NSCA’s Coaching Podcast, Episode 67: Andrea Hudy

Andrea Hudy, now the Head Men’s Basketball Strength and Conditioning Coach for the University of Texas, talks to the former NSCA Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Scott Caulfield, about how she got into strength and conditioning. Topics under discussion include the collaborative efforts of the sports medicine team and doctors during her time at the University of Kansas, how she was hired, writing her book and continuing her education, and the value of hosting clinics.

Find Andrea on Twitter: @A_Hudy

“We have to show results. We have to prove what we’re doing to people around us and doing it in the most professional way so people have buy-in.” 7:45

“You have to be able to stand up in every room that you’re in, convey a message, sell what you’re doing, but also be a great resource for those people, too.” 13:20

“So we teach. We teach movement, and we do it in a positive manner, where people enjoy it, and they get better. Again, its results, because I don’t want to waste anybody’s time. Time is precious, and time is value.” 14:45

“Those are the coaches that I want, the people that have this solid group of, or a solid base of, working with anyone.” 19:00

“Well, the grind is standing in front of 100 people, and you’re the only person leading the group, and you’ve got nobody helping you. And you need to figure out how to get these 100 people on the same page.” 19:58

“No, it’s not going to be that bad, but you feel bad about it. And then you just get better, but that’s where failure—turn it into a success and figure out how to own the room.” 20:58

[00:00:00.00] [MUSIC PLAYING]

[00:00:00.75] Welcome to NSCA's Coaching Podcast, episode 67.

[00:00:05.28] Well, the grind is standing in front of hundreds people, and you're the only person leading the group, and you've got nobody helping you. And you need to figure out how to get these 100 people on the same page.

[00:00:15.70] This is the NSCA's coaching podcast, where we talk to strength and conditioning coaches about what you really need to know but probably didn't learn in school. There's strength and conditioning, and then there's everything else.

[00:00:26.82] Welcome to the NSCA Coaching Podcast. I am Scott Caulfield, and I'm excited today with my good friend, Andrea Hudy, assistant athletic director for sports performance at the University of Kansas. Coach--

[00:00:39.43] Rock chalk.

[00:00:39.87] Welcome to the show. Rock chalk. I feel like I'm an unofficial Jayhawk.

[00:00:47.54] You're official Jayhawk.

[00:00:48.41] Official? Cool.

[00:00:49.62] You have good gear.

[00:00:50.53] I do. I have more KU gear than probably most people that haven't gone to KU, I would bet or that aren't actively going to games.

[00:00:59.94] You have official locker room gear.

[00:01:01.42] Yep, and I appreciate every bit of it. Thanks, again. So, cool, we are. We're here at the NSCA National Conference 2019. You got a little speaking gig going on.

[00:01:12.30] You snuck away. You guys kind of busy right now, training?

[00:01:15.69] Yeah, it's been a busy summer for sure. We have all of our athletes on campus training, men's and women's basketball. Football is training in their facility, and then there have been a lot of voluntary workouts going on, so there's a lot of softball, tennis, baseball, every sport.

[00:01:34.51] Nice. And I know that you guys have been in the news a lot lately, so since this is a hot topic, maybe tee that up first.

[00:01:42.72] Yeah.

[00:01:43.86] Maybe talk about the transition that is happening at KU. I know that you and Zach, director of football, are big supporters of it, so I think it's great. I think great for the profession.

[00:01:58.63] Yeah, it hasn't changed what we do on a daily operational basis. We're still plugging forward with our philosophies and safety protocols, so it was kind of-- can't say. It was kind of an easy transition in terms of how our philosophy is, and safety first, and health and wellness of our student athletes.

[00:02:22.68] And you didn't really-- Yeah, you didn't really change a lot. So what's the official kind of-- I guess, lack of a better word-- title. Or you guys are basically moving under more of a medical model? Or you know what would you--

[00:02:37.98] Yeah, so there's four different entities there, and they've formed Kansas Team Health, so the Lawrence Memorial Hospital and some of the Kansas hospital systems. KU Med Hospital Systems formed Kansas Team Health so the athletic department and what we're doing there falls under that.

