Poaching Athletes my Response

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Poaching Athletes my Response

Coach Matt Foreman wrote an article for Catalyst Athletics addressing the newfound phenomenon of athlete poaching. I guess that it’s not really new, but it’s becoming more prevalent. It happened at an incredible rate at this year’s past Senior World Championships. This is where I find in absurd. I mean here we are all the coaches from the United States that have produced the ten best men and ten best women in the country. That means our athletes are at the absolute top in America. Every coach there has done his or her job preparing these athletes. You would think that these coaches would be safe from poaching, but that wasn’t the case.

Most of the time it’s a new coach trying to make a name in the sport. Most of them don’t even realize that poaching is unethical.  Here’s the actual language  (taken from Matt Foreman’s article on Catalyst):

Failure of a receiving coach to consult with and fully inform the coach of record, and/or an athlete’s parents (if the athlete is less than eighteen (18) years of age) about ongoing discussion with an athlete about switching coach of record, a change of team of record, or of enrollment in a USAW/USOC sponsored facility or program.

Enticing an athlete to change the coach or team of record for monetary or in-kind incentives.

I find it sad that we can’t respect each other enough to at least communicate with one another. In the past two years, I’ve had athletes contact me from multiple other clubs, and in each instance I contacted their coaches right away. Personally if an athlete is making progress with a coach, I don’t want that athlete. Obviously that coach has that athlete figured out, so I don’t want to come in and mess that up.

There’s something else that young coaches need to understand, and that is this sport is small internally. You will see the same coaches year in and year out. Those coaches will either give you the shirt off of their back, or they’ll swallow you whole. My fellow coaches in USA Weightlifting have helped me so much. Guys like Sean Waxman, Dave Spitz, Kevin Doherty, Spencer Arnold, and Kevin Simons just to name a few have helped me coach my athletes, make decisions for my athletes, and sometimes in managing my club. There are plenty of others that have helped as well, but I don’t want this to look like a genealogy chapter in the Bible.

I hope to pass on that kindness to them and also to the new coaches in USA Weightlifting. If we want the sport to grow, we have to encourage our new coaches. Coaches educate the public about the sport. They’re also the ones that teach the sport, and the ones that supply the gyms to the athletes.

So far, I have pretty much reiterated the exact same thing that Matt said for Catalyst, but I want to give you the other side. I want all of you to know what poaching isn’t. Nothing makes me madder than being accused of poaching. So now let’s talk about what poaching isn’t.

If an athlete leaves you for over a year, trains at a local Lifetime Fitness alone, and then shows up at a coach’s gym about 1,000 miles away, that isn’t poaching. I was accused for the longest time of poaching Nathan Damron. I didn’t call Nathan. I didn’t email Nathan. I sure didn’t slide in his DMs. He showed up with Dylan Cooper, and he stayed. Now I grew to love this athlete. We’ve been through a lot of good times and a few bad times. When he came to me, I could out front squat his back squat. Now he’s known to possess more absolute strength than just about any weightlifter in the country with a 320kg back squat.

Nathan left his old coach for personal reasons. I am not going to list these reasons. If you want to know, you can ask Nathan. Yet I heard about this for several years after he moved to my gym. Too many coaches would rather blame another coach than look in the mirror and ask some hard questions like:

·      What could I have done better?

·      Was my club a fit?

·      Is the new club a better fit?

Dylan Cooper left my club about two years ago to join Cal Strength. Dave Spitz kept me in the loop, and then Dylan let me know. He was worried that I would be upset, but instead he found that I was happy for him. Cal Strength was a better fit. Some things had happened at our club, and it was just good timing for Dylan. Dave and I became the best of friends through all of this.

Here’s something to remember for all of you:

We don’t own these athletes. If one of my athletes wants to go to another club, then they should go. Our coach to athlete trust is already compromised, so it’s best to move on. The only thing that makes me mad is when things happen behind my back. If my athlete isn’t improving, they have every right to consider other options. Heck, as an athlete I would have looked elsewhere if I weren’t moving in the right direction.

