Nicole Rodriguez | Building Strength Beyond Borders

Nicole Rodriguez always knew she wanted to pursue strength and conditioning, but the extent of her journey — spanning 44 countries and the Paris 2024 Olympic Games — is nothing short of inspiring. During her time at Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning, Rodriguez recognized the value of experience and environment, later joining the EXOS International Program to coach globally. Eager to test her skills and help standardize coaching education, she sought out developing countries to advance their sport infrastructure. Rodriguez outlines key differences between U.S. and European approaches: while the U.S. excels in strength methodology, Europe enhances sport-specific application through tactical periodization. Additionally, she highlights Europe’s emphasis on rehabilitation and an “inverse relationship” between time in the weight room versus pitch-side with sport coaches. Rodriguez also describes her work with Poland’s Ministry of Sport and Tourism to pursue NSCA Global Chapter status, aligning with her passion for improving strength and conditioning education and implementation worldwide.

Connect with Nicole by email: nicole@coachnicolerodriguez.com and online at: coachnicolerodriguez.com | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs and LinkedIn: @ericmcmahoncscs  

Learn more about NSCA international programs mentioned in the episode at NSCA.com/Global.

“I think it's important for strength and conditioning coaches to know that our skill set and our scope of practice isn't just training this sport we work with. It's being able to adapt and form a needs analysis and build a program for any sport or activity based on demands, recognizing key aspects of an activity or a job or a sport or a position that give you windows of trainability to help that athlete or person.” 21:23

“I always believe in Harry Truman's word that you can be successful in life without getting the credit. And there's a lot of things that we have to do in the industry where we're just do not get any credit. And it's just part of the job. But we try to use it as a positive way of working together.” 31:30

“Those are the two things that I always work to remember is, hey, keep the peace in the environments that I work in because they are high-stress environments. But also, this concept of you don't always have to be super bubbly and always smiling. It's helpful. It's very helpful if you have that ability to stay positive through the thick of the scenario. But sometimes it doesn't always need to come from positivity but more of this idea of staying neutral, yeah, so you can make the next best decision.” 35:22

[00:00:00.00] [MUSIC PLAYING]

[00:00:02.60] Welcome to the NSCA Coaching Podcast, season eight, episode 15.

[00:00:07.91] Those are the two things that I always work to remember is, hey, keep the peace in the environments that I work in because they are high-stress environments. But also, this concept of you don't always have to be super bubbly and always smiling. It's helpful. It's very helpful if you have that ability to stay positive through the thick of the scenario. But sometimes it doesn't always need to come from positivity but more of this idea of staying neutral, yeah, so you can make the next best decision.

[00:00:48.68] 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.

[00:00:59.27] This is the NSCA Coaching Podcast. I'm Eric McMahon, NSCA's Coaching and Sports Science Program Manager. And today, we're going to talk about international perspectives on strength and conditioning. Our guest is Coach Nicole Rodriguez. You may have seen Nicole presenting at a recent NSCA conference or at other events in the field, often on topics related to speed and agility. I always enjoy her sessions and her coaching style. Nicole, thanks for being on the podcast.

[00:01:29.61] Thank you for having me, Eric.

[00:01:32.25] So I was going through your website, Nicole. We always have the chance to catch up at different events. And I was doing a little deeper dive. I saw you've coached in over 44 different countries. You've worked with six national governing bodies and recently got the opportunity to go to the Paris Olympic Games with Team USA. I'm just so impressed by your coaching background and your resume. And I'd just love to hear, where are you from? How did you get into this profession? And tell us about all the places it's taken you.

[00:02:06.53] Yeah, yeah. So thanks for having me. I'm happy to be jumping on and connecting with yourself and like-minded coaches. So originally, I'm from Texas. And I came from a quite unique background, where I was almost bred for this, literally. The athletic background was instilled in me as a young girl.

[00:02:31.20] And I figured it out early on, actually, which is quite unique to most coaching avenues. And I figured it out. My freshman year of university, I was attending a D1 university, quite large university.

[00:02:48.09] And I walked into the weight room. We had an American strength and conditioning-- American football strength and conditioning coach. And I walked up to this big man. And I'm 5' 2", 120 back then. And I just looked at him in the eyes. And I said, I'm going to be paying close attention because I want to do what you're doing one day. And he looked down at me and laughed. And that was just kind of the starting point of knowing the direction I wanted to go.

