Coaching and Sport Education master's student Kanchana Paromita Venkatesh wanted to dive deeper into strength and conditioning coaching. She chose WVU because it integrated science with the art of coaching.
What program are you enrolled in at WVU?
How did you become interested in this field of study?
I was a strength and conditioning coach for more than four years back home in India. I loved doing what I did, but I was starting to feel like I needed to invest some time in my education, especially because I was trying to make a shift from coaching lifetime athletes to working with performance athletes. I think in a field like coaching, it's unfortunately quite easy to become successful without having an educational background. I'm glad that this is slowly changing, though. I firmly believe that if I want someone to trust me to guide them through a process that their livelihood depends on, I need to invest in my education and make sure I'm equipped to handle their needs.
What do you do on a typical day?
I opted to do a thesis for my final year, and this has been keeping me occupied. Since the thesis is my primary focus right now, I've cut back on coaching. Coaches are usually morning people so I'm up early working on my research. It's the first time in a long time that I've not gotten up and coached or worked out first thing in the morning.
What is your favorite part of the program? What is the most challenging?
My favorite part of the program is understanding the science and research behind a lot of what we see in the weight-room. I had a functional knowledge of these concepts earlier but enrolling in a formal course of study obviously gives you a deeper understanding.
The most challenging part is to have to put coaching on hold. My focus right now is to invest time in academics and set myself up to be a more effective coach down the line. But I do miss being able to coach full time like I did earlier.
Why did you choose WVU?
I looked into many different grad programs and WVU stood out to me as a program that integrated sports science with coaching education. I was keen to do a program that emphasized not only the science but the art of coaching too.
How does this graduate degree fit in to your life plans?
My long-term goal is to be involved with high performance athletes competing at the international level. This degree has exposed me to a lot of the applied sports science research and theory that goes into working with athletes. Additionally, I've had the opportunity to meet and intern with coaches who work with professional athletes and it's been valuable to learn from them and observe their process.
What have you learned that has made the biggest impact in your work or studies?
The classes in strength and conditioning and applied sports science that I've taken have made a huge difference to me. I have a far better understanding of concepts like periodization principles and athlete monitoring across different sports which I can directly apply to athletes I work with. I also train with the WVU Weightlifting Club. This has given me a chance to learn and practice Olympic lifts and derivatives. We don't do as much Olympic lifting back home in India, so it's been valuable to be coached in this area.