Growing up in a small rural town on the coast of Maine, I had the opportunity to play multiple sports as a youth. I played three sports (baseball, basketball & golf) all throughout high school and was fortunate to continue on my athletic playing career at Springfield College. My opportunity came as a walk-on pitcher for the Pride baseball team, where I pitched all four years and graduated from Springfield College with a degree in Applied Exercise Science.

 

During my time at Springfield College, I realized that my athletic career would eventually come to an end but I wanted to continue on with a career in athletics. Fortunately, my first opportunity came by way of a strength and conditioning internship at the United States Naval Academy. That was a great learning experience for me and one that planted the seed for what would become a passion and career in strength and conditioning. From there I spent the fall and winter working as a part-time strength and conditioning coach at the University of Massachusetts - Amherst. At that time, UMASS didn't have any open full-time positions but the Head Strength & Conditioning Coach - Coach Otrando, was very gracious in giving me a part-time opportunity to cut my teeth in the strength and conditioning profession. 

 

While working at UMASS and applying for graduate school, I came across a strength and conditioning internship opportunity in professional baseball. Several MLB teams had put out notification of open positions for the upcoming season. Even though it was January, I was fortunate that the Detroit Tigers still had one more strength & conditioning coach position for their Major League Spring Training camp in Lakeland, Florida. While there weren't any guaranteed positions past Spring Training, I still jumped at the opportunity. After that Spring Training in 1999, I was given a full-season position with the Detroit Tigers AAA Minor League affiliate, the Toledo Mud Hens. Once that season ended, I knew what I wanted to do. Though it was a long and grueling season with hardly any pay, I truly enjoyed the job and knew I wanted to stay in professional baseball as a strength & conditioning coach. 

 

That off-season, I yet again found myself at crossroads in my career. Do I do another internship to stay in professional baseball or do I look for a full-time job elsewhere?  Thankfully, I was blessed with another opportunity to stay in professional baseball. This time it was to be the Minor League Strength & Conditioning Coordinator for the Colorado Rockies. I served in the role for 9 years where I designed, organized and managed all strength & conditioning programs for the Rockies minor league teams and players. While I loved the position, it didn’t allow me to do what I loved most, which was to be part of one team and work with athletes on a daily basis. So, when I was given the opportunity to become the Major League Strength & Conditioning Coach for the Rockies organization in the fall of 2008, I was ecstatic. The position allowed me to work with every player daily, on the roster over the course of a Major League season, of which I was blessed to serve in that role through the 2014 season.

 

During the winter of 2014, I decided to start a sports performance training business called Elite Peak 303. It was my desire to open a place to train athletes here in Colorado. It wasn’t long after I had started my business, another unique job opportunity presented itself. This time I accepted a Certified for Sport Technical Manager position with the public health and safety organization, NSF International. Although it was an unexpected opportunity and a bit of a different career path, I decided to jump at the opportunity because of my previous experience with dietary supplements and the NSF Certified For Sport Certification program. It was also an easy decision to be part of an organization whose mission is to protect and improve human health. For the 5 years I served in that role, I got the unique experience of working with many global professional and amateur sports leagues, anti-doping agencies, and other sports associations.

 

Even though I wasn’t training athletes on a regular basis during my time at NSF, I never really got away from it. I volunteered as a strength and conditioning coach for a local high school as well as a youth baseball coach for my son's little league teams. Then in early 2021, I decided to return to my passion of training athletes by opening a first-class sport performance training facility here in Colorado. It wasn't long before I found a place that would provide the space and location I was seeking. Though it took much longer than I would have liked, I was still able to open in the fall of 2021. These days, I'm happy to be back working with athletes of all ages and sports, trying to create a special place for them to develop here in Colorado!

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