The CPASS Athletic Coaching Education program has partnered with West Virginia University Club Sports to offer sports conditioning sessions for club teams. The sessions are run by graduate students and supervised by Dr. Clayton Kuklick, CPASS teaching assistant professor.
The ACE major specializes in coaching and the science behind effective coaching strategies. Students in the ACE master’s program oversee the sessions which specialize in strength and conditioning. The group meets at Mylan Park on Tuesday and Thursday nights, with Wednesday afternoon trainings held in the instructional fitness lab and multipurpose gym in the CPASS building.
Kuklick reports a positive response in the first few weeks of the partnership. “In the second week of conditioning, we had 58 participants,” Kuklick said.
Each session includes four or five strength and conditioning interns who work with the athletes. Two of the interns run the training while two oversee strength and conditioning. Athletes have the option to train multiple nights a week. The student coaches tailor the sessions based on the requirements of each sport. However, because there may be athletes on different teams in the same session, the interns work to combine and blend the conditioning.
“There may be softball and boxing athletes in one session. So, the coaches will create a training session to meet the needs of those two sports. There is overlapping in some of the sessions, but the coaches do a great job of mixing up the training,” explained Dr. Kuklick.
Bruce Brubaker, program coordinator for WVU Club Sports, says the partnership with the ACE program is “a tremendous success.” Brubaker has already received positive feedback from athletes who have noticed an improvement in their strength and endurance.
“This is an excellent opportunity to integrate CPASS strength and conditioning expertise with club sports,” Brubaker said. “A lot of participants have never experienced training like this and are really enjoying it.”
Intramural teams can contact Dr. Kuklick for more information or to register: ckuklick@mail.wvu.edu or 304-293-0851.