Lindsey Kirschman | Strength Coach, Teacher, Team Player

Lindsey Kirschman sees her non-traditional educational background as her greatest asset, not a detriment. She still considers herself a teacher — just differently — as the Director of Sports Performance for University of Utah women’s basketball. Coming from a family of educators, Kirschman initially studied forestry and range science before pursuing strength and conditioning. Kirschman explains how her teaching experience provided a firm foundation for optimizing learning and creating a positive environment. Her approach promotes skill transfer from the weight room to sport and beyond, using exercises like sled pushes as analogies for life lessons about resilience. A former track athlete, Kirschman underscores that while the finish line is the same, every athlete’s starting point is unique. Kirschman also discusses culture building through her “GOAT Award” and the challenges of transitioning from a generalist to a specialist. She encourages aspiring professionals to reframe their mindset and fully engage with their working environment.

Connect with Lindsey by email: lindsey.kirschman@utah.edu and Instagram: @authentically_strong | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs and LinkedIn: @ericmcmahoncscs 

Get involved with the NSCA! Don’t miss your chance to give back and fast-track your growth with volunteer roles. Many applications close December 15 — apply now at NSCA.com/Volunteer.

“My expectation, the finish line is the same for all of them. But they're not starting at the same spot […] That idea stems from the fact that equity is not the same thing as equality. And in education, that's something that we talk about all the time, is that you have a classroom full of students. They're all going to take the same test, or all have to show the same proficiency, but they all come in with different reading levels. They all come in with different backgrounds, and you have to figure out how to get them all there anyway.” 11:20

“What can a powerful athlete do? They can push against a resistance quickly and overcome it. They can move a heavy object quickly, whether it's your body or another thing. They can overcome that friction at the beginning and they can push through at the end. And that's what a powerful human being can do too, in the world.” 16:00

"What do I celebrate? What do I tolerate? That's going to lead to what I proliferate. And, that's going to be the culture. That's going to be the learning environment." 18:05

“It comes down to, as always, really good communication. And when you think you're communicating, communicate more, or communicate more effectively. Being really willing to listen and learn from everyone all the time. And ask the question, don't just assume. So those are the things I've intentionally done over the last couple of years to really enhance those working relationships, and be the best team of sports performance professionals for each individual athlete.” 24:55

[00:00:02.64] Welcome to the NSCA Coaching Podcast, season 8, episode 14.

[00:00:08.07] And it comes down to, as always, really good communication. And when you think you're communicating, communicate more or communicate more effectively. Being really willing to listen and learn from everyone all the time, and ask the question, don't just assume. So those are the things I've intentionally done over the last couple of years to really enhance those working relationships and be the best team of sports performance professionals for each individual athlete.

[00:00:48.77] This is the NSCA's Coaching Podcast where we talk to strength and conditioning coaches about what you really need to but probably didn't learn in school. There's strength and conditioning. And then there's everything else.

[00:00:59.33] This is the NSCA Coaching Podcast. I'm Eric McMahon an NSCA coaching and sports science program manager. Today's episode features Lindsey Kirschman, the director of Sports Performance for the University of Utah Women's Basketball program. But she started her career as a high school science teacher. Lindsey, welcome.

[00:01:19.91] Thank you. Thank you so much for having me.

[00:01:21.88] Yeah, it's fun talking to you. We connected at a conference a couple years ago now, and you were actually in the job you had before this one. And I learned that you had that high school teaching background. I thought your background was so interesting. And yeah, I'm really glad you're on today to share that with us.

[00:01:43.79] Thank you. Yeah, I used to consider my kind of nontraditional background a little bit of a detriment to my career goals in strength and conditioning. But I can honestly tell you now I find it to be a really valuable asset, because I think it not only sets me apart a little bit, gives me a unique skill set in this field, but it also just helped me. Helped me handle people and in particular young people that I'm coaching. So I'm actually really thankful for that background.

[00:02:15.72] University of Utah Women's Basketball. You've had a few good years, pretty much since you've been there. The program's been doing really well. What's that job like?