It’s not only improvement that matters. Is the culture a fit? That’s a big one to consider. You might be killing it, but you still have to fit the culture or the rest of the team will suffer. Coach Sean Waxman taught me that one, and he was dead on. In the last two years, coaches like Spencer Arnold and Dave Spitz have alerted me immediately if one of my athletes or their parents reached out to them. I have done the same thing for Dave Spitz and Sean Rigsby. Here’s a notice to all athletes that reach out to me. I will immediately contact your coach, so be aware.

What else is not poaching? If an athlete moves and finds themselves in the backyard of another coach and team, it only makes sense for that athlete to change teams and coach. I had one of my athletes move to California, and they wanted to train with Coach Kevin Doherty’s Team Hassle Free. Of course he joined their team. Why would they remain connected to my team and to me as a coach? If Cam Newton started playing for the Patriots, would he still be a Panther? Absolutely not!

There are two deadly epidemics going on in USA Weightlifting that we can easily fix. What are the epidemics? Let’s look:

1.  Yes Poaching is a problem!

2.  However Possessive Coaches is another problem!

We can cure the poaching problem by simply sticking to solid ethics. Let’s just be up front with each other, and this will go away quickly. Honesty and Integrity are requirements if you want to make a name in this industry. It’s amazing at the bond that can be formed by being totally honest with one another. Coach Spitz and I are the best of friends simply because we are up front with each other. We both understand that the real team is Team USA. We want the best for our athletes not the best for our personal brand.

We can cure the problem with ‘possessive coaches’ by putting the athlete first. I want what is best for my athletes. I love Dylan Cooper just as much now as I did before he left. He visits every time that he comes home. I message him periodically to make sure he’s ok. He’s matured not only as an athlete, but also as a person while in California.

Our athletes are not pieces of equipment that we own. They are simply on loan to us. I will help each and every one of my athletes while they are with me. That’s my mission. I do it because I enjoy the happiness expressed on their faces when they do well. I love being a small part of their journeys. I love moments like when Hunter hit her lifetime best Clean & Jerk on the platform to make the Team USA World Team. She was jumping up and down, and I was crying. Does that mean I own her for life? No way! I want what is best for Hunter at all times. As long as I keep that attitude, I will do the right thing.

I hope that this article clarifies what poaching is and what it isn’t. It boils down to respect. If we respect each other as coaches, we won’t poach. If we respect our athletes as individuals that we are helping, then we will always want what is best for them. Here are some more words of advice for all of you coaches. None of us can do anything about the actions of others. All that we can control is our own actions. Instead of asking, “why did they do that to me?” You could ask, “What could I have done better in that situation?” That is the only question to ask if growth is the goal.

All of this is something to consider as we approach 2019. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Years to all of you! I look forward to serving you all in the coming year.

Coach Travis Mash 

Ways to support the nonprofit 501c3 Team Mash Elite and Youth At Risk Program:

1. Donate (we have several options from a simple one-time any amount donation to monthly pledges with benefits from our team)

è Donate to the Team

2. Sponsor our Team (this is for businesses or individuals that specialize in philanthropy)

è Email me directly at masheliteperformance@gmail.com

We’ve Only Scratched the Surface

We’ve Only Scratched the Surface

Eight days ago, I had my right hip totally replaced by Dr. John Howe of OrthoCarolina here in the Winston-Salem, NC area. First, I want to say that he did a fantastic job. I walked the day of my surgery, and within a week I was doing air squats. I was told in 2011 that some kind of hip surgery was inevitable. I did everything under the sun to delay the surgery for as long as possible.