[00:03:15.97] So it was a little bit different for me because I knew exactly the path that I wanted to take, which was the field of strength and conditioning. But yeah, post university, I did what most graduates did, which was apply for an internship and try to get practical experience.

[00:03:38.50] And it was that internship at Mike Boyle's Strength & Conditioning in Boston that provided this aha moment for me, that experience and environment was going to be the difference maker in one's career, because it was there that I had that first experience of working with amazing coaches and professionals in a great facility with excellent methodology.

[00:04:06.70] And it just kind of occurred to me early on that there is-- there are a lot of pieces of the puzzle when it comes to having a successful program and environment. And it's a multifactorial process. So yeah, after that process, I decided that I wanted to take a more global view to my coaching journey, which is when I, in 2012, joined EXOS, specifically as part of the international division.

[00:04:40.59] That allowed me to have various team experiences, because at the time, EXOS had a lot of team contracts all over the world. And basically, that kick-started my journey from 2012 all the way to today. That allowed me to travel across 44 different countries and coach in different environments. So that's kind of a little bit of the background of where I've been.

[00:05:08.17] And then after that experience at EXOS, that's when I decided, in 2018, to move to Europe full time. And I was there for six years. But what made my story unique from a coaching perspective is that I decided to go to developing countries, in regards to sports.

[00:05:31.63] So I wasn't going to Belgium and the Netherlands anymore, or Germany. But I was going to countries such as Poland, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic because I wanted to test my skills, so to speak, in countries that didn't have that infrastructure, that didn't have that educational background that we're used to here in the US. And that's how the journey in Europe started for me, from a full-time perspective.

[00:06:00.53] I mean, that's a big move for anyone, going international, coming from the US. And I think a lot of coaches, when we aspire to be strength and conditioning coaches, a lot of us just think North America or the US or maybe one part of the field. I want to be a collegiate football strength and conditioning coach or whatever it may be. It's bold to say, hey, I want to go to developing countries.

[00:06:25.98] And what's interesting to me is that we really don't have a lot of knowledge about what strength and conditioning coaching, but strength and conditioning, the field, looks like in these developing countries or other parts of the world. We know Australia. We know the UK. You mentioned Germany and some other more established countries. But from your perspective, what you've seen, give us a glimpse. What does strength and conditioning look like in other parts of the world, maybe in some of those lesser known areas?

[00:07:01.06] Yeah. Well, I will start with saying what we do well here in the US. And we have an excellent background in the actual strength methodology-- so the actual tools and resources that we do in the gym. I think from that perspective, the US does it the best. The other thing that we do really well in the US is our coaching.

[00:07:28.74] I believe that US-based coaches, along with Australian coaches, are some of the best practitioners in the world in terms of the art of coaching and understanding how to deliver. And I was very fortunate to have great mentors and great environments, as I previously discussed. So basically, what I was looking to do in Europe, in that Central Eastern part of Europe, was get that perspective of how to build theoretically something out of nothing because there was no formal coaching background. There was no education there, which is why we're starting some additional efforts in Poland to help standardize the education process through the NSCA.

[00:08:14.36] But basically, there wasn't a lot of environment for strength and conditioning. What Europe does better than the US, and at least from a sport-specific aspect-- and the sport that I'm speaking of right now is soccer-- what they do 10 times better than us in the US is that actual sport-specific application and how they build the strength and speed qualities that we typically build in the weight room, on the pitch-- so in this format called tactical periodization.

[00:08:50.24] So what Europe did really well was provide me those tools and insights on how I build, as you mentioned, that speed and agility, those aspects on the pitch real-time without this, quote unquote, "formal strength and conditioning environment" that we see here in the US, in the UK, and Australia. So it allowed me a completely different perspective of how I implement, because I will say that that is probably my strongest card in this coaching world, is the implementation.

[00:09:30.02] So yeah, I think what Europe provided me was a completely different look on how I'm implementing the system that I believed in, which is obviously based around movement, movement variability, and how we're improving these different strength qualities. But yeah, it really gave me a better insight on the sport-specific aspect and what we're looking for when trying to improve performance.