[00:02:25.27] Oh, man, when I first got there, I remember I took some of the girls on a hike just to get to know the athletes a little bit. And they asked me, well, what is your dream job? And I just kind of looked at them, like, what are you talking about? This is my dream job. Like, I'm pumped to be here. And I still feel that way.

[00:02:42.04] I think I have a blast every day. I kind of feel weird saying I'm going to work because it doesn't feel like I'm going to work. I'm going to hang out at the gym with some really great athletes and help them get better at their sport. And it's a lot of fun. And I get to travel with them. I think we're spending Thanksgiving in the Cayman Islands this year for a tournament.

[00:03:04.30] So I just-- everywhere I turn, I just there's a lot of pressure. And there's a lot of high expectations. But it's what I'm used to as an athlete, and it makes my life very exciting at every turn. And, I just feel extremely blessed to be in this position. So I'm pretty pumped. Yeah.

[00:03:24.46] So you were a college track athlete. And we can get into that. You went into teaching science at the high school level. Take us on your journey a little bit. What was this path from education into coaching?

[00:03:39.98] Well, first of all, I wanted nothing to do with education, because my mom was an educator. My grandpa was an educator. My grandma. I come from a long line of educators, and I just wanted to do something different. So I actually majored in environmental science, basically forestry at the University of Washington, and I was a track athlete. My favorite thing to do is still trail run.

[00:04:02.21] But I spent my career in college studying big trees and running through big trees. And then after college, I decided I wanted to go into range science. So I actually ended up in North Dakota studying the ecology of rangelands. And I had a lab. I was a grad student at NDSU, and I found myself literally, like sneaking down the hallway every day trying to make it out of there without anybody seeing me. Longboarding across town to a high school to volunteer coach. Like in secret for this high school track team.

[00:04:42.87] And after a while, I kind of just slapped myself in the face and asked, why? Why would you not just do this for your job? You're obviously are very passionate about it. You don't really need to sneak around to coach. You could just pursue coaching as your career.

[00:04:58.67] And so I decided to leave kind of the scholastic world behind for myself. And I moved to Colorado, and pursued my master's in education instead of range science so that I could work with young people. And so for about eight years in Colorado, I taught everything from cellular biology and genetics to zoology to Earth science, and eventually health and some weightlifting classes at the high school level.

[00:05:31.66] And then I coached cross country, track, and strength and conditioning at the high school level as well. And that was so fun. I loved every second of it. And I still miss teaching, although I would argue that I still teach, in just a different way.

[00:05:49.33] But there came a point where I was coaching in the morning, then teaching all day and then coaching after school. I was coaching all summer. There was really no chunk of time where I was not working. And I had hundreds of athletes and hundreds of students that I was trying to serve. And I remember feeling like I was pressing up on this glass ceiling of my capacity on what I could do there, both with my time and energy, but also with just the resources that I had available to me. I felt like I was spread so thin as one person that I couldn't really do the best job I knew I could do, and that bothered me.

[00:06:31.98] And so that kind of helped propel me to make that next move, to try to coach full time at the college level, because that's really the only option at this point, unless you're working for a private school at the high school level. You're pretty much teaching and coaching. So it was a difficult decision to leave teaching behind, because I genuinely love that. And I actually had to take a really big pay cut to leave the high school level and enter, start over in strength and conditioning at the college level. So it was a little bit of a risky, risky career move.

[00:07:08.48] But I made that decision, and that's what landed me that position at the University of Central Arkansas, which was the time period that I met you. And I actually loved my experience there. I didn't find it to be terribly different from my experience at the high school level, just in the sense where you're working with a lot of athletes. I was also teaching classes there.

[00:07:31.10] And actually making less money. But I loved everyone I worked with, and it was a college position, so it was definitely where I needed to be. But I knew that wasn't my ending point. And so I kind of just kept the doors open, and that's when I met you.

[00:07:48.74] Yeah, I mean, what I hear from you is really that coaching and teaching are synonymous in a way. If you're teaching, you're coaching, if you're coaching, you're teaching. What do you think it is about teaching background. You and I say this, because you come out of a traditional education background through your master's, that benefits the coaching process? Why do you think they are such a-- why do you think teaching is so important to being a great coach?

