#269 - Alex Clarke, Athletic Performance Coach at Wests Tigers

How Alex started his strength and conditioning career foreign [Applause] had a passion for strength and conditioning yeah for me it sort of started with swimming um I was actually working as a pool lifeguard at a at a private facility and um there's some really good athletes trading there was a squad funded by the VIS Victoria Institute of sport and um you know I was just a casual lifeguard and uh just finished my degree at the time and one of the coaches Roland Taylor who's actually the head coach of the Australian swim team now was coaching that Squad I had sort of kids from um you know 14 15 through to open National swimmers who who competed um obviously the Olympics and World Champs and that sort of thing um so he said to me would you be interested in incoming on board as an snc coach with um we need to replace one so um obviously jumped at the opportunity um you know I was pretty raw at the time didn't know too much and um yeah I made a lot of mistakes along the way and I'll look back on some of those programs that I wrote early on and um and scratched my head and shaved my hair it's just um you know as you do as How his rehab work looks like at Brisbane Lions a young strengthy and interesting coach made mistakes and learned from them and Ryan was really good he gave me free reign of the squad to sort of implement whatever I wanted to implement for those that are not aware of how rehab Works what what would that look like what would be a typical week and how many athletes would you work with during the week um I could range from anywhere from you know one or two through to um I think at prison Alliance we had you know 18 or 20 in a rehab group at one stage which was you know it was probably a disaster at the time but I was probably more involved in the late stage rehab um Andrew Lambert who was a physio there and Randall Cooper looked after the early stage stuff and um I was probably more looking after the players that were in that reconditioning mold Alex shares his footy finals experience at Hawthorn Brisbane um so that that sort of you know what it looked like back then and and um and certainly I sort of had a seamless sort of role with Brisbane after a couple of years there what sort of finals campaigns were involved in with your time at Hawthorne Brisbane um sorry at Hawthorne I think we um got knocked out oh no so we won the first final and then it was a really young group at the time and I don't think too many people sort of expected much success so we got over the line against Adelaide that Eddie had stadium buddy keep the goal from the for the boundary we ended up winning that one so that was a great experience you know first first uh role in an AFL club and um would run a final and then I think we got our pants pulled down the next week against North Melbourne um you know we're sort of still riding that that win and um so that was a really good learning experience for the players I think you know and we took that into the next season and won the uh Premiership in 08 which again was a fantastic fantastic thing to be a part of uh fantastic experience and then I think we made the finals the next no so we missed the finals next year and then made them but lost uh week one the year after and um yeah didn't make any finals at Brisbane so um yeah it was it was selling two different experiences I suppose we had a His advice for fellow S&C coaches really young group at Brisbane and was still developing and um yeah that was a tough environment to be in for guys that are in that similar position are there certain things that you could advise that you do to build that rapport with the players but also with you this you know your team um yeah I think first and foremost it's about building trust so once someone trusts you then they're more likely to buy in what you're trying to try to sell so um you know if you can give them parts of the program where they've got ownership of it then they're probably going to be much more receptive um whereas if you keep them at arm's length and say this is why we're going to do things and you run a dictatorship then there you're probably going to get a fair bit of pushback so I think it's building that trust in one another and developing a good relationship where um you know they've got ownership over parts of the program um and that they can do as they'd say fit within the framework of what you Alex shares how he started Jewel Performance feel is appropriate that's that's probably um the best way to to go about it I'd say awesome right well we've gone through a fair bit of your career you've also created a business dual performance for those that are not aware of what dual performance does you want to take us through a bit of a snapshot on what you do with the business and when it started yeah it sort of started around about the same time I went to China actually it was just um but yeah I wanted to start a little side project um people like Grant Jenkins um you know I talk a lot about you know developing those other income streams as an snc coach so that's something I wanted to do and I started putting out blogs and a little bit of information for for strengthy conditioning coaches trying to generate some interest in it but um I've sort of expanded I suppose at the moment and um and we pretty much do online programs so um just regular gym users can sign up and um you know get a get a strength program it can be a generic one or it can be really specific based off their needs and my wife's a Sports Physio so we're looking to sort of expand that side of Things to focus on for developing rugby or footy athletes it and do some Telehealth and and some other things in that space as well so that's sort of a that's a little project that's going on in the background but go really well at the moment yeah and for for the young developing footballer or potentially rugby player that's watching and is eager to get better in in their athletic development what would be some big rocks or some major fundamental things to focus on for let's say 15 year old um that needs to get um yeah better with their athletic side to help help their performance yeah I think sort of understanding that there's a process that they need to go through I think everyone wants to go from being a junior athlete to play at the AFL or NRL level um really quickly but they need I suppose younger athletes need to understand there is a process so with that comes setting goals and you know making them really clear and achievable some aren't unnecessarily you know they I want to play rfl but you know improve your 2K time trial or I want to squat 120 kilos or whatever it may be um I think having those those clear goals and um yeah I engage your coaches to do that engage yesterday coaches engage your skill coaches to be able to to be able to help you in those areas um you know that that's probably the the big one for me is is set goals and that are clear and achievable and you know work out where you're at and where you need to get to and then what does the process look like in between