The TeamBuildr Podcast is lucky to be joined this week by Liane Blyn. Liane is currently the Director of Sports Performance & Olympic Sports at Arizona State University, and boasts a very diverse background. Before she was on the floor coaching at a Power Five school, she owned a sports performance facility with her husband, worked with Charles Poloquin, and coached at the High School level. Liane possesses more than two decades of Strength and Conditioning experience, yet remains down to earth and happy to share her unique perspective.
One theme Liane credits as instrumental for her career - connecting with people. On the coaching side, she emphasizes how a strength coach being able to sit down and have a conversation with her athletes is invaluable, and shares how building relationships with her athletes, regardless of their position on the depth chart, propelled a high school summer camp she ran to sell out “faster than a Taylor Swift concert”. On the career side, Liane credits 100% of the opportunities she has had to her network and the relationships with peers in the industry she has built.
“If you were the first one off the bench, the last one off the bench or never off the bench, I'm always going to coach you with the same amount of respect”
Although Liane loves what she does and has carved out a successful career in the industry, she makes no bones about some areas where strength and conditioning has room to grow. She points out how low wages for strength coaches and athletic trainers cause good employees to leave, and how churn at these positions weakens the product coaches and athletic directors care about most - the team and its performance. Additionally, she longs for the day when strength coaches are recognized exclusively for the contributions they make to their programs, instead of being recognized simply for their gender, the sports they coach, or the school they coach for.
We hope you find Liane’s insights, humor, and candor as refreshing as we did. Be sure to tune in next week to catch us next!
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