[00:08:20.17] I mean, I could write a book on this, I think. Maybe I will. But at the end of the day, both teaching and coaching come down to number one, how people learn, in particular how young people learn. How the teenage brain works, and creating a positive learning environment for that to happen. And there's a lot of different ways to do that. But the beauty of the education world is that educators are trained in those two things. How people learn and how to create an environment where that happens.

[00:08:57.00] And I think that coaches sometimes happen upon that knowledge through experience. Or just they get lucky enough, your program gets lucky enough to hire someone who understands that process. But it doesn't always just happen. And I've noticed in the coaching world that sometimes, especially at the higher levels, unfortunately, coaches are hired because of their success in their sport, or their experience at that level, and not necessarily because of how well trained they are in growing people.

[00:09:35.19] And, you don't see that a lot, but you do see it sometimes. Where it's like, wow, this team has a lot of talent, but they're not really reaching their capacity with it. And that, to me, points to some sort of flaw in the coaching tactics of like, well, you haven't figured out how to harness this, or how to tap into this and then grow it. So I think at the end of the day, my experience in education gave me just such a firm bedrock foundation on the bare bones of how to do this. And tap into how people learn, and then how to create an environment where that can actually happen. And I don't know how much you want to get into that, but there's so many examples of.

[00:10:22.05] Yeah, no, I actually do want to jump into that. And we can go along each one here in the weight room. You're working at a high level of women's basketball. Let's dive into how people learn. I mean, we all hear there's different types of learners that we work with as coaches, as teachers. What are some examples you see in the weight room?

[00:10:45.99] I think at the very basics, the very beginning of that is just the simple fact that even at the highest level, your finish line-- if I use a racing analogy because I'm a runner-- your finish line is the same. National championship. That's what we're all chasing.

[00:11:05.13] But your starting line is different. So I think acknowledging that is the number one thing you have to do as a coach. That you have. I have 14 athletes. My expectation, the finish line is the same for all of them. But they're not starting at the same spot. So we have the same amount of time to get them all to the finish line, but they're not all starting from the same place. So how as a coach, do I reconcile that and help them all get to this finish line?

[00:11:40.07] And that idea stems from the fact that equity is not the same thing as equality. And in education, that's something that we talk about all the time, is that you have a classroom full of students. They're all going to take the same test, or all have to show the same proficiency, but they all come in with different reading levels. They all come in with different backgrounds, and you have to figure out how to get them all there anyway. And as an educator, that's just a natural part of your job.

[00:12:08.51] And so that's kind of how I approach coaching too, when they all walk in the weight room. It's like, OK, everyone's starting from a different starting line. How do I get them all to the same finish line in the same amount of time? That's challenging. So that's number one thing, is realizing that they're all starting from different spots, but you still are expected to get them to the same place.

[00:12:28.95] And in terms of how people learn, I think that a really good example of this in the education world is, like, test taking, standardized testing. Everybody, it's like a buzzword in education, it's this necessary evil. And it's really easy to memorize the answers for a test. But if I'm testing you in that way, all I'm testing is your ability to memorize things. You probably don't actually understand what you're saying. You can just memorize the answer to a test question.

[00:12:59.47] And I think the same is true in the weight room. If I'm just telling you what to do over and over and over and over again, or teaching you a drill over and over and over again, you can memorize that drill and execute it with perfection. But then when we go play a basketball game, those mechanics will fly out the window. You don't actually understand the context behind what you're doing. You can just memorize a rote routine.

[00:13:21.09] And so I think we've heard the phrase skill is the conceptual application of technique. And I think that in the same way, understanding is the conceptual understanding of knowledge, right? Understanding is the contextual application of knowledge. And so when we're in the weight room, I think it's more effective if I can root everything in a more of a global context, rather than using really specific skills and drills all the time.

