March/April 2022 - 63

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STRENGTH COACHING PHILOSOPHY:
THREE CORE IDEAS AT ST. VIATOR HIGH SCHOOL
DESCRIBE THE EVOLUTION
STRENGTH TRAINING INSIGHTS
FROM ALEX NADOLNA
Alex Nadolna is the Director of
Strength and Conditioning at St.
Viator High School in Arlington
Heights, Illinois. He joined the Lions
in 2018 after an extensive coaching
stint at New Trier High School.
Before that he spent time as an
intern at Loyola University Chicago,
where he worked with Loyola's
men's and women's NCAA Division
I intercollegiate athletic programs.
We reached out to him to get some
insights into his coaching approach.
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE
YOUR COACHING PHILOSOPHY?
My coaching philosophy centers
around 3 core ideas: safety,
consistency and teamwork.
Safety meaning not only physical
safety but psychological safety as
well. I make it a point to emphasize
that everyone belongs in the weight
room. The only prerequisite is the
desire to improve.
The consistency piece is one
that has been born out of my
own experience with training. If
you want to continue to improve
throughout your career and life,
then the only way to do that is by
consistently showing up and giving
your best effort.
Teamwork is super important
to us as well because, much like
consistency, there is no replacement
for it. The atmosphere that's
created when an athlete and their
teammates are training together,
pushing each other, and supporting
each other is not something you can
replicate anywhere else. I know for
a fact that it impacts their training
and I also believe, and have seen
firsthand, how it creates a bond that
carries over into the sport.
OF WEIGHT ROOMS OVER THE
YEARS AND YOUR VISION FOR
THIS CURRENT WEIGHT ROOM.
In my time here I've always felt
that we were fortunate to have the
weight room that we did. Thanks
to support from the administration
and the community we were able
to have a space that most other
high schools could only dream of.
When I was given the opportunity to
redesign the space I did so with two
ideas in mind. The first was creating
a layout that reflected my coaching
style and how I like sessions to
run. By maximizing the layout, we
can be more effective and efficient
for our student-athletes. The
second idea was the branding of
the overall space. I wanted it to be
unmistakable whose school you
were at when you were standing in
our weight room.
HOW HAS HAMMER STRENGTH
PLAYED A ROLE IN BRINGING
YOUR VISION TO REALITY?
I really appreciated the input
that I got from the entire Hammer
Strength team when it came to
the layout of the space. Based on
the conversations we had I could
immediately tell that they were there
to give us the space we wanted, not
just sell us their product. Also, the
customizable options available really
gave us the aesthetic that we desired
and felt we had been lacking.
HOW DO YOU MEASURE
SUCCESS?
We have our Key Performance
Indicators that we track over time to
make sure we're achieving what it
is we set out to achieve - strength,
speed, power, etc. In addition to
that, I aim to equip our students
with the skills and knowledge to
continue training throughout their
entire life. I want them to have the
confidence to walk into a weight
room at any age and know that
they're doing things right.
WHAT HIGH STANDARDS DO
YOU APPLY TO YOURSELF AND
ATHLETES?
There are a ton of little examples
like cleaning up after yourself,
communicating openly, and
recognizing that everything you do
reflects your team and Saint Viator.
I would also say a big one is to
constantly strive for improvement.
While that may seem vague, the
general idea is that I want them to
look for every opportunity that they
can to get better. It's not always
something that will be reflected in
the numbers either, being a better
teammate or leader than you were
the day before can have a huge
impact on the progress of yourself
and your teammates. The tradeoff
there is I need to make sure that I'm
constantly growing and learning as
well. I always want to closely look
at what we're doing and find areas
where we can improve the product
we're giving to the student-athletes.
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March/April 2022

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