[00:10:00.77] It's interesting. So just thinking about your background, Mike Boyle Strength & Conditioning, and one of the terms that comes from that group is that functional training for sport mentality. And there were a lot of conversations around that. I remember 15, 20 years ago, early 2000s, where sport general training, things to influence progression, maybe a lot of concepts out of sports medicine getting applied within strength and conditioning.

[00:10:37.43] And I would say that this probably gave our profession a lot more tools in the tool box, a lot more exercise progressions, methodologies that we can employ with our athletes. If they're not a great squatter, is there another variation or another movement that they can do? And so we have all these progressions. We have a huge exercise menu.

[00:10:59.64] And as you said, here in North America, we have great strength methodology, coaching philosophies, and practices. But I think it's interesting what you said, because we often, I think, in strength and conditioning, it's that physical priority that when you break it down, physical, psychological, tactical, and technical. And I think now we're just getting into more of that motivational or psychological aspect here in the US.

[00:11:35.01] But it is interesting, especially coming out of COVID, where we were really concerned around what was happening at colleges and universities with workload and practice monitoring. And we hear about incidences all the time where maybe practices aren't being monitored or regulated. So I think it's interesting you're talking about the tactical and technical skill development and how strength development, whether it's plyometrics, speed, agility, all these different areas, get integrated.

[00:12:10.92] What do you think, we'll say, US-based coaches or coaches that have a more of a weight room focus, strength-based focus, can do to maybe diversify their skill set and apply some of these skills that you're seeing implemented well internationally?

[00:12:29.50] Yeah. I mean, I think-- first off, I think that because we typically maybe live in the weight room a little bit and just because, hey, that's where our environment is set up, it's more-- it's controllable. So I am saying that we use the gym and the weight room is an important part. And I will clarify that even in Europe, it was my goal to introduce strength-based work starting at U12-- so at a very young age.

[00:13:04.84] But how we did it was a little bit different. We did it in the form of manual resistance and partner-based games. So I will be the first proud American to say that strength is a very important method that we implemented in Europe. But I think what was different was where my time was being spent.

[00:13:24.13] So in the US, in places like EXOS, places like Mike Boyle Strength & Conditioning, we were spending the majority of our time inside in the gym, where in Europe, the majority of my time was being spent on the side of the pitch, working with the players and the teams.

[00:13:45.87] So it was almost an inverse time relationship, where if in the US it was 80/20 in the gym and then 20% on the pitch, well, in Europe, it was actually the complete opposite. 80% of my time was spent on the pitch, working pitch side or within the drills and the exercises that the players were going through. And then 20% of that time was spent indoors in the gym as a preactivation, as a warm-up, or as we know in the US, this idea of microdosing.

[00:14:20.22] So we got really good at using that 20% to implement the strength-based methodology that we wanted to implement, power. All of the activation and preparation work we had to do it within that 20% time allotment because culturally, that's how it-- yeah, that's how it worked there.

[00:14:42.22] So I think to answer your question specifically, one of the things that I think US-based coaches who want to work a little bit more across the continuum and being embedded into the team sport environment is finding those opportunities to spend more time on the side of the pitch, working with the coaches, understanding how they're programming their sets and reps from a session design perspective.

[00:15:09.04] And I think what we have in the US is this amazing skill set to program volume and intensity in the gym. And I think what we need to understand as professionals is because we have such an amazing background and skill set in the gym, we can transfer that over to the conditioning side. We can transfer that over to the session design side, understanding work-to-rest ratios, because I believe as Americans, we do understand this concept of load and volume and intensity.

[00:15:43.96] So we just have to have that confidence to know this does apply to other areas and just start to spend a little bit more time with the coaching staff and the players on the pitch and try to just diversify the time a little bit.

[00:16:02.65] I mean, it's a little inspirational that the role we can have, because we do have training and education related to workload and volume and intensity in all these areas. Maybe not all of our sport coaches have the same level of education we have in these areas. It sounds like you've worked with some that actually have a really educated approach of practice planning and volume progressions. And I think any strength coach would say, I would love to have that.