[00:13:55.00] So, for example, this was kind of a cool one. The other day we were doing sled pushes. Pretty standard exercise, trying to challenge them, push a heavy sled. And I made them heavy enough where they couldn't go very fast. It was bogging them down pretty heavy. So at the end, we grouped up with the whiteboard and I'm just chatting with them, and I asked all of my athletes to tell me, all right, what was the hardest? What's the hardest part of the sled push?

[00:14:26.05] And everybody's like, well, the very beginning and the very end. It's like, OK, tell me more. Why is it hard at the beginning? Well, it's hard to get it moving. Yeah, you have to overcome a lot of friction. That thing is heavy and it's stationary. That first push is really tough to overcome that friction, just like in life. Sometimes the hardest thing about anything is starting, because you have to overcome a lot of friction of resistance from people who don't think you can do it, from your own self-doubt, from the fact that you don't know what you're doing yet. You've never done it before. You have a learning curve. That's tough.

[00:15:03.85] Once you get it moving, you get some momentum. So that middle part is OK. But then why is it hard at the end? Like, well, your legs are tired and you can't breathe very well, and you think you're almost done, but then you realize you still have five yards left. It's like, yeah, the end of things are hard too. Everybody can keep pushing while they've got some momentum going, and people are cheering for them and it feels good. And then you start to feel that resistance again at the end, when you start to get tired. And then that's-- you have to be able to push through that as an athlete.

[00:15:37.46] And that's what the excellent athletes do. They're able to overcome the friction at the beginning and when it gets hard at the end. And then we kind of wrap that up by relating that back to the concept of power.

[00:15:53.78] I keep saying the word conceptual. In this instance, the concept would be power. What can a powerful person do? What can a powerful athlete do? They can push against a resistance quickly and overcome it. They can move a heavy object quickly, whether it's your body or another thing. They can overcome that friction at the beginning and they can push through at the end. And that's what a powerful human being can do too, in the world.

[00:16:20.37] And then a few days later, one of our guards, we weren't talking about that at all, but brought it up again. And she's like, I was hiking the other day, and I was actually thinking about what you said in the weight room about power and how the hardest part is at the very beginning, at the very end. You have to be able to push through the hard part at the beginning and the end.

[00:16:39.91] And I just love it when they can relate that to themselves and it sticks in their brain. And that's the whole point. When you can connect concepts that you're teaching to something that matters to them, they're going to remember it and it's going to stick. Rather than just saying, do this, push faster.

[00:16:58.95] Yeah. I like, you provided context, you provided relatability, and they could really grab that point or concept you were making at a variety of levels. They could relate it to a lot of different things in their life. And you saw that a few days later when your athlete came back and that lesson came through. And that brings them back to the weight room. Lesson learned in the weight room that they can continue to apply in different ways. And I like that idea of making it stick. Making it sticky for your athletes.

[00:17:39.14] And that, I'm sure leads into the second part. Creating a positive learning environment. You mentioned hiking a couple times here, but even going out with your athletes and just when you got there, get to know them. They're asking you questions. What are some of the other ways you create positivity?

[00:17:58.94] I think you got to think about, we talk about this a lot, culture building, whatever. But learning environment has a lot to do with that. And I think you got to ask yourself, well, what do I celebrate? What do I tolerate? Because those two things are going to lead to what I proliferate. What do I celebrate? What do I tolerate? That's going to lead to what I proliferate. And, that's going to be the culture. That's going to be the learning environment.

[00:18:25.79] So I try-- and a funny example of this, not with my athletes necessarily, but I got my fiancee into weightlifting, and the other day she came home with a blister. And I was like, aw, nice. That's awesome. Like, what a stud. You're doing a great job. And she just kind of gave me this horrible expression, like, you're supposed to feel sorry for me. Like, I got a blister. Like, you're supposed to be sympathetic.

[00:18:52.38] And that was just a kind of a funny example of, yeah, like, do we celebrate toughness and like my gosh, that was so hard. You ended up kind of on your knees there at the end. But I'm so proud of you. Do you celebrate that. Then you're probably going to proliferate this idea that we're all mentally tough here, or we can all do hard things here. Do you tolerate people cheating reps or going half-assed or that kind of thing? Well, that's probably what you're going to see more of.

