Holly Adkins

Responsibilities

D1 Sports training is a franchise that trains youth athltes and adults around the country. As an intern, I was able to complete hands on training with other staff members to coach athletes in non sport-specific drill work. D1 splits up 52 minutes worth of training into five categories; dynamic warm-up, performance period, Strength training, core/conditioning, and static cool-down. They also set themselves apart from other youth organizations by splitting up their age ranges and working their athletes through 8 week progressions. For the first week of the internship I was able to conduct a lot of pre-testing for the athletes to evaluate their current performance. Throughout the 10 weeks I was able to correct posture, conduct parts of the workout progressions, set up equipment, demonstrate movements or activities, and motivate/critique the clients during specific drills. I gained a lot of respect from the athletes as a coach and was able to see improvements in my personal coaching. Improvements to coaching, experience in the franchise apart from training, and financial obligations of running a franchise were some of the goals that I set for myself at the beginning of the D1 internship. Russ, my agency supervisor, did a great job answering questions and making sure that I felt comfortable teaching classes at D1.

Accomplishments

Since D1 was not my first internship training athletes, I felt very comfortable working with the clients and the staff members. In the future I would love to secure my own position at a training facility and work my way up into management and ownership of either a franchise or a single location where I can develop my own training programs. My agency supervisor along with other staff members helped me to learn the ins and outs of owning a facility and what it takes to make the numbers work every month. Without this back-end experience, I wouldn't know the next thing about pursuing an entrepreneurship. There is so much more that goes into training than simply showing up to work and reading a program. I have gained so much insight from Russ in that respect and that in particular will be the most valuable information that I can take away from my time at D1.

What advice would you give?

For future students that work at D1, attendance and attitude are key. Come to work 15 minutes early ready to go over the day's workout. If you are unsure of an exercise or a progression sequence just ask the staff! Everyone who works at D1 is friendly and willing to help you get better at coaching. Take full advantage of the workout space that D1 provides you. I was basically given free range of the facility while I worked here and was able to partake in several of the adult training classes when I wasn't coaching athletes. Have fun with the kiddos. They are there to train but they come back for the community. D1 is an exciting environment and can be very fast paced. Russ reiterated that there is no such thing as "over-training" the kids. If you have to repeat yourself and yell loudly then you can. Overall I have loved this experience and hopefully future interns will as well.