[00:16:40.82] I mean, there's got to be challenges where we-- you probably have knowledge or you've been in an experience that the sport coach or what's happening in the team setting isn't going as well as it maybe should. How does a strength coach navigate that from more of that ancillary role, from that fitness or strength and conditioning coach role?

[00:17:05.36] Yeah. I mean, I think when we're looking at it from a team perspective, we have to understand, number one, the game demands and work backwards. And I'm not saying it's apples to apples, where if we're running total distances of 10 to 12 kilometers, if we're looking at men's football or men's soccer, it's not exactly what you're going to see in training from a high-intensity running perspective or a volume-based perspective. We still have to build that capacity.

[00:17:44.79] But I think one of the things that we have to understand is how we can measure it from a GPS perspective or, if you don't have GPS, just looking at basic things such as spacing. So it's called density in the world of soccer, just understanding how to manage the length and width of different dimensions of a drill.

[00:18:12.20] And I think if we can start to understand the density, length and width, pitch dimensions, time spent in those training sessions and drills, and then look at basic measures of RPE, because that's been proven to be successful, I think we just need to have a way of measuring the training load or the drill load. That way, we understand week after week the causes and effects and how it affects our players and our teams. That way, we can make adjustments.

[00:18:42.45] So you have to understand, at some basic fundamental level, how to measure that workload. And then as a implementer, we also have to understand how our speed sessions, how our drill design in preparation for the training session can affect them from a workload perspective.

[00:19:03.30] So for me, what we do is we have a basic diagram of the pitch dimensions. That way we know, if we quickly need to integrate 300 meters of said stimulus-- in this example, high-speed running-- we know how to quickly do that. Now, that's just a supplement. It's not the end all be all. But we need to quickly understand how to have those dosages of efforts and responses.

[00:19:33.52] So, yeah, I think understanding that workload perspective is critical. And that could be done using technology. Or that could be done with a pen and paper, which gets done in youth settings. That's where we see that a little bit more, as opposed to the first team setting.

[00:19:51.51] So I think in the end, you have to understand the environment that you're working in. And coming from experience, working on both ends of the continuum, the youth side of the game and the elite or first-team side of the game, yeah, it's just a skill set that you're going to have to have, is how to manage basic load and be able to, more importantly, report that load. But have that conversation with a coach or a support staff member.

[00:20:19.42] And what I'm hearing is very specific to soccer. We're talking endurance running, running distance, and high-speed running. But I think this concept applies across the board. You're creating game demands in practice or in nongame scenarios.

[00:20:37.16] And what you're saying is that strength and conditioning coaches have an important role in that, whether it's the work they're doing in the weight room, whether it's the work they're doing on the field. And I think you're encouraging coaches to get to practice and get out with their coaches more to think about how our knowledge and concepts can integrate into that sport environment more, in the spirit of sport-specific training, what we're talking about.

[00:21:04.70] So I think it's an encouraging message. I think it's-- we do think of that, the difference between US and international sport. And sometimes it's just the sports we're dealing with. A lot of times, international, we're saying it's soccer and rugby, whereas here, it's what? Football and baseball or something else.

[00:21:23.31] But I think it's important for strength and conditioning coaches to know that our skill set and our scope of practice isn't just training this sport we work with. It's being able to adapt and form a needs analysis and build a program for any sport or activity based on demands, recognizing key aspects of an activity or a job or a sport or a position that give you windows of trainability to help that athlete or person.

[00:21:59.87] I'm thinking of tactical and all the other areas that strength and conditioning coaches work now. So I think it-- our field can be really encouraging and positive, whereas sometimes, we feel like it limits us, like we're just the strength coach. And these sport coaches don't want anything to do with us. Or they only want strength and conditioning in these small doses. And they don't want to integrate us in the big scheme. I think we're in a better place now, much better than we were in the past.

[00:22:30.88] Yeah. And I think another thing to consider-- because hey, listen, maybe-- I think in terms of a continuum. So if we think a strength and conditioning coach that spends 80% of his or her time in the gym, maybe asking them to go pitch side and work real-time on the field, that would be a little too much of a shift for them. And that's OK. It's not for everyone, because like I'm saying, there's a lot of value in understanding the Xs and the Os inside the gym.