[00:02:57.63] Got it. Well, and I think that's good, and what you mentioned is not going to change anything because-- it's funny, the first thing that I hear of people criticizing it when they hear that is they say, oh, doctors can't check it over my strength program. Right? And I don't think-- I didn't assume that would ever happen, and I don't think any medical doctor wants to be responsible for the Kansas Men's Basketball Program either, right?

[00:03:28.09] Well, ever since I started this in 1995 at the University of Connecticut, we were always affiliated, and working, with sports medicine and doing the right things with having good relationships with the athletic trainers, the nutritionists, the recovery people, the people that we needed to. And it all fell under sports medicine in a way. We didn't fall under sports med, but we worked with them, and it was a collaborative effort. So the same leadership that was at Connecticut went to Kansas, so it's such an easy transition.

[00:04:02.13] And for 25 years I've worked with orthopedic doctors, general practitioners, so we've always worked with them. And to get somebody's opinion on an exercise and just say, hey, is this safe? Is it not?

[00:04:18.61] Is it going to hurt the kid? Is it going to hurt the athlete more? I think it's a great thing.

[00:04:22.86] Right, oh yeah, I think--

[00:04:25.77] And the doctors, they don't know how much-- what periodization is, or when to prescribe exercise, or whatever. So they understand that they have an expertise, that we have an expertise, and it's just people working together.

[00:04:38.19] Yeah, that such a great clarification, too. So do you do you think this is going to create a snowball effect, or is it going to be few and far between? Do you have any thoughts about where that might go?

[00:04:55.51] I don't know where it'll go. A lot of people don't have access to medical centers or don't have medical schools at their university, sp I think it'd be hard, but what we can do is set up a framework of policies, and procedures, and how we operate, and people could model that.

[00:05:13.96] Yeah, that's a great point. And you guys-- I mean, speaking of that, you guys have been at, especially at your time at KU-- I don't know if "pioneers" is the right word, but leading the field from the front. The amount of technology that you're incorporating into daily training and everything has grown and morphed. I member from the first time I went to visit you guys, and you had one force plate, and now there's six. Right?

[00:05:43.49] Yeah.

[00:05:43.84] So talk a little bit about how that's kind of come along, and been implemented, and been sold to athletic administrators who had to sign off on the checks.

[00:05:56.19] It's all been based on us trying to be the best, and offer the best service, and sell the best program to our athletes, to our coaches, to our alumni, to everybody that is involved in the program. And as long as we can prove and show that yeah, this is what we want, and this is what we want to do with it-- we have to prove it first.

[00:06:19.44] Right.

[00:06:20.89] And then as long as it's showing results, which we're not a time-based organization. We're results based, so as long as we're showing results, and performance is increasing, and injury risks are going down, and student athlete health and well being is at the forefront, I think we're doing a good job.

[00:06:38.41] Yeah, that's really cool, and you guys are definitely at the forefront. It's awesome, and you've tied in to-- you have a great long-time NSCA person like Dr. Andy Fry, but you've really tapped into the expertise and the utilization of his knowledge in exercise science too.

[00:06:59.02] Yeah, he's great. He's a coach at heart, so he likes coming over. And we have good talks, and we share great ideas. And he brings questions to us, and we take questions to him, and I feel like we get better together.

[00:07:11.53] That's really great. Yeah, the collaborative approach is such a huge asset because I think sometimes it's easy to get stuck in your day-to-day life, or you know your silo on campus. And there's some-- you talk to coaches, and they're like, oh, well, we've only met the basketball guys once or twice or whatever it is, but people--

[00:07:35.33] And again, it's a business. Right? People-- I just finished my MBA, and we have to sell it. We have to sell our program. We have to sell what we do and how we do it.

[00:07:44.90] We have to show results. We have to prove what we're doing to people around us and doing it in the most professional way so people have buy-in.

