The Reporter recently asked a couple questions of Josh Boonstra, Senior Performance Coach at Pro Sports Club Redmond about his involvement with the facility’s new “High School and College Performance Training” program.
1. What do you enjoy most about working with the younger athletes as part of this program?
It wasn’t long ago for a lot of our coaching staff that we were competing at the high school and college level ourselves. We can easily relate to the mindset and deep desire many of these young athletes have to take their athletic ability to the next level. It’s great to work with someone who is prepared to test their physical and mental limits in order to improve athletically and for many of these kids looking to play at the collegiate level, they will have to do exactly that. In a program like this, where kids are being educated, physically challenged, surrounded by their peers and competing with one another to improve, it creates a great team chemistry and group energy that is difficult to replicate. From day one of this facilities grand opening, we’ve been waiting for the right time and the right group to kick start this program and O’Dea’s Football program has been the perfect fit.
2. As a coach, what are some differences that you encounter working with junior athletes as opposed to older adults and how do you adapt to that?
There certainly are some differenced in the “coaching approach” between your average adult member looking to improve their general fitness and a young athlete. The typical member the PRO Club connects with wasn’t necessarily an “athlete” in their younger years and rarely are they looking to get involved in athletics. Often times the goals they are looking to achieve are very general and lack specificity, which is great, because as a trainer/coach we can help create realistic/specific goals and guide them to success. When working with an athlete, they often already have specific goals, numbers, times, etc., they are looking to reach. Now, as a coach, we can help instruct the more dynamic and efficient movement skills necessary to achieve these results. Most athletes have a very competitive nature about them as well, which allows a coach to create a highly motivating and more challenging atmosphere to maximize the effort and ability of each athlete.
Working with a variety of members at PRO Sports Club, from weight-loss driven adults to elite athletes, has benefited our coaching staff greatly. We’ve adopted a variety of coaching techniques to use when necessary. As we know, people respond to different methods of motivation. The key is recognizing the most appropriate approach for each individual, in this case a large group of individuals, and modify our coaching styles to best accommodate the individual or group.