At the end of it all, I had to decide between hip replacement and hip resurfacing. That’s a blog in itself that I might write if you guys want to know what I found. However for today, I will just say that Ed Coan was the convincing force. He told me about his two hip replacements. He had one performed with an anterior approach, and one was performed with a posterior approach. He believes that had he gone with an anterior approach both times that he would still be competing. That’s all I needed to hear.

Now I am not saying that I want to squat 800 pounds again, but I am excited about training hard. This is the first time in three years that I have been truly excited to train. You see at the end my will to train was totally gone. I have spent my entire life training for a sport, competition, or event. I was always training to improve, to set records, and to win. I was at a point where improvement wasn’t an option. Mentally I wasn’t capable of that type of training. I know that is something that I will need to work on as I get older, but dang it y’all I am not there yet.

During the last week, I have experienced improvement for the first time in years. At first, I could barely move around at all. I started performing bodyweight knee flexion, knee extension, and hip abduction and adduction. Around day 5, I performed a bodyweight squat to a chair. Now eight days later, I am walking without support some of the time and performing multiple sets of air squats.

This article isn’t a drawn out update on my health, but I definitely wanted to let you guys know that I am getting better. I am getting better, and I am ready for the challenge of rehabilitation. I have some thoughts forming in my brain of where I want to take my strength and fitness. All that I can say is that it’s going to be epic. I think that you all know to expect that from me when I am all in.

There is something more exciting that really triggered this blog. A few days ago, Kelly Starrett, the Supple Leopard himself, reached out to me to see how I was recovering from surgery. We have never met in person, but his amount of concern lifted my heart.  Here’s what he said:

“Coach! If I can help, please give a shout. My cell is @#%-*%&-@#@#. Juliet (wife) has had 2 of those bastards. Do you have a Marc pro? Pain relief and decongestion are key. If not, let me send you one.” Kel

Do you think colleagues in other professions reach out like this when one of them has surgery? Maybe, but it’s never happened to me. This warmed my heart, but there was something else that actually fired me up. Look at this conversation:

I said, “I appreciate you so much. This is what makes this industry of ours so amazing. Thank you so much.”

Kelly responded, “Amen. The content you put out and your athlete advocacy are a jewel in the crown of s&c. It’s the very least I can do. And look, if we have to grade ourselves, we all get a d-, why? We haven’t moved the needle enough at all. We need you BACK asap.”

This fired me up y’all! He’s right! There is so much more to be done. CrossFit opened the eyes of so many people to the world of strength and fitness, and that’s a start. However, it’s just a start. Like Kelly said, we all get a ‘D’. Yeah we read a chapter, but we were supposed to read the whole book.

There is still so much bad information out there. We have to educate the world starting with the community that we live in and working out. What you believe that all the good information is already out there? Check this out:

·      People still think that weight training is bad for youth.

·      Some people still believe that squatting below parallel is bad for your knees.

·      Some women are still afraid to lift weights because they might get bulky.

·      High Schools are still filled with unqualified strength and conditioning coaches.

·      Young athletes are still getting hurt in weight rooms across the county.

·      Kids are walking around high schools with movement patterns of 80-year-olds because they play video games all day.

·      Obesity continues to rise

·      Childhood obesity continues to rise

·      Dang it if your child is obese, you have to look in the mirror. I said it, and I know that a few of you are going to be mad. It’s time for tough love.

Look I could go on and on, but you get the idea. Kelly fired me up! I still want to created the best weightlifters and athletes in the world, but now I want to spread strength, fitness and movement around the world. It all starts with the way I carry myself at home in front of my own children.

There’s another point that’s even bigger from all of this. Instead of talking junk about one another all the time, what would happen if we all bonded together like this example with Kelly? That’s how you get things done y’all. Think about this scenerio:

·      Kelly teaches me movement

·      I teach him how to move a barbell

·      Layne Norton teaches us about nutrition.

·      Andy Galpin fills us in on the latest research

·      Greg Nuckols teaches us everything in between

You see the momentum building here? This is how we change the world. We help each other. When it becomes about something more than ourselves, it becomes a cause. Until then, it’s just a job.

