Coach’s Prep Course Holds Standard

Since our opening, a handful of weeks ago, we’ve had probably a baker’s dozen trainers and fitness professionals inquire about coaching here. Whether it be about coach classes or just to use the space for private training, there’s been a steady stream of interest and I don’t foresee this going away.

I figured you’d all like to know, in a very transparent way, what our policy is for such matters around here. You see, there’s a million different ways to skin a cat and we skin our cats one very specific kind of way. The community comes first. Period.

We don’t follow a “coach for hire” type of model. Private training that takes place at DEUCE only with staff trainers and coaches and those who are enrolled in our Coach’s Prep course.

Oh, you haven’t heard of this class?

Well, given that we’re a house of learning, all prospective coaches are enrolled in a course to train them to ‘Hold the Standard.’ The group is growing, but for some months now (even before we opened) Dana, Emily, and Andrew have been working hard at becoming coaches. Student coaches move at their own pace but the course is rigorous. There’s homework, each student has a mentor, and we meet each week for class at 6:30PM on Friday nights.

The closest to moving forward in the Coach’s Prep course is none other than Emily Russak. Take a sneak peak at what she had to tangle with this last Friday.

Coach’s Prep class was proceeding as normal as our student coaches were at the whiteboard drawing basic biomechanical examples of flexion and extension, when up walked Desmond. I (secretly) invited Desmond to come by class as a volunteer. I had never met Desmound, and Desmound had never met a barbell.

Eyes in the room looked confused, until I said, “Hey, everyone. This is Desmound. Desmound you’ve never lifted a barbell have you? Great! Well, we are all in luck because Desmond wants to learn how to clean a barbell, and Emily here knows how to teach the clean.”

Jaws dropped.

Half a dozen ‘Coach’s Evaluation’ clipboards circled the room, and Emily had 18 minutes to teach Desmound his way around a barbell for the first time.

You see, not only are you all learning as students, but us coaches (and coaches-t0-be) are learning, as well. In order to have those big gold letters, ‘Hold the Standard,’ on the wall, we have to constantly question and evolve.

By the way, Emily crushed it.

 

Logan Gelbrich