The Strength Game

Will Ratelle is an Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach at the University of North Dakota working with the volleyball and softball programs along with assisting the football team. Ratelle returned to his alma mater, UND, as a full-time coach in 2018 after previously serving as an intern in the department from 2015-2017. In addition to his collegiate coaching experience, Ratelle is the owner of W2 Performance. W2 Performance is an online training program that provides athletes a service to aid in them taking their sports performance to a higher level as well as provides consulting for sports teams and individuals. He has written multiple articles for SimpiFaster and has been featured on many other coaching and performance-based podcasts.Prior to working in the performance field, he spent time as a professional football player with the Atlanta Falcons, Kansas City Chiefs and Saskatchewan Roughriders (CFL). Ratelle was a four year linebacker on the University of North Dakota football team, picking up multiple accolades during his career including holding the UND single season record for tackles. Following his football career, Ratelle remains a highly dedicated strength and power athlete. Samson EquipmentSamson Equipment provides Professional Weight Room Solutions for all your S&C needs.Cerberus StrengthUse Code: STRENGTH_GAME at Cerberus-Strength.comDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the show

Bryan Woolson is the Regional Director of the MedStar Health Sports Performance program in Forest Hill, MD where he oversees the day-to-day operations of the Harford County facility. In addition, Woolson is the head strength & conditioning coach for the John’s Hopkins Women’s Lacrosse team. Woolson has been working with the JHU lacrosse program for over 10 years now, first starting with the women’s team in 2013. In his time at Hopkins, he has also spent time working with the field hockey, men’s soccer, and women’s basketball programs. From 2011-2015 he served as the strength and conditioning coach for the Boys’ Latin School of Maryland’s lacrosse team and has been a performance coach for the NEMS Lacrosse Club since 2013. Woolson is the owner of M.O.A.B. Performance, an online program that provides training and nutrition advice to help clients and athletes alike achieve their goals through a life of pain-free performance. Woolson is a former college football running back at Salisbury University. A 3-year starter and team captain in his senior season, he still holds multiple lifting records for his position. After a brief stint competing in powerlifting, he still continues to strength train and is also an avid golfer.Samson EquipmentSamson Equipment provides Professional Weight Room Solutions for all your S&C needs.Cerberus StrengthUse Code: STRENGTH_GAME at Cerberus-Strength.comDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the show

Matt Hickmann is the Head Strength Coach for Football at Middle Tennessee State University. Hickmann arrived at MTSU in 2018 after spending two years as an Assistant Coach at NC State. He began his coaching career at his alma mater, Cumberland University as an intern coach and soon after a similar position at Vanderbilt University working with the Commodore football and baseball programs. In 2010, Hickmann was named the director of strength and conditioning at Cumberland University working with all varsity sports. He then spent one year at Furman University as an assistant coach before working with the Georgia Tech football program from 2012-2014. Hickmann spent one year as the director of performance at PLAE where he directed and organized a training facility working with general population and training youth sports teams, in addition to working with professional testing labs responsible for testing the floor products the company produced. Hickmann earned all-conference honors at Cumberland University where he played defensive back for three seasons. He has also trained heavily in mixed martial arts and has competed at the amateur level earning a 3-0 record. Hickmann himself walks the walk, and continues to train heavily during his downtime setting the example for his student-athletes in the weight room and on the field.  Samson EquipmentSamson Equipment provides Professional Weight Room Solutions for all your S&C needs.Cerberus StrengthUse Code: STRENGTH_GAME at Cerberus-Strength.comDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the show

Bryce Taylor is an Instructor of Physical Education and Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach at the United States Air Force Academy. There he leads training for the women’s soccer, wrestling, and men’s and women’s gymnastics teams in addition to being a course director for PE Advanced Physical Development courses for Air Force cadets. Prior to arriving at the Air Force Academy in 2018, Taylor served as an assistant strength coach at Alabama State University for two years. He got his start in the coaching profession as an intern coach at his alma mater, the University of Nebraska at Kearney, and has been a personal trainer at multiple facilities including Sterling’s Team Speed, Metro Fitness and Abercrombie. A former college football cornerback, at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, Taylor embraced the weight room leading the team in multiple performance testing categories. Following his playing career he still takes that love he developed for the weight room and continues to train regularly. Nowadays he still trains like an athlete, often running his teams’ program ahead of time as well as incorporating a lot of calisthenics and gymnastics type work into his own training. Additionally, he has previously competed in ultra-marathons and still enjoys trail running. Samson EquipmentSamson Equipment provides Professional Weight Room Solutions for all your S&C needs.Cerberus StrengthUse Code: STRENGTH_GAME at Cerberus-Strength.comDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the show

Kendrick Pratt is a Strength and Conditioning Coach at Jackson State University working with their men’s and women’s basketball programs. Prior to arriving at Jackson State, he was an assistant strength and conditioning coach at the United States Military Academy West Point for the 2022-2023 season coming from serving as a paid intern at TCU. Kendrick began his coaching career working in the private sector at Impact Performance in Columbus, GA before taking on collegiate internship roles at the University of Louisville and Elon University in 2021, followed by a full-time position at the University of Illinois Springfield as an assistant sports performance coach. He has also spent time as a defensive coordinator for the North Bank Bulls semi-professional football team from 2014-2016.Joining the Army in 2012 and earning his Commission in 2016, Kendrick currently serves as a Commander & Logistical Maneuver Officer in the United States Army at the rank of Captain. Additionally, he is also the Host of “The Coaches Table” podcast. A former collegiate football player at Minnesota State University, Kendrick is still an avid lifter and snowboarder who is ever refining his craft to better impact the coaches and athletes he works with daily. Samson EquipmentSamson Equipment provides Professional Weight Room Solutions for all your S&C needs.Cerberus StrengthUse Code: STRENGTH_GAME at Cerberus-Strength.comDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the show