It feels good to be motivated again. Kelly thanks for being a big part of that. There is so much good to be learned from the world of strength and fitness. I am ready for this to be a cause and something bigger than just me. Let’s do this together.

P.S. If you guys want to help with our 501c3 nonprofit Weightlifting Team and Youth At Risk Program, you can check out our "Mash Feats of Strength Online Competition" or check out the other ways of supporting our program:

• Mash Feats of Strength Online Competition
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Mash Elite Mission and Future

Ways to support the nonprofit 501c3 Team Mash Elite:

1. Donate (we have several options from a simple one-time any amount donation to monthly pledges with benefits from our team)

è Donate to the Team

2. Sponsor our Team (this is for businesses or individuals that specialize in philanthropy)

è Email me directly at masheliteperformance@gmail.com

Mash Elite Mission and Future

Today I want to tell all of you more about this crazy team that I’ve created. Since I created the team and formed it into a 501c3 nonprofit, I haven’t done a great job telling our story. For some of you, you might be inspired to start a nonprofit, and for some of you, you will get to know more about the team. All you normally hear about are the athletes winning National Championships and flying around the world to represent Team USA. There is so much more to know.

Like most nonprofits, I’m excited about #givingtuesday , and yes, I am hoping that some of you all see it in your heart to support our organization. However, unlike a lot of other nonprofits, I don’t want you giving blindly to Mash Elite Strength. I want you to know who we are, what our mission is, where we are in the process, and our future goals. Then if you like what you read, then and only then I want your support. Here goes!

I left MuscleDriver USA at the end of 2015. Luckily I already had a gym and team of my own, so I naturally started growing my own team. Even when I was at MDUSA, at the American Open and National Championships, I would coach the 15-17 athletes for Team MDUSA and 10-15 of my own. Man those were crazy competitions. I have no idea how I was coaching that many athletes. I don’t think that I could physically do that now. However when you love a sport so much, you’re able to get through the storm.

I left MDUSA with a vision. I wanted to create a team like we had at MDUSA that could help support the dreams of athletes in the sport of Olympic weightlifting. At MDUSA we supported mainly Senior Athletes (best of the best regardless of age) with a gym to train, coaches, programming, some sport’s medicine, and financially (monthly living stipend, meet expenses, and travel). You might not like Brad Hess (former owner of MDUSA), but he definitely put his money where his mouth was. He paid the top performers really well.

MDUSA did a great job of helping Senior Athletes, but I wanted to help Youth, Junior, and Senior athletes. I left MDUSA wanting to help my athletes in all the same ways as we did at MDUSA and more. However, I desired to bring the characters of weightlifting to life along with the sport. I desired something bigger than we were doing at MDUSA, which brings us to the present.

Feeling of Victory

My goal from day one has been to bring the characters of weightlifting to life, so the world might fall in love with our sport. The only way to grow the sport is to bring it to life. I want all the people of the United States to know the athleticism that goes into performing a heavy Snatch. I want them to see the daily struggles that go into life of a weightlifter. I don’t simply want a weightlifting team for my own enjoyment. I do love my team, do don’t get me wrong. However I have a higher purpose for my involvement in weightlifting.

Here are my goals for this team:

 

Our Facility

1. Provide a Facility- we are doing well on this one. We have a 6,000 square foot beautiful facility that is stocked with all the bumpers and bars that one could want thanks to Intek Strength and USA Weightlifting. We have all the best accessory equipment Westside Barbell Belt Squat, Reverse Hyper, Glute Ham Raises, Hyperextension, neck machine, and so much more. We have men and women’s locker rooms with showers. We even have a hardwood rolling floor yoga room that we mainly use as a warm up and cool down room complete with all the body tempering devices. Once a Senior athlete makes it into the Top 10 at Nationals, we don’t charge them for the facility, coaching, or programming. Once a youth or junior athlete is in the Top 20 athletes in the country on the rankings provided by USA Weightlifting, we don’t charge them for the facility, coaching, or programming either.

