Hello CSCCa members, and welcome to Fall 2022! As you all are hitting your mid-semester stride, I trust things are going great for you all and your student-athletes are getting better every day! What a special time of year! What a great gift to have the opportunity to be such a positive influence on young people at this stage in their lives.
Before I get into this month’s message, I want to take the time to do a little housekeeping. First, be on the lookout for 2023 CSCCa National Conference registration on the CSCCa website. Take advantage of the early-bird rates before prices increase. This year’s conference will be in Orlando, Fla., at the Orange County Convention Center. This is NOT on Disney property (I have been asked several times). Last year’s conference was a huge success, and we hope to see you this year in Orlando!
Second, I hope you have enjoyed our partnership with Gatorade Performance and our “Profiles with the Masters” series that has been pushed out on social media. We are very proud of this series and want to thank Gatorade and Three Cycle Media as well as all the MSCC’s that participated in this initiative. Please be on the lookout for more videos to come. As always, we value your feedback on any of our initiatives and activities, as well as any suggestions on how we can better serve you, our valued members.
In this month’s message, I want to focus on how the CSCCa is here to support YOU. We were having a conversation in our weekly staff meeting the other day about a project we were working on. All of us had overlooked the simplest solution to the issue we were facing. After we all kind of chuckled and shook our heads, I said, “It is funny how we always overlook the obvious.” After that comment sunk in, it hit me in the back of my mind that I did not want you, our membership, to overlook what we as CSCCa leadership think is the obvious. It is important for you all to know what the CSCCa does and is doing to help promote our profession and our SCCC certification, the most robust strength and conditioning certification on the market today.
It is the mission of the CSCCa to support the strength and conditioning coach by maximizing their abilities, skills, and knowledge through education, certification, and development. This is the mission statement of the CSCCa. What a powerful statement that is! The CSCCa is dedicated to supporting you by providing all the professional tools you could ever need to be the best coach you could possibly be. As we look to take a new direction in our educational offerings, we will make sure we provide the most up to date and meaningful educational information on the market today. We are all aware of the challenges in the world of collegiate athletics today. We are committed to helping you address those needs with as much pertinent educational information as possible. Things are very different in today’s collegiate landscape. The physical preparedness of the students that arrive on campus for the very first time is vastly different than it used to be. It’s not better, it’s not worse, it’s just different. The competitive nature of ALL collegiate sports has changed. It is more competitive than ever, and the students feel more pressure than ever. Throw in the ever-snowballing growth of social media and its impact on the students and we have a brand-new frontier that we are all learning how to manage together.
When it comes to the SCCC certification, we stand firm on it being the Gold Standard. It is the most robust strength certification you can hold. Period. It is an easy sell to athletic directors and coaches when it comes to the merit of our certification and how our certification stands out above all. But let’s look at it from another perspective.
How does this certification enhance you as a professional? Don’t overlook the obvious, it’s education! It’s education two-fold. First, it is academia, scientific research, and proficiency at exercise technique. Academic preparedness to pass the written exam, scientific research to give you the platform from which to write a program to fulfill the needs of your athletes, and proficiency in teaching exercises so athletes can complete a workout safely. As a young coach, you have the “icing on the cake” of having a mentor guide you through all these aspects on your journey to certification. That is a solid stockpile of education and exposure as you prepare for certification. After achieving certification, the education keeps going.
Not only do we support you in pre-certification educational resources, but we also keep you up to date with our CEU program. We just completed a CEU cycle and have now begun a new three-year block. It is our goal to have more continuing education offerings in addition to what is offered at the national conference. As we work through significant changes to our organization internally, part of that process will be creating an outlet that can house many continuing education opportunities by supplying you with up-to-date ideas, concepts, and practical information in an easily accessible and palatable format.
The vision statement of the CSCCa says that we want to, “Develop elite strength and conditioning coaches who positively impact the organizations they serve.” Our certification process is a big part of that. What else can we do? We know that by coming to the national conference, you can be around elite professionals in the field of collegiate strength and conditioning. However, we want to do more! Our vision for enhancing that development is to create more opportunities for idea sharing, brainstorming, teaching, collaborating, and networking year-round. We are looking to embrace today’s technology to tighten the bond between all our members and enhance the field by creating more fluid communication opportunities for all our members.
Our purpose is to improve, serve and empower the strength and conditioning coach by standing on the core values of the CSCCa. Our core values are EPIC!
- Excellence – Excellence in every detail of every action. Being the best version of yourself.
- Professionalism – The GPS of conduct. Behaviors that flow out of a mindset and a way of thinking that represents you, and this organization in a manner that earns and gives respect.
- Innovation – Progressively moving into the future with a creative imagination.
- Character – Honest, Devoted, Courageous, Compassionate, and Loyal.
It has been said that to be successful, you need to show up, show up on time, and show up on time with your game face on. If we can follow that line of thinking, follow the vision, mission, and core values of our organization, I would dare say that we are well on our way to being successful in this field.