[00:07:52.69] Yeah, that's so great. You've seen a lot of change over your career. Maybe tell us a little bit about, too-- I think people who don't know you as well as I do, or haven't heard you speak before-- you were an athlete in college, and you had injuries. And then that's kind of what led you into the strength and conditioning field, but maybe tell that story for us too.

[00:08:15.83] I grew up in the era of outwork everybody and more is better. And I was hurt when I was 14, and never-- I mean, that was the peak of my career was 14.

[00:08:28.24] [LAUGHTER]

[00:08:29.74] No, it wasn't the peak of my athletic career, but that was probably the peak of my athleticism.

[00:08:35.88] Yeah.

[00:08:36.70] And then I went and played volleyball at Maryland, but I was always hurt, and that injury led to other injuries, and it just kept stacking up, and stacking up. And then I went and worked at UConn where, as a younger coach, the one way that you could prove yourself as a coach was to get involved, and you had to win. You couldn't stop.

[00:08:59.33] Right.

[00:09:00.43] I remember there were times where we were running, and I was like, holy cow, you see the light. And thank gosh we're beyond those days, and it's just-- you know, overdoing it has been probably my problem. That's my Achilles heel.

[00:09:20.71] Not knowing when to stop-- it's the when. Well, and you had a great mentor, Jerry Martin, who's passed on. And I had Roger Marandino on the show, too, and you guys were there kind of at the same time.

[00:09:33.03] Yeah.

[00:09:33.76] Yeah, how were those early years compared to how far we've come now?

[00:09:43.00] Exercise selection's the same. I think the approach is a little bit different in terms of when to dose. Or we do low-- we operate on the lower dose of medicine or exercise for optimal results. So what's the lowest thing that we could have a maximum effect with? And making sure the athlete feels good, and they want to compete, and they want to lift, and they want to run, and they want to come into the weight room.

[00:10:10.48] You don't want people dragging into the weight room every day. I want to feel good as an athlete. Even as an older athlete, I want to feel good because it's terrible when you feel bad. So yeah, we try to do lowest dose, and create a lot of mobility with the movement when needed, but then also, on the other hand, create a lot of strength when needed in some athletes.

[00:10:34.19] Well, and at the same time you guys have kind of adapted into this microdosing but also training more often. right? So you guys train every day.

[00:10:46.48] Yeah.

[00:10:46.94] You train before practice, after practice.

[00:10:49.56] Yeah, that's part of our practice culture, so practi-- we weight-lift, or if you want to call it that. I call it the body shop, depending on what somebody needs to make them feel good. Every day we see them for-- depending on the time of year, it could be 20 minutes. It could be 45 minutes. So it happens before practice so we can stimulate them and get them ready for practice.

[00:11:13.46] And sometimes we have to offset what's going on the court, because some guys are so good at what they do.

[00:11:19.06] Right.

[00:11:20.14] And then sometimes we have to build that performance aspect in the athletes that aren't as athletic or reactive for basketball.

[00:11:27.72] Yeah, what is it that my buddy Loren Landow says? That we give them doses of venom to prevent them from snakebites. That's kind of the analogy.

[00:11:38.01] Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, you're building resilience. Yeah, so we do the microdosing, undulating, unplanned, nonlinear periodization. It's crazy.

[00:11:49.92] It's a mouthful.

[00:11:51.01] I know, right?

[00:11:51.56] [LAUGHTER]

[00:11:52.03] Say that three times really fast.

[00:11:53.13] I know it.

[00:11:57.16] You've had a-- obviously, you've been a head coach for a long time now. You've had a lot of assistants, and a lot of assistants go on to bigger and better things. Are there some kind of common key traits or key factors you would say that you've seen across the board in those people that you've hired and have now gone on to bigger and better things?

[00:12:22.93] It goes back to that Carnegie study, which is success is based on 85% interpersonal skills and 15% specific skills. So can you interact, and can you read the temperature of a room? Do you have an emotional intelligence to figure things out?

[00:12:39.37] Yeah.

[00:12:39.97] You know when to speak, when not to.

[00:12:41.83] Right.

[00:12:42.49] Now, we all make mistakes--

[00:12:43.78] Sure.