[00:19:26.79] And I think a lot of it, too, comes down to myself and my own enthusiasm. I remember I had a science teacher-- we keep relating it back to education-- in sixth grade who, that was probably one of the hardest science classes I've ever had, and it was in sixth grade. But he was just so excited about every single thing he talked about that you couldn't help but like science, because he was so excited about it. And I think I try to be the same way in the weight room of like, I'll tell them about the workout that I did that morning, and how hard it was, but how excited I was when I finished.

[00:20:03.57] Or, I'll talk about oh, man, my hamstrings are lit up today. I did some heavy deadlifts yesterday or whatever. Or if it's a workout where I'm able to work out with them because it's safe for me to do that, I don't need to watch them, then doing that with them sometimes. Creating this environment where I'm a part of it, I'm excited about it. I'm celebrating their successes, no matter how small, and I'm allowing them to celebrate each other at the same time.

[00:20:33.24] Another thing we do, I always start it in the summer, I give out a GOAT Award. Greatest of All Time in the weight room award. And it's literally a goat trophy with a goat on top of it. And then a handwritten card, and in front of the whole team, in front of all the coaches, at practice once a month, we hand it out. So I hand out the first one, and tell why I gave this award to that person in front of everyone. And then the next month that person will hand it out to their teammate that they pick.

[00:21:09.56] And the rule is you have to choose a quote. When you get the award, you have to choose a quote to put up on the weight room whiteboard that represents what you hope your team lives into that month. And then you're looking for examples of that. And maybe every week I ask, hey, what kind of examples of mental toughness or whatever it is have you seen in your team this week? And they have a chance to call each other out in a positive way for those things.

[00:21:39.52] And then at the end of the month, let's say it's Maddie Wilkie. She was the first GOAT winner this summer. So she chooses her quote and then she picks a teammate that represents that quote that month and then hands it out in front of all the coaches the next time. So ways like that where you can create this environment that's a positive learning environment where people feel safe approaching you to ask questions, but also they feel safe failing, because you celebrate when they try hard and they still fail. You know that's going to be celebrated. And where they know that their teammates are looking out for good things in them, not always just looking out to catch them doing something bad.

[00:22:25.65] Yeah, I love the culture building. The team building. Positivity goes into what you were saying.

[00:22:31.53] Yeah.

[00:22:34.31] Yeah, high level college coaching. The field has evolved quite a bit. For many years you might have had the Olympic staff and then the football staff, and then it kind of went to basketball. Now women's basketball all over the country has dedicated strength and conditioning coaches. We're seeing this in baseball, soccer, other sports.

[00:22:56.82] Working with a single sport. How dialed in do you have to be in terms of knowledge of the sport as a strength and conditioning coach, getting to know the sport coaches and what their needs and wants are? And also the individual athletes. How is that experience different for you?

[00:23:14.79] It's been really fun, honestly. I think it's very different. It has been a learning curve for me because, before I was the strength coach for everyone, but I was also the sports psychologist, and the nutritionist, and the guidance counselor, like all those people wrapped up into one, because there are no positions, at that level, at those levels for all those different jobs. And that just became, in my mind, a natural part of what I did. It was all one position.

[00:23:48.78] I didn't really separate those things out. And so it's been a really hard transition for me, or at least it was a really hard transition for me to come to this level where there is a sports psychologist, there is a nutritionist, there's a sports scientist, there's an athletic trainer. I literally have a narrow lane of strength and conditioning, and my job bleeds into all of those fields. So I have to have really positive working relationships with all of those people. But that is not my job.

[00:24:17.45] So I've had a hard time, honestly, finding the balance between staying in my lane, having really good working relationships with all those people, and helping them, like, supporting their position. But not trying to go into that lane and do their job. It's just been a little bit of a transition for me.

[00:24:38.89] But at this point, this is my third year. I feel really good about it because I do have those positive working relationships, and it's been really an intentional effort on my part to make sure that those are developed and maintained. And it comes down to, as always, really good communication. And when you think you're communicating, communicate more, or communicate more effectively.

