Today’s episode features segments with Paul Cater, Rachel Balkovec and Rafe Kelley in part II of our mini-series on perspectives in this time of social distancing and staying-at-home on coaching, training and becoming the strongest version of ourselves.

Paul Cater is the founder of the “Alpha Project” in Salinas, California, and has over 18 years of experience as an international strength and conditioning coach.  Paul has worked with the London Wasps Premier Rugby Team, the Baltimore Orioles, USA Rugby, as well as numerous high school, college and professional athletes.  Paul has written a number of popular articles on Just Fly Sports on the topics of coaching, creativity and service, and makes his first appearance on the podcast.

Rachel Balkovec is a pro baseball hitting coach, working with the New York Yankees.  She has made history in acquiring her role in her current position, as well as when she become a minor league strength and conditioning coordinator for the St. Louis Cardinals from 2011-15.  Rachel has also worked in strength and conditioning for the Houston Astros, as well as the Dutch national baseball and softball teams as well as many other successful organizations.  She recently appeared on episode 194 of this podcast talking about coaching and organizational leadership.

Rafe Kelley is the owner of Evolve, Move, Play, and was a guest on episode 174 of the podcast.  Rafe’s primary specialization is parkour, and he also has experience in modern training disciplines such as sprinting, basketball, gymnastics, crossfit, FRC, modern dance and many others.  Rafe’s passion to is help people build the physical practice that will help make them the strongest, most adaptable and resilient version of themselves in movement and in life.

This episode furthers our topic from last week, which is lessons learned from our “downtime” from in-person coaching, as well as how we are training and learning without our typical gym facilities.  Times where things “contract” (as opposed to the typical expansion), as well as times of necessity are always powerful learning experiences, and I’ve learned something valuable from each of the 6 coaches in this short series, and I know you will as well.

Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, supplier of high-end athletic development tools, such as the Freelap timing system, kBox, Sprint 1080, and more.
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Timestamps and Main Points

3:00  How spending so much time running a business had taken Paul Cater away from the core of training itself

7:45  Expanding the idea of storytelling in a training session and the importance of creativity in coaching

18:00  How sprinting should be a solid root of an athlete or even coach’s movement and training practice

25:20  How Rachel Balkovec has been adjusting her training routine since being taken from her typical gym

31:20  How Rachel maintains awareness, as well as trains, her breathing in various situations

38:50  Things Rachel is learning in general in this time period

43:20  How Rafe’s personal practice hasn’t been altered due to his “atypical” training environment

53:20  How a typical play session in nature can shake out for Rafe

58:20  Comparing the physical effects of natural parkour to other barbell practices

1:03.50  How introducing obstacles and challenges into running can improve engagement and variability

 “It’s been a blessing to be forced to stay home” Paul Cater

“Most of the coaches I know and respect will put more of a priority on the barbell rather than the “sprint first” mentality, it’s the path of least resistance…. It’s harder to go outside and have a really in depth sprint session” Paul Cater

“Every training session really, is an experience.  Within that every day is a story, an epoch, a saga of overcoming.  Hill running is a metaphor… there’s something about running up a hill” Paul Cater