[00:12:44.29] --but can you get better?

[00:12:45.85] Yeah, I've talked about emotional intelligence a lot, and there's so many-- it's so much the biggest picture of this job. And it's not just strength coaches. It's any kind of coach. It doesn't matter.

[00:13:01.70] Well, I think we, as a profession, have to adapt to so many different cultures. So we're working with every culture, and then you're not with just the sport team cultures and the coaches, but then you've got the athletic trainers. You've got the doctors. You've got the administrators, the admin, or academic.

[00:13:19.30] So it's like you have to be able to stand up in every room that you're in, convey a message, sell what you're doing, but also be a great resource for those people, too. So I think the days of strength coach sitting in their office and just doing weight training-- I think those days are soon to be passed. You have to have other skill sets.

[00:13:44.11] 100%. Yeah, you've got to be more valuable than that. I know, from being out at KU again this year for your annual conference there, getting to hear Bill Self speak when he kind of talks about when he hired you, and it's almost like the void with the "one guy gets slower, you're fired" kind of story, except to a different level. Being a female, he was like, well, wait a minute.

[00:14:14.96] Oh, yeah.

[00:14:15.53] You're going to look at this female for this job? Maybe tell that story because I think it's just so great because-- and now you're his right hand, basically.

[00:14:24.82] So yeah, when I came out of my interview, he didn't even want to interview me. The AD brought me out, and he looked at me in the face and said, I don't want to hire a woman. How am I going to recruit? I don't just hang out in the weight room. The weight room is my classroom, so I'm sure that you've had a female teacher.

[00:14:44.47] So we teach. We teach movement, and we do it in a positive manner, where people enjoy it, and they get better. Again, it's results because I don't want to waste anybody's time.

[00:14:54.46] Time is precious, and time is value. And just again, I don't know whoever said that a weight training program has to be an hour. So we can get some work done, a lot of work done, in season in 25 minutes.

[00:15:11.60] And how did you build that relationship with him? Obviously, you impressed him enough in that interview to get hired, but you guys weren't BFFs at that point. It's like he's still going to be a little--

[00:15:25.85] No, and we're still not BFFs.

[00:15:26.70] --skeptical.

[00:15:28.25] Absolutely-- I think it's great because he still challenges me. We challenge each other. He's been in the weight room, I think, maybe once or twice in the 15 years that I've been at KU, so I have to go, and I have to create and cultivate that relationship. Now, the first couple of years, was it hard? Yeah, the first four years at Kansas were hard because we were sharing a weight room with football, and it was tough.

[00:15:56.91] The schedule was tough, and I have to I have to develop results, and it was just the shared weight room as it still is, but now we have a little bit more control over the scheduling and how we operate.

[00:16:09.85] Yeah, and how long were you there? You guys won the national championship in '08, right?

[00:16:15.66] Yeah, so that was my fourth year there.

[00:16:17.31] Fourth year there, yeah, cool. And was that a big game changer for you? I mean, obviously it's a big deal, but does that create more-- well, does it create more scrutiny or does it create more--

[00:16:32.88] That's what I think. It doesn't get easier.

[00:16:34.74] Yeah.

[00:16:35.16] I told Coach this summer-- I'm like, the thing is I feel like I'm always trying to prove myself. We're always trying to get better, and maybe that's how I see it. I don't know how other people see it, but I see it as we have to get better in whatever way, and we have to be challenged. And every year is different. Every athlete's different, so we always have to be on our toes and being challenged for sure.

[00:17:03.78] And going back to the clinic stuff, obviously been a huge proponent supporter of continuing education, super involved in NSCA for a long time. I think that, actually, if I recall correctly, that's where we first met. And I think it was 2010, maybe 2009 or 10, we were both on a committee together that was the strategic planning, and we were both out at the headquarters. I think it was before I worked there.

[00:17:35.05] That was a while ago.

[00:17:35.75] Yeah, it was a long time ago. We're old is what we just said.

[00:17:41.94] I can't even remember the committees, all the committees that I've been on for the NSCA.