[00:23:07.35] But where I would encourage them to maybe shift a little bit is becoming-- in terms of being able to work successfully in Europe, I found that you have to be a good hybrid between a strength and conditioning coach and a rehabilitation specialist. So I think if making the transition to doing more pitch-side work, whether it's American football, soccer, or basketball, I mean, that's ideally the best-case scenario in my opinion.

[00:23:42.68] But if that's something that you don't-- or you're not interested in or maybe you don't have the confidence, well, I think the next best thing to do is figure out better return to play, better resources to help the medical staff or the athletic training staff to help the players, yeah, come back from an injury. But I think that's the other consideration, is learning how to be a little bit more of a hybrid when it comes to the medical and performance side. That would be another great recommendation for up-and-coming coaches that are trying to find their way in the industry.

[00:24:24.46] I love that. Nicole, I want to ask you about Paris 2024, the Olympics. You had the opportunity to go with Team USA soccer. Share that experience. What was that like for you? Was that your first time at the Olympics?

[00:24:38.12] It was my first time, yeah. Yeah.

[00:24:40.21] That's so cool.

[00:24:41.56] Yeah. So that was my first time competing at the Olympic Games. As you mentioned in my history, I've worked for various governing bodies. So, number one, as an American, it was nice to sing our national anthem, because it's been a really long time since I've sung the US national anthem. I've been learning different national anthems over the course of my career. So I will say that that was a powerful piece of it, from an emotional side.

[00:25:21.14] And then from a technical side, it was a quite challenging experience. And one of the early recommendations we got from others who have experienced the Olympic games was understanding that this is not at all going to be a perfect-world scenario. And we were encouraged early on to come up with our plan C and our plan D because plan A and B would rarely work.

[00:25:52.50] And it was interesting to attack the Olympic Games from that perspective, looking at if this, then that, and just troubleshooting across the tournament. So our challenge was that we traveled across four different cities, unlike a traditional swimming sport where you're just in Paris, perhaps maybe living in the Olympic Village. Well, think of us more as a circus or a traveling music band, where we had to pick up and move every three days.

[00:26:30.17] So that posed some challenges, where the coaching staff, which there was about 27 of us for 22 players, but the coaching staff really had to figure out how to create a really engaged and safe environment across every single city that we went to. So of course, we had to take our hotel accommodations into account.

[00:26:59.46] We had to quickly figure out how we were going to provide these consistent environments for players to do their wellness, to do their regeneration, to do their strength training. So, yeah, there were a lot of different factors that came into the Olympic Games that most people would never be able to see. Yeah, it was a great challenge to help support the players and support the head coach with our mission. And our goal was to get out of the group stage, which is a huge win for the men's Olympic team for US. So, yeah, it was a interesting experience and one that I will sign up for again, yeah, hopefully, in 2028, when we go to LA.

[00:27:47.33] That's so cool. I mean, a lot of coaches, a lot of-- I think everyone in a sports-related field would love to get the opportunity to be a part of an Olympic Games. Just the history. And it's such a celebration of what we do.

[00:28:03.66] But I like that you shared how challenging it is. We hear about the venues. And it's a very challenging environment. It's hard to put on one sporting event, let alone all the different competitions. And one thing that jumps out-- and I know coaches will connect with this-- is we love coaching. We love being in the weight room or out on the field, being with athletes on a daily basis. We don't necessarily sign up for all the logistical things, the buses, the hotels, the pushing trunks and equipment around on the road, or whatever it may be.

[00:28:41.81] I mean, gosh, I remember being on late night buses in the minor leagues in pro baseball, all these things that you really aren't signing up for but are the challenging parts of the experience. But we always hope that what we love to do keeps it net positive, keeps it where-- keeps the field enjoyable for us. What do you say to coaches that maybe see all these extra responsibilities as a nuisance or just really an annoying part of the job? What's your advice there?

[00:29:21.26] Yeah. I mean, it's a player-first environment. So ultimately, everything that we do is to make everything as easy as possible for the players. And, yeah, there are elements to the job, specifically with US soccer. And I'll speak to this experience.

[00:29:42.03] When we do have to have these postmatch-- so we get home at 10:00 PM, in this example. We have to pack everything up. So it gets put on a truck at midnight so it can get to the next destination that we're going to in the morning. And then we would fly out in the morning or travel out in the morning. That's actually how we do our team building.