[00:25:04.36] Being really willing to listen and learn from everyone all the time. And ask the question, don't just assume. So those are the things I've intentionally done over the last couple of years to really enhance those working relationships, and be the best team of sports performance professionals for each individual athlete.

[00:25:33.18] We're hearing this all over sport right now. The coming together of different fields. And I think our field, strength and conditioning, has actually done a great job over the years of making ourselves as resourceful as possible. We wanted to be the generalist and be able to help and pick up any of the slack because we were trying to build our jobs and our roles. And maybe it's going the other way now, like you're saying, where we have to actually focus down on, let's just be a really great strength coach.

[00:26:09.83] And that's not a shot at us. That doesn't take things away from us. It actually empowers us to be better at what we do, and maybe go into the weeds a little bit more on things that we would have wanted to do in the past, or maybe the way we've thought about it, but got pulled in different directions. I mean, gosh, I remember doing grocery runs before we had dieticians.

[00:26:37.05] Yeah I'll do some of that sometimes.

[00:26:39.96] Yeah, I mean, and it's all hands on deck. I get that with team travel and things like that. But, there's a lot of things that you don't sign up for when you put strength and conditioning coach next to your name. I'd love to hear your advice for maybe young or aspiring coaches that want to get into the field. How should they prepare knowing that this field, there's a lot of good in this field, but there's also some things that we still need to improve?

[00:27:14.34] Well, for one thing, I think change your perspective. So here's an example. When I first took this job and started traveling with the team, I realized it was never really communicated until we were on our first traveling trip. But it was my responsibility as, like, the new staff member to do bed checks at night at the hotel room. And your initial gut feeling might be like, what? Bed checks? What am a babysitter. Like, I'm a strength coach. Bed checks?

[00:27:51.97] And that's like some people's mentality. But I decided to, for my own sanity, and just because I wanted to elevate myself, to make it into, like, this fun thing where I looked forward to it, and the athletes looked forward to it, too. So instead of calling it like bed checks. I just, I came up with the concept of a bed check question. So I would just go around and think of it as my opportunity to be the last one they saw every day, and say good night to everybody.

[00:28:20.41] And so I'd ask them a question. And sometimes it was a funny, fun question, and sometimes it was like a deeper question where I was getting to know them better. But I would write down the answers. And so it was just another opportunity for me to build relationships with my athletes, and be the last smile they saw that day before they went to bed. Whether we had a good game or a bad game or whatever.

[00:28:42.31] So that that's one thing, is find a way to change your perspective on whatever it is you're having to do that might not be palatable for you at first. And figure out how to make it beneficial for you. And then number two, I would say this has always been a challenge. Not a challenge, but a goal of mine is to get to know as many people as you can that surround your working environment, that are interconnected. And I think that actually helps you develop that positive learning environment too, for yourself, but also for the athletes.

[00:29:18.50] For example, I have taken it upon myself to not just get to know all the strength coaches that I am with, even though my office is not in the weight room, it's in the women's basketball facility. I'm not a natural part of their group. But I've really made an effort to get to know everyone there and go to their staff meetings. Even though I might not necessarily be involved in anything they're talking about.

[00:29:42.64] Going to my, of course, basketball staff meetings and going to their film sessions, even though I don't need to be in there as the strength coach. But I'm learning what the athletes are hearing from their coaches, what the coaches are frustrated with, what they want to promote, how I'm thinking the whole time, how can I help with this.

[00:30:05.78] I'm not just sitting at practice scrolling on my phone the whole time. I'm watching practice. I hear the corrections that the coaching staff is giving the athletes. Again, thinking about how I can help. And then I also get to know the coaching staff from other sports. So I've made an effort to get to know the volleyball staff, to get to know the volleyball athletes, to go to the volleyball games. Softball, same thing.