[00:17:46.23] Do you remember? I mean, obviously, coming in under Jerry Martin, you're involved in NSCA right from the start, but maybe talk a little bit about some of the involvement and why that's important.

[00:17:59.19] Yeah, you asked me the question earlier about Jerry and Roger, and that was in 1995, and they welcomed me with open arms. And Jerry was pretty edgy with how he was doing things, so he knew he had to hire a female. And there were a couple females out there, strength and conditioning, beforehand, and I think he saw the value in that. And he sought out a female, and I was crazy enough to accept his invite to be on staff with Roger and Jerry and Mike Hooker.

[00:18:35.58] So there were three GAs and a full-time guy. We had 700 athletes. I think there were 28 teams, so you talk about reps on reps on reps.

[00:18:45.81] We started at 6:00 o'clock in the morning and didn't until 6:00 PM. And there were teams in every hour on the hour, and it was a 2,100 square foot weight room. So you talk about the reps that we had to build.

[00:19:00.30] Those are the coaches that I want, the people that have this solid group of, or a solid base of, working with anyone.

[00:19:08.12] Yeah, I was talking to somebody about this yesterday, actually, and we we're going to talk about coaching in the Ivy League just because we had so many teams and that you just-- it's such a great experience that you really wish everybody could have that experience.

[00:19:23.22] Oh, I want everybody to have that.

[00:19:24.23] To have multiple sports and be back to back. And I mean, I don't know that I really feel that everybody has to have this badge of honor that you have to grind, and have to work all these hours, but at the same time, I think you get so much better from having to sacrifice a little and to know what it's like to work 6:00 to 6:00. You get a break to train and eat, but you are coaching that whole time.

[00:19:57.89] Well, the grind is standing in front of 100 people, and you're the only person leading the group, and you've got nobody helping you. And you need to figure out how to get these 100 people on the same page and do everything exactly the way that you want them to do it, weather-- yeah, and that's grind.

[00:20:13.75] Right.

[00:20:14.47] Because I do it to interns now. If a camp comes into the weight room, and there's 100 kids there, I'm like, are you ready? You want to take it, take the lead? And I want somebody to say, yeah.

[00:20:25.59] Yeah, I got this.

[00:20:26.42] But most of them say, no. But that's what my coaches did to me--

[00:20:32.47] Yeah, totally.

[00:20:32.98] --in college. It was like, well, no, [INAUDIBLE]. You want to be a coach? Let's go.

[00:20:36.54] Right.

[00:20:37.72] You can't just stand in the back.

[00:20:39.20] Yeah, that's such a great experience. And sometimes you do-- obviously, if you get thrown into the fire like that, maybe it's just the warm up or whatever. I mean, even if you screw it up-- like you said, we make mistakes-- it's probably not going to be that bad.

[00:20:58.39] No, it's not going to be that bad, but you feel bad about it.

[00:21:00.58] Right.

[00:21:01.45] And then you just get better, but that's where failure-- turn it into a success and figure out how to own the room. My best coaching story-- I was in college, and my coach said, hey, Hudy, you got to go to Girl Scout Camp. And I was like, what? A Girl Scout Camp? OK, I'll go do it. Well, there was a coach in front of me that was a college athlete, and she was trying to lead the group, and I was falling asleep in the back.

[00:21:26.32] And I was like, well, I don't want that. I don't want to be that person that nobody's listening to. Now, these are seven-year-old girls, and they're just not engaged at all. So one of my best coaching lessons didn't even have to do with athletics. It was Girl Scouts, so I had to go and own the room with 100 little seven-year-olds. So can you do that?

[00:21:52.48] Yeah. No, that's amazing. Yeah, I coached basketball before I got into strength and conditioning forever. My first job out of high school was at a basketball camp in Montclair, New Jersey, and that two summers of just coaching, running the basketball camp-- and I coached freshman boys basketball and JV girls basketball. I mean, I coached everybody under the sun, and I think all of those experiences helped me immensely when it transitioned to strength and condition because like you're saying, I can handle this. Dude, I had a group of 20 kindergartners at a basketball camp that could give two you-know-whats about basketball. And they're tearing at the wall and playing tag.