[00:30:11.13] I think, in some cultures, like let's just say American football in this example-- this is my personal experience-- we would all find time during the day to train together, to lift together. We eat together, all these aspects.

[00:30:26.98] Well, in this environment, it might be a little bit different. Maybe we're not training together. But we know that we're going to have elements and parts of the day where we're going to grind through the task. And in this case, it's moving 47 aluminum ZARGES into a truck that some are quite heavy.

[00:30:49.01] So we just know that this is an all-staff meeting, so to speak. So you have, in this example, 27 people coming out to help pack up and load and unload. And honestly, it's probably one of the stronger team-building events that we do because it has to get done. And there's no other way of doing it. And there's absolutely no way that five people can do that job in an efficient amount of time, because we're racing against the clock. We have 2 hours to do everything. So it is an all hands on deck situation.

[00:31:26.29] So, yeah, it's definitely not the sexy part of the job. It's not match day when you're under the lights and on the pitch and doing all that. But for me, I always believe in Harry Truman's word that you can be successful in life without getting the credit. And there's a lot of things that we have to do in the industry where we're just, yeah, not getting any credit. And it's just part of the job. But we try to use it as a positive way of working together and, yeah, just going through the hard days together.

[00:32:01.79] I mean, we have to energize our environments as coaches. Keeping our positivity in check is a huge part of that. And I think what you're saying is finding those opportunities to bring it back to the team, make it part of the-- making it part of the team environment.

[00:32:22.80] Yeah. And you say something. And I'm going to say two comments to that. Staying positive. There's a well-known German strength and conditioning coach. And he taught me early on, when we were working in Germany, just like, hey, Nicole, in this club, the goal is just keep the peace. Keep the peace. And this is how we're going to be successful. And I was like, OK, simple message.

[00:32:52.13] When the head of performance is telling you this is our number one goal within the medical and performance department is just keep the peace and do everything possible to keep that, and I'm like, it's a simple message. But it's a constant reminder. And it's in the back of your head. So when you are responding to a situation, not reacting but responding to a challenging situation, you know that that's in everyone's mind, is I'm going to respond in a way that helps keep the peace. So that's the first good lesson that I learned early on in 2014 and '15, working in Germany.

[00:33:30.51] But the second thing that I learned was coming from the late Trevor Moawad, who unfortunately died at a really young age. But Trevor was the mental conditioning coach for you name it, all the great American-based athletes. And you mentioned, yeah, having to stay positive. And staying positive isn't always possible or always easy in these stressful environments, when you're on the road for 35 days. And you're not going to bed till 2:00, 3:00 in the morning. And you have to wake up at 8:00 in the morning. It's not a perfect environment. And it is hard to stay positive.

[00:34:11.85] But what Trevor Moawad taught me early on was this concept of staying neutral. And it was something that when he was leaving his parting message, as he was leaving us, he was basically explaining this concept of you have positive and negative. And some people, naturally, because of X, Y, and Z reasons are maybe gravitating to one of those ends of the continuum.

[00:34:46.95] But his message was we need to understand how to stay neutral in these stressful situations so that we have a better response from our demeanor, because he always says, if you're positive and you get to negative, first you have to go through this neutral zone. And then you go to negative and vice versa. If you're negative, before you can get to the positive-- it's not just a switch-- you go through this neutral period, similar to a car, as you're shifting, to get back to positive.

[00:35:21.99] So those are the two things that I always work to remember is, hey, keep the peace in the environments that I work in because they are high-stress environments. But also, this concept of you don't always have to be super bubbly and always smiling. It's helpful. It's very helpful if you have that ability to stay positive through the thick of the scenario. But sometimes it doesn't always need to come from positivity but more of this idea of staying neutral, yeah, so you can make the next best decision.

[00:36:01.08] Yeah, I like that. I had an intern ask me once. And your neutral example just made me think of this. Coming on board. And how many of these players do you work with every day? And that was a hard question for me to answer because you're only going to train-- you're only going to train so many in the gym on a daily basis.

[00:36:27.39] But my response was, well, I work with all these players every day, in various areas, whether it's the warm-up out there before practice, whether it's in the line to get lunch and a couple of people are in front of me and we're just having small talk conversation. When you're a coach, you're in a position of leadership as part of a team and a staff. And your influence carries wherever you are.

