.