[00:22:39.25] That's where you turn it into a relay race.

[00:22:41.22] Yeah. But 100%, when you get-- when you go from that, you're like, oh man, I can handle freshmen in college.

[00:22:48.85] But that's where a PE, a phys. ed. background or an educational background helps.

[00:22:53.13] Yeah, 100%.

[00:22:53.82] Time on task.

[00:22:55.12] Pedagogy and that experience, for sure. You've been involved in, obviously, Women's Committee and stuff like that. Obviously, there are definitely far more females now than there have ever been, but it's still a pretty small percentage. Are we seeing that growing, and what else is there that can be done? Is there anything that isn't being done that could be to build that.

[00:23:23.95] Again, yeah. The biggest stat that I know is in-- and United States women's national team's fighting it right now--

[00:23:32.76] Yeah.

[00:23:33.22] --is that women are paid $0.80 on the dollar that men are, and it doesn't even matter what the qualifications are.

[00:23:39.48] Right.

[00:23:41.71] Until that gets corrected, I think that speaks volumes.

[00:23:44.74] Yeah.

[00:23:45.10] It really does because it's discouraging--

[00:23:48.31] Right.

[00:23:48.79] --but are you willing to fight?

[00:23:50.33] Right, or are you just going to give up and move onto something else. No, I definitely I think that US soccer is going to have their hands full to make this right.

[00:24:01.63] It shouldn't be righted.

[00:24:02.53] It should be.

[00:24:03.07] There's no question, especially because the men's team isn't even any good.

[00:24:08.08] [LAUGHTER]

[00:24:09.23] You said it.

[00:24:10.18] I said it. I said it. I'm going to have the soccer haters coming after me. Yeah, and so you guys are talking, you and Phil Wagner from Sparta, at this conference. What are you guys going to talk about here?

[00:24:29.32] I think Phil, where he is as a medical doctor, ex-strength coach looking at exercises, medicine, and dosage, and what exercises are best for what person, and what he's seen with exercise response, with forced production, that some exercises aren't-- the squat, it's not good for everybody.

[00:24:56.30] Right.

[00:24:58.57] I mean, it's just as simple as that.

[00:25:00.46] Yeah.

[00:25:00.90] Doc Stone doesn't listen to this. Don't worry.

[00:25:03.82] He doesn't?

[00:25:06.16] But split squats are good. A split squat is good for our basketball players, where a back squat might not be great for some of them because we need to promote mobility. So do we squat our guys? Yeah, everybody squats, but there are certain times when split squat's a better option.

[00:25:26.20] Yeah.

[00:25:27.85] So yeah, exercise selection-- and again, I think exercises haven't changed. The selection of when and how have for sure for me.

[00:25:37.84] Definitely-- that's a good point.

[00:25:39.70] Do you think that comes with, obviously, experience?

[00:25:46.47] Experience, but also the data that Phil has provided. I mean, it's right there.

[00:25:51.25] Right.

[00:25:51.96] You can't argue it.

[00:25:52.91] Yeah.

[00:25:55.97] Yeah.

[00:25:57.19] No, that's huge. I mean, just the amount of data that you can support your program with to also help you as a strength coach, and help you with administrators, or whoever, sport coaches.

[00:26:08.86] Yeah, well the one thing that we can is prove that what we're doing-- the athlete's getting better with our EliteForm data and prove that they're either more powerful or healthier with our Sparta data.

[00:26:24.97] And some of this stuff, too, I know is obviously in your book, Power Positions, right?

[00:26:32.71] It's an old book now.

[00:26:34.15] I know. What made you-- what sparked you to decide to write a book, and how hard or easy was that?

[00:26:41.51] It was really hard. It's still hard. I'd like to go back and redo it because some of the things have changed. But what started it was everybody asking for a program, and you can't just hand somebody a program. So then I was like, OK, what we need to try to understand why and the concepts behind why you're doing certain exercises, or what's good for some person isn't great for everyone.