[00:30:36.02] The athletes that are friends with my athletes. I'm getting to know as many people as I can in a professional setting so that I have positive working relationships with all of those people that are all connected in our athletic department. So when anyone comes to the weight room and they're like, hey, Lindsey, and those are all positive interactions, my athletes see that too, and it just gives me a little bit more credibility with them.

[00:31:01.33] And it also makes my day a lot more fun. And it just makes the whole experience better for everyone. When you have positive relationships and interactions with a variety of people, whether it's sports performance, sports science, people you directly work with or people that you just see in passing, you should be able to call the janitor by name. Like you really need to. Good morning, Janet. How's your day going so far?

[00:31:30.58] My athletes see me talking to the custodians, too. And now they call them by their first name. So it's just like stuff like that. It's really, really important. It's really simple, but it pays dividends later.

[00:31:41.83] Yeah, I mean, that's huge. Being a team player extends beyond your team, especially when you're part of an athletic department and a strength and conditioning department, a school, a University. There's a lot there. And I just love the positivity and attitude that you're trying to make the most of every situation. You're a team player. You reframe some of what could be viewed as the negative parts of the job or experiences, for you and for your athletes, because we know those the players don't really like the bed checks either, probably.

[00:32:24.73] So I think it's something, that you're all in the same boat and you found a way to overcome that. I think that's really great. I think that's what coaching is all about. Making our environments better. I really enjoyed your perspective and I feel like those athletes really have a great coach that they can confide in and work with, and just really happy you were on today.

[00:32:50.28] Well, Thank you. I appreciate it. I think it comes down to that quote, if you want to be warm, you got to stand next to the fire. It's like create the place you want to be a part of. If you don't like something about it, be the one to make it better. So that's kind of what we're hoping to do. What I hope to do, but what I hope to help my athletes do as well.

[00:33:09.06] Awesome. So for all of our listeners tuning in, they're going to want to reach out to you, ask you some questions. What's the best way to do that?

[00:33:19.50] Well, there's a few different ways of doing it. I love connecting with people. Hopefully that's been clear through what I've talked about. And I really like, especially talking with people who want to take the initiative to change something, whether it's in their career, or their life, or their habits or anything like that, or even just brainstorm with me. So you can reach me on my phone. We can definitely list my phone number. That's fine.

[00:33:47.98] Texting is probably the fastest way of getting a hold of me. Instagram. I'm on Instagram quite a bit. At Authentically Strong is the way you get a hold of me there. And then my school email as well. But yeah, probably the phone would be the fastest way to get a hold of me.

[00:34:06.30] All right, well, we'll put your contact info into the show notes for all the listeners. Like I said before, really great episode, deep dive. I love that we connected not just on the level as a coach, but as an educator and how your voice as an educator bleeds into what you do now at a really high level in women's basketball. I really think our listeners are going to enjoy that message. And so, so get your phone ready now.

[00:34:36.40] All right. I hope so.

[00:34:38.64] Thanks, everyone, for tuning in. That was Lindsay Kirschman, Director of Sports Performance for the University of Utah Women's Basketball program. We appreciate you, our listeners, tuning in every couple of weeks on this podcast. The podcast is growing NSCA Coaching Podcast now in its eighth season. We continue to grow it and make it better, and we always appreciate your feedback and suggestions, whether that's an upcoming guest or just a topic you want to hear more about. We also want to thank Sorinex exercise equipment, sponsor on this podcast.

[00:35:17.25] My name is Autumn Lockwood and you just listened to an episode of The NSCA Coaching Podcast. And if you'd like to get involved in any sort of way for volunteer opportunity, make sure you head to nsca.com and you'll be able to find a list of them to get involved.

[00:35:34.93] 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 to join us next time.

Reporting Errors: To report errors in a podcast episode requiring correction or clarification, email the editor at publications@nsca.com or write to NSCA, attn: Publications Dept., 1885 Bob Johnson Dr., Colorado Springs, CO 80906. Your letter should be clearly marked as a letter of complaint. Please (a) identify in writing the precise factual errors in the published podcast episode (every false, factual assertion allegedly contained therein), (b) explain with specificity what the true facts are, and (c) include your full name and contact information.