Water Polo Strong

Throwback Thursday 🏊‍♂️🤽‍♂️

I’ll always be grateful for this chapter.
During COVID, I had the opportunity to help start a high school swimming and water polo program from the ground up — serving as the head coach for both. At a time when uncertainty was everywhere, this program became a space for structure, growth, and purpose.

It was the first environment where I was able to fully apply my training philosophy:
how to develop athletes physically, how to teach movement and resilience, how to build habits that transfer beyond sport, and how to create a culture rooted in accountability and effort.

But what made it truly special were the athletes.
They showed up when things were hard.
They bought into the process.
They trusted me to guide them through something new.

Watching them grow — not just as competitors, but as people — was one of the most meaningful experiences of my coaching career. The lessons from that season still shape how I coach, teach, and lead today.
Forever proud of that group.
Forever grateful for the opportunity.

To all my athletes, I will always be your coach. Thank you for trusting me with your development.

Workout Wednesday- Eggbeater Warm-Up

This isn’t “just warming up.”
This is building the engine that keeps you vertical, powerful, and efficient in the water.

🔹 Soft tissue → restore motion
🔹 Dynamic prep → open hips & ankles
🔹 Activation → wake up the stabilizers
🔹 Pool work → transfer to performance

Eggbeater isn’t about strength alone — it’s coordination, rhythm, and force transfer.
Train it intentionally and your legs will thank you in the 4th quarter.

💧Save this for your next pool session
🏊‍♂️ Tag a teammate who needs better legs
📈 Train smart. Move better. Perform longer.

🔎Findings Friday: Warm-Ups Matter More Than You Think🔍

A recent study showed that longer warm-ups actually made athletes slower in a 100m swim.
The best performance came from a moderate warm-up, not the longest one.

Why?

Because the goal of a warm-up isn’t fatigue — it’s readiness.
✔ Better stroke efficiency
✔ Higher neuromuscular activation
✔ Improved hormonal response
❌ Less wasted energy before the race

Takeaway:

If your warm-up feels like a workout, it’s probably hurting your performance.
Warm up to perform, not to get tired.

Throwback Thursday

Early days of WPS at Sacramento Sports Center.
Before the brand, before the systems—just athletes, space, and intent.
We didn’t overcomplicate things.

Warm-ups were Spikeball games, field-sport style dynamic movement, and a lot of problem-solving on the fly. Fun first. Movement first. Buy-in first.

What looks casual now was actually the foundation:
• Get athletes moving before loading them
• Build coordination and rhythm before intensity
• Create environments athletes want to show up for

Those sessions taught me something I still coach by today:
👉 Warm-ups aren’t filler—they set the tone for performance, culture, and longevity.

The tools have evolved. The principles haven’t.
Good days then. Still building better ones now.

WORKOUT WED: Throwing Warm-Up 🎯

Most shoulder issues don’t come from throwing — they come from poor preparation.

This warm-up follows a simple flow:
✔️ Raise tissue temperature
✔️ Activate the right muscles
✔️ Mobilize key ranges
✔️ Potentiate power before throwing

Jump rope → bands → tissue prep → dynamic mobility → med ball throws.
Nothing fancy. Just intentional.

If you want to throw harder, longer, and pain-free, this is non-negotiable.

🔎Findings Friday | Warm-Ups & Performance🔎

Most warm-ups don’t fail.
They’re just poorly designed.

A large systematic review and meta-analysis (Fradkin et al., 2010) looked at 32 high-quality studies and 92 performance outcomes.

79% of warm-ups improved performance.
The rest? Performance dropped—not because warming up is bad, but because the warm-up violated basic training principles.

Here’s when warm-ups hurt performance:
• No task specificity
• Too short to raise muscle temperature
• Too intense → fatigue before expression
• Poor timing between warm-up and performance
• Misapplied loading
When warm-ups worked, they did one thing well:

👉 They prepared the athlete to express the exact qualities needed next.

Warm-ups are not stretching.
They’re not injury insurance.
They’re not filler.
They are performance interventions.

If your warm-up doesn’t respect specificity, intensity, duration, and recovery, don’t be surprised when output drops.
Warm-ups don’t fail. Poorly programmed warm-ups do.

🎥 I’m breaking this down in long form and cutting it into practical clips—follow along if you care about performance, not just tradition.