[00:27:08.53] Body typing's huge with that. Energy systems are huge in that, so it was just-- hey, here's a simple. It was basically designed for a high school coach to say, hey, here's a simple program. Depending on what your athlete looks like, let's do this program.

[00:27:30.73] And had you started writing some of that stuff out, and you kind of had this assembled, and then you were like, oh, you know what? I've kind of got this book shell. I could do this.

[00:27:42.13] I had probably a 400-page document that I was working with a publishing company in New York City, and we decided just to go different ways because they didn't like the way I wanted to go. But I did my own way anyway and self-published.

[00:28:02.08] Yeah, and you mentioned the MBA.

[00:28:06.37] Yeah.

[00:28:06.55] You just finished that, right? Yeah, so what spurred you to go back to school and get an MBA?

[00:28:13.15] I wish I would have had the MBA experience before the book, but I think the book sparked interest in business and how to get that done more efficiently.

[00:28:27.16] Obviously, it's beneficial to you. Do you think-- and I know a few strength coaches, actually, who have MBAs. Do you think that's a pretty valuable skill set to pick up on?

[00:28:38.89] Well, I think I wanted to pick up on it too because there are different income streams other than just coaching.

[00:28:45.24] Sure.

[00:28:45.61] Right? Our conference, a book, clinics-- I do some expert witness work, too. So it's like, well, how do you organize all that income and make sure you're doing the right thing?

[00:28:55.54] Yeah.

[00:28:57.73] You know, paying your taxes and--

[00:28:59.35] [LAUGHTER]

[00:29:01.05] That's important. No, that's a good point, too. Yeah, you mentioned the conference. The conference has been awesome. I think I've either been to every one or almost everyone since 2011 that I've been at NSCA, fortunate enough to speak a couple of times. Why did you guys start doing that? And what's the evolution of that?

[00:29:26.04] I know it's grown. And with the business school now, it's such an awesome venue you guys have to utilized.

[00:29:31.63] Yeah, it's great. I think our first one might have been in '08 or '09. I don't remember, but I wanted to show off-- I wanted to showcase our facility to the community, so it was an organic deal that I thought that maybe we could get a couple of people to come in, check out our facility, and see what sports performance, and strength and conditioning, and the holistic approach to it should be like. And I think we had like 68 or 70 people the first year, and then it's grown to 320 and a one-day conference.

[00:30:10.43] Right. And this past year, that was the biggest one.

[00:30:13.21] Yeah. And again, what's cool is it's community sponsorship, so the only way that we can really do it is by getting sponsorships because we only charge $100. And then you can see some great international speakers, but it's awesome because what started as a community event is being returned to the community, and we're able to do that because of our sponsorships within the community, so it's cool.

[00:30:40.24] Yeah, it's definitely one of my favorite events of the year, especially because usually I can just go hang out, and I don't have--

[00:30:46.66] Thank you.

[00:30:46.75] --to actually do anything.

[00:30:48.52] Hey, how about I got-- we ask for feedback from the speakers, to lunch, to how can we be better because we want that. Sometimes it hurts, but it's good critical feedback. Somebody said that lunch was too fancy.

[00:31:01.33] [LAUGHTER]

[00:31:03.76] Well, that's a first.

[00:31:04.25] I was like, man we thought nutrition is a priority here.

[00:31:08.98] That's great.

[00:31:09.47] So we had-- yeah, we had a pretty elaborate lunch and somebody--

[00:31:12.55] Yeah, it was outstanding.

[00:31:12.76] I got criticised for it being too fancy.

[00:31:14.55] Wow, you can't please all the people all the time. There you go. Next year we're going back to protein bars and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Sorry.

[00:31:27.25] Too fancy.

[00:31:28.15] Too fancy. That's a first, wow. But no, you bring in the really big names. You've got multiple-- it's almost like a snapshot of a national conference in a one-day, quick hitter.

[00:31:45.95] Well, that's what we would like it to be. And again. people hear of the University of Kansas, and they're like, Kansas? Where's that?

