Sunday Sit Down: FSU Head Strength & Conditioning Coach Adam Kolberg

FAIRMONT, W.Va (WDTV) - Fairmont State’s Head Strength and Conditioning Coach joins this week’s Sunday Sit Down to break down what he’s seen that makes an athlete successful at the collegiate level.

Kolberg works with the Falcons on their overall athletic development and performance, and has enjoyed every minute of it, “Being able to have the opportunity to work with so many great student athletes to me that’s the greatest thing to have the opportunity to make an impact on 350 student athletes every single year, and we get new ones that come in, so it’s a constant opportunity to do, however small or however big on their lives and their careers as Fairmont State Falcons. I wake up everyday enthusiastic about being here and looking forward to that opportunity to be a part of the athletic program that we have here,” said Kolberg.

Kolberg opens up about how a high school athlete can step themselves up in the best way possible for their first year at the collegiate level, “Being realistic with what your expectations are in terms of how much playing time you’re going to get, that’s something I see a lot of, athletes coming in right through the floor and for whatever reason think that they are just gonna play, start every game right out of the gate as a freshman and some may but for the vast majority, its gonna take them a year to just physically and mentality be more prepared to compete and being willing to compete for playing time. I think the biggest thing in terms of just in the weight room again, be prepared to be great at the basics, the basics will take you long way and make sure you’re doing everything you can to get 8+ hours of sleep every night, fuel your body properly, eating not skipping any meals, eating protein at every meal, staying hydrated. I know those things sound like obvious and there’s no secrets to it but in reality that’s what it is, there isn’t anything you know top secret about being a highly successful student athlete, it’s just showing up, being open minded, ready to compete, being realistic with what your goals are and what you contributions are going to be and be willing to work at it on both sides the academic and athletic side.”

For athletes heading to the collegiate level, there is always a way to get better and to earn your spot on the field, “Being a competitor and like taking pride and doing everything the right way, having very good body language like coaches see that, I see that in here, you know athletes that aren’t getting maybe the reps in practice or on the field during the games that they want to have or think that they should have, you don’t want that to start to creep into other parts of being a student athlete whether it’s in the weight room or the classroom, you don’t want those things to kind of hold you back from still getting better at all those other things like if you’re not playing, if you’re not getting a lot of reps in practice, if you’re not getting a lot of playing time in the game, there’s other ways to still get better, you know you and learn on the sidelines, you need to be spending more time taking care of your body so that if your time comes during that season or when the next season rolls around, you’re in a much better place physically and mentality, mental place than you were the previous year,” said Kolberg.

Kolberg touches on what he’s seen from other classmen and from working in professional baseball that has lead those athletes to finding success within their sport, “It’s really embracing the repetitiveness of practice everyday going to class everyday, training three or four times a week and accepting that has something that has to get one, there’s no debate about whether you have to go to practice, it’s something that is just part of what your responsibility is as a student athlete.”

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