Jacob Behara is a Human Performance Data Scientist at the US Army. He has spent the previous two years serving in similar positions for Guardian Premier Solutions at both Kirtland Air Force Base as well as Albuquerque, NM. He transitioned into the tactical training space in 2019 after spending the start of the year as a performance specialist at EXOS. His first full-time position was at Stetson University where he was an assistant strength and conditioning coach from 2014-2015 before working as a performance specialist at SPIRE Academy in Ohio from 2015-2016. He transitioned back into the college realm as an assistant strength coach at the University of Kansas from 2016-2017 before jumping into the professional ranks, first as a MiLB strength coach in the Houston Astros organization in 2017 followed by the Kansas City Royals organization the following year. He has also been an intern strength coach at the University of South Alabama in2014 and his alma mater, Oklahoma State University from 2013-2014.Behara continues to stay active in his spare time, staying heavily involved in lifting and developing into a better athlete. DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this interview are not that of the United States Government, the DoD, or the United States Army.Samson EquipmentSamson Equipment provides Professional Weight Room Solutions for all your S&C needs.Cerberus StrengthUse Code: STRENGTH_GAME at Cerberus-Strength.comDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the show

Kyle Casillas is the Lead Strength & Conditioning Specialist at Sanford Sports in Grand Forks, ND. He has served in this capacity since the summer of 2021 after a brief stint as a performance coach with Future. Casillas spent nine years in the United States Marine Corps, finishing off his last contract as an Infantry Platoon Sergeant. During that time he was able to intern with the University of Hawaii’s strength and conditioning department from 2015-2016 before serving in a self-employed coaching role and later working in hospital and health systems as a human performance specialist at Altru Health System powered by EXOS from 2019-2021. He has worked in other capacities involved with the military such as Purchasing Agent for Defense Logistics Agency in Joint Base Pearl Harbor from 2018-2019, but now finds himself full-time invested in strength and conditioning. Casillas continues to train and has channeled and utilized his military experience and his passion for weightlifting into the athletes he works with on a daily basis. He is still an avid lifter, a military dependent, and father of 3 daughters that keep him very busy. Samson EquipmentSamson Equipment provides Professional Weight Room Solutions for all your S&C needs.Cerberus StrengthUse Code: STRENGTH_GAME at Cerberus-Strength.comDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the show

Heidi Campo has had an interesting 17+ year career in the industry, starting in 2005 when she started coaching swim teams and triathletes. Over the years her career has evolved to personal training, coaching individuals and teams, and even opening a gym. As an athlete, Campo has also had a sampling of many sports, from competitive swimming to triathlons, bodybuilding, powerlifting, and even strongman. Campo has tried it all, but she found her true passion in strength sports. During her undergraduate at the University of Utah, she helped found and participated in their powerlifting team before moving onto strongman in 2015. Campo has been both the Strongman Corporation State Chairman for Utah as well as the NSCA Strongman Special Interest Group President since 2020. One of the defining things about Campo’s career is her ability to adapt to change, which she has demonstrated once again. In October of 2022 Campo sold her gym to marry her husband and pursue graduate education in specialized strength and conditioning. Even though her career is in a transitional phase, her passion is still as solid as an atlas stone.Samson EquipmentSamson Equipment provides Professional Weight Room Solutions for all your S&C needs.Cerberus StrengthUse Code: STRENGTH_GAME at Cerberus-Strength.comDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the show

Brennan Sweeney is an Assistant Strength Coach at North Carolina A&T working with the Aggies track & field, baseball, and football programs. Additionally, he is the Head of Performance at Proehlific Park in Greensboro, NC working with a multitude of different age group athletes, sports, and teams.  Sweeney got his start coaching as an intern at Total Sports Performance Center in Wixom, Michigan while continuing to finish his undergraduate degree. Since then, he’s been the head coach for the NC Fusion, Owner of Pure Impact LLC, a lacrosse coach for Greensboro Day School as well as lacrosse referee all while looking to pursue his career into coaching. In addition to his coaching, Sweeney is the Host of “Coaches Cradle” podcast and former college lacrosse player. He played midfield for the Guilford College Lacrosse team from 2017-2021 and continues to strength train as well as play semi pro box lacrosse.Samson EquipmentSamson Equipment provides Professional Weight Room Solutions for all your S&C needs.Cerberus StrengthUse Code: STRENGTH_GAME at Cerberus-Strength.comDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the show

Kaitlan Aries is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist at LMR Technical Group where she implements programs for fighter pilots and weapon system officers. Just before beginning coaching in the tactical setting in 2022, she spent the previous three years at Jacksonville University, first as an assistant coach prior to being promoted to the director of sports performance for her final year. Aries began her career interning at her alma mater, the University of Tennessee, in 2014 followed by serving as an intern at the University of Miami. From 2015-2017 she was the assistant director of sports performance as well as inaugural head girls weightlifting coach at Gulliver Preparatory School in Miami, FL. From there she returned to Tennessee as an Olympic strength & conditioning coaching assistant for two years. Aries also served as the strength coach for the US Rowing Olympic U18, U21, and U23 Development Program for three seasons. Aries is a former collegiate varsity rower at the University of Tennessee where she competed from 2011-2015. During that time she earned NSCA Strength and Conditioning All-American honors in 2015. Following her collegiate athletic career, she transitioned to Olympic weightlifting where she has been competing since 2016 as a part of AMP Weightlifting and most recently Boise Barbell team. Samson EquipmentSamson Equipment provides Professional Weight Room Solutions for all your S&C needs.Cerberus StrengthUse Code: STRENGTH_GAME at Cerberus-Strength.comDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the show