[00:31:55.00] Right.

[00:31:56.53] But when they get there-- I always say, I work at Disneyland. It's the cleanest place on Earth. Everybody's friendly, and we have a lot of space.

[00:32:04.84] Yeah, that's great. I tell you what, that's a great example or a great description of it. I love going to visit there. It is like the mecca of strength and conditioning.

[00:32:19.57] The time I went to a home basketball game, I was getting goose bumps from that video they play in the beginning. That's wild.

[00:32:28.94] It doesn't get old, either.

[00:32:29.81] There's somethings special.

[00:32:30.50] Yeah, it does not get old.

[00:32:32.62] So conference is going on again next year.

[00:32:36.04] Yeah.

[00:32:36.25] You're going to do it? So second Friday in May, basically?

[00:32:39.46] I think it's May 8.

[00:32:40.36] May 8? Cool. So everybody that's listening, make sure you put that on your calendar. Pick up Andrea's book, Power Positions. If anybody, which I know everybody is going to want to, and they don't know how to get a hold of you, is there a good way to connect?

[00:32:57.16] Email.

[00:32:57.88] Email?

[00:32:58.69] You know, I'm older so I'm terrible at the messaging on social media because you don't know who people are, and you don't know what angle they're going to take, whether they're just trying to throw a line out, so email is the best way for me.

[00:33:16.05] All right, well, we'll put all that in the show notes. Definitely, you can follow her on Instagram and Twitter, though. She's on there, and if you're interested, again, be on the lookout for 2020 Midwest Sports Performance Conference at University of Kansas. It's one of the best conferences. It's fun. There's great lunch.

[00:33:40.42] There's great dinners the night before.

[00:33:42.39] Great dinners the night before.

[00:33:43.70] Great social after.

[00:33:44.27] Social-- yeah, it's awesome. It's awesome. Yeah, and I love the campus. I feel like I'm an honorary Jayhawk. I joke around all the time.

[00:33:51.39] Well, you sure are.

[00:33:52.69] It's such a great place to visit if you've never been there because that is the epitome of collegiate sports.

[00:33:58.28] Well, what we wanted, too, was you come to a natural conference, and sometimes you're not comfortable.

[00:34:03.50] Yeah, right.

[00:34:04.29] And you don't know where to go, who to talk to. But the one thing that we wanted to create was everybody's welcome in the door. You can talk to anybody, and we take care of our speakers, our presenters. The sponsors take care of them, and it should be comfortable.

[00:34:21.13] Yeah, that's awesome. Well, I'm looking forward to next year. It's on my calendar already.

[00:34:24.94] Thank you.

[00:34:26.17] And this has been fantastic. I know this is a national conference, and you are so busy because you've got people that want to talk to you, and had people jumping over here at the podcast booth while you're up here, and taking pictures, and selfies that we didn't even know about. No, but again, thanks so much for making the time, and I appreciate you--

[00:34:47.73] Thank you.

[00:34:48.00] --appreciate all you do for the organization, the NSCA profession, me personally as well.

[00:34:54.53] Well, you too. You're a great ambassador.

[00:34:56.53] Thank you.

[00:34:57.20] And I strive to be like you.

[00:34:58.77] Ditto. Thanks a lot. And a big thanks to our sponsors Sorinex Exercise Equipment. We appreciate their support. And to all of you listening, we appreciate your support.

[00:35:09.71] Again, if you like the podcast, make sure that you subscribe wherever you download your podcasts from. Write us a review, and keep listening in. Look forward to talking with you all soon. Thanks.

[00:35:20.63] You often hear these podcasts recorded at NSCA conferences and events. Why not join us at the next one? You can get all the details on upcoming events at NSCA.com/events.

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[00:35:30.96] This was the NSCA'S Coaching Podcast. The National Strength and Conditioning Association was founded in 1978 by strength and conditioning coaches to share information, resources, and help advance the profession. Serving coaches for over 40 years, the NSCA is the trusted source for strength and conditioning professionals. Be sure and join us next time.

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