[00:36:55.23] And that is such a huge-- I think a lot of coaches connect with their leadership voice as they establish themself in their career. And that was always a check for me. It's like, look, my highs and lows impact this team. And so I need to make sure that I'm not just rallying for that 30 minutes or 60 minutes in the gym. I have to rally for the entire day. I have to rally for the team meeting. I have to rally for when the players are out there practicing, even if I'm not doing anything.

[00:37:32.66] And I have coaches hit me up all the time. In practice, they're texting me because it's their downtime. But they're out there, and they're engaging with their team and their sport. And they're making it-- they're part of the team. And so I think your lesson of staying neutral, keeping the peace, essentially avoiding negativity, fuel-- keeping your-- hopefully, you have some positivity in there too. I think we can all agree with that.

[00:38:02.94] But it's such a powerful message for coaches. It connects to leadership. It connects to just so many areas that are embedded within us as coaching professionals.

[00:38:14.76] I'd like to shift gears a little bit. You do some work with NSCA International. You've presented a lot at NSCA events. What's been your experience with the NSCA? What are some of the things you're working on?

[00:38:27.59] Yeah. So my experience with the NSCA, I mean, started in 2005, 2006 when I started studying for the exam. So I believe that when I was entering the field of strength and conditioning in 2005, 2006, I mean, it was a non-negotiable to get the CSCS certification. It was essentially the driver's license. And it was the starting point.

[00:38:59.96] So I went through all those processes. I had the DVDs and successfully passed the exam. And it was, again, that starting point. What we're doing right now in Poland-- so basically, I had a very positive experience early on at the start of my career.

[00:39:22.70] What we're doing in Poland is something that is very important to me because what we're trying to do is provide standardized education and open access information to get people and coaches and professionals, in Poland specifically, to go through the certification process and then in the future go through other avenues, such as the CPSS certification and so forth and so on.

[00:39:52.51] So basically, what we're doing right now is we're trying to have this-- in some way an exchange program, because I believe, as I mentioned earlier, experience for a coach is probably one of the most important things that we can have to help us build our own systems and our own methodology.

[00:40:15.90] Long term, what we would like to do is build an exchange program where Polish strength and conditioning professionals can come and have internship experiences here in the US and vice versa. If anyone here in the US, theoretically through the NSCA, someone who has a certification wants to go to Poland and get European experience, that's our end goal. So it starts through education. And as my former mentor, Mark Verstegen says, motivation through education.

[00:40:49.86] So we've launched a nonprofit organization in Poland. And we're the global chapter to be. And we're working really hard to fulfill all the requirements. But in the end, in Europe, there are no standards from a strength and conditioning perspective. And all we're trying to do is have a consistent offering. And especially with a new upgraded material and textbooks and tests that are coming forward, we feel really strongly that this is the right direction for all coaches in Poland.

[00:41:26.37] So in the end, we're dedicating our time and our resources to launch the global chapter in Poland and using the NSCA as our main vehicle to have the right education, the right research, the right testing to help level the playing field and make things a little bit more consistent in these countries.

[00:41:50.61] So I'm doing that in Poland. I'm also working on some other projects in Romania that is stemming from the government. So in Europe, they have ministries of sport, which is a branch of the government. And it's these ministry of sports that determine what's best for the country regarding education and implementation.

[00:42:13.66] So that's a big passion of mine, is the education piece. And I'm trying to work with the governments in this example to help create that standard because it is a little bit different in the US as it is in Europe. So a lot of these efforts are driven by the government. So those are the people that we're having to work with at the moment.

[00:42:37.67] Yeah. For those who don't know, NSCA has eight global affiliates and chapters. It's a process to move through of different milestones from chapter to actually being an NSCA affiliate internationally. And there's always a few in the queue, a few countries that are working to develop. So in the future, we might have 10 or 12 or 15 international groups that work with us.

[00:43:06.60] And what that means is that they can deliver NSCA certifications in those countries specific to the standards and needs of those specific regions and countries. And we actually connect a lot with our international groups at our conferences. We bring everyone in. We just brought in some members for our strategic planning.

[00:43:32.97] And it's something that-- the NSCA doesn't just exist in the US. It's a global organization. And sometimes it gets overlooked, just the work we do abroad. And it's really important for the future of our field that people realize strength and conditioning needs to be implemented by someone with qualifications, by someone with education.

[00:43:57.85] There's so many reasons why we're impactful, why we're valuable to society, to the world. And really, it's a challenge for all the listeners here. Everyone, find that positivity in your role. Find that voice that you have, that message that you carry that can help take us forward.

[00:44:21.48] We can get surrounded by negativity sometimes in this profession. Things get hard sometimes. We've all been there. And I think one thing that-- I know, Nicole, you're a great person to connect with. And I know a lot of people want to connect with you on-- hey, I never even knew these opportunities existed. How can I get over and do some work in developing countries or whatever that might be? But myself, other people at the NSCA, there's so many of us that if you're having a hard time, reach out. We can help get you through that.

[00:44:53.17] But on the other side, if you're just looking to expand your leadership, expand your voice, the NSCA is a great vehicle to do that. And we are always developing resources. And if we don't have those resources now, you're going to inspire us to develop some new ones to help you in that environment.

[00:45:11.44] And so that's what we do at headquarters. The NSCA goes way beyond the 50 people we have on staff in Colorado Springs. This podcast tries to connect with as many of those as we can every single year. We're in our eighth season of the podcast right now. And it's a lot of fun to do this and connect with people.

[00:45:33.33] But, Nicole, really love your message. I love seeing you present at our events. I think it's really cool what you're doing in other parts of the world and that you've found opportunities that maybe people didn't know existed. So I want to give you the opportunity to share. If coaches want to reach out, connect with you, what's the best way to do that?

[00:45:55.59] Yeah. For me, I'm a phone call type of person. [LAUGHS] But, yeah, I mean, I will say this in closing. We are all very busy. And it's easy to, yeah, lose your certification, stop being involved in certain groups or communities because we are really busy. And I am as well.

[00:46:23.88] So my first word of encouragement to all professionals, whether it's you've been in the industry for 5 years or you've been in the industry for 25 years, is join your community. Build your community. And in this case, we're saying, hey, join forces with the NSCA because it is the largest governing body, from a strength and conditioning perspective, in the US. And I just think it's important for us to stay committed to the process so that we can grow and we can share.

[00:46:54.15] So I will leave the listeners with that because nothing's perfect. There's this organization and that organization. But I just think that we need to all come together. And as we start to progress in the industry-- and for me, it's been almost two decades-- at this point, it's about being able to share and provide open access materials to people.

[00:47:19.18] So, yeah, I'm available via email. And from that, I'll quickly probably switch to WhatsApp or some sort of messaging. So we can just jump on the phone or jump on a Zoom call and just have a quick connection point. I like to believe that I'm accessible when I'm not on the road traveling. So if anyone wants to reach out to me, my email is a little bit long. But that means you really have to want to email me. It's Nicole-- N-I-C-O-L-E-- @coachnicolerodriguez.com. And we can link that to any of the show notes.

[00:47:55.27] And I'm available to connect and share any insights. And although I don't have immediate internship opportunities abroad, that's what we're looking to build as we start to develop more, as the NSCA global chapter in Poland, are those experiences because I will say that the number one question I'm asked, believe it or not, Eric, on a weekly basis-- on a weekly basis-- is how can I do an internship under you? Do you know of any internship opportunities that you can get me involved with?

[00:48:32.09] And I think all coaches are hungry for experiences. And that's exactly what we're trying to provide. So feel free to email me. Reach out on a social channel. And, yeah, I look forward to connecting.

[00:48:46.80] Awesome. We'll add that to the show notes and a link to your website as well. Just a little more info on you. And, yeah, thanks so much. This has been a lot of fun. Always great connecting with you. And thank you to our listeners. Also, special thanks to Sorinex Exercise Equipment. We appreciate their support.

[00:49:06.86] Hey, this is Justin Lovett from the Los Angeles Rams. Honored to be the 2024 Professional Coach of the Year for the National Stength Conditioning Association. It's been a great experience to be on the NSCA Coaching Podcast. Learn more about the NSCA at nsca.com.

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[00:49:28.67] 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.

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