Olympic weightlifting area and our youth

2. Provide the Best Coaching- until recently I had Coach Don McCauley as the other coach in our training room. It was amazing having two Senior International Coaches in the same room. If I couldn’t help an athlete, he would say something that would trigger the proper response and vice versa. As you might know, he is sick and battling cancer right now, so he moved home to Florida. Coach Crystal McCullough has stepped right up and is learning quickly. She’s a natural born coach, but she just needs a bit more experience. She’s getting plenty of that. I have to say that she is doing a great solo job with some of our youth athletes.

3. Help Our Top Athletes Financially- right now we are able to financially assist our Top 4 Onsite Senior Athletes financially with a monthly stipend. We also pay for the travel and meet expenses or the American Open and Senior Nationals for our Senior Athletes ranked in the Top 10. Here is the first place where funds are needed. The biggest expense is sending our coaches to all the National Events (American Open, Senior Nationals, AO1,2, and 3 Series, Youth Nationals, and Junior Nationals. I’ll talk more about that later. I would like to assist our Junior and Youth athletes more as well especially travel expenses and meet registration. The Youth and Junior athletes are the future of the sport. Housing is the other component of the financial goal.

4. Assist with Education- this is one of my biggest goals for several reasons. First I want my athletes to have a life after weightlifting. Yes I want them to win the Olympics one day, but I also want them to be able to support a family later in life. I want them to have a career that they love. Not to mention if we ever want to grow the sport to the level of football and basketball in America, we have to show parents and athletes that there is a future with this sport. My hat is off to the folks at USA Weightlifting for releasing the College Scholarship fund for the Top youth and junior athletes in the country. I am working with two colleges right now on starting a program, but now I have a much better plan. My goal is to raise money for a scholarship fund for my athletes to use at whichever school they choose modeling USA Weightlifting’s Scholarship. That way, it could be used at whichever school fits the athlete the most. For example, one of my athletes wants to go to a welding school. Awesome, that’s a solid career. We just need folks like you donating to our cause.

5. At Risk Program- this is the program that I want to grow the most. We define at risk as any child that is at risk of going down the wrong path. This could be:

·      Single Parent Children struggling

·      Children in a violent home

·      Children in an unstable home ex. Parents fighting all the time

·      Children into drugs

·      Fighting at school

·      Orphans

·      Neglect

·      Poverty

Anything that endangers a child’s future is classified as ‘at risk’ by our program. The problem is that we need a full-time person to kick this program off the ground. We need someone to make contacts with other youth programs and schools in the area. We need someone to arrange transportation or provide transportation to and from the gym.

We want to use weightlifting to teach the children all the lessons that the sport of weightlifting provides like: work ethic, goal setting, perseverance, and dedication. Then we want the ‘at risk’ director to teach them how to apply those lessons to life in a ‘Life Skills’ course. We desperately need the funds for this position.

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We’ve done a great job of recruiting and coaching the best weightlifting athletes in America. This year, we had four (two men and two women) Senior Athletes on the Senior World Team, which is 20% of the entire team. That’s our greatest International accomplishment to date. We also had three athletes on the Youth Pan American Team with 14-year-old Morgan McCullough winning the Gold Medal. We have two athletes locked on the Youth World Team for next year, and three sitting on Junior Teams for next year. We have three other athletes that should make Youth or Junior Teams and two athletes that might make Senior Teams. So no matter what we are going to have between 7-15 athletes on Team USA next year.

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That’s a pretty good start for a small program in Lewisville, NC. However, we have a mission that with your help we will continue to pursue. Here’s our driving mission in all of this:

We want to help grow the sport of weightlifting in America. We want to recruit, coach, and support athletes all the way to Olympic Gold. To do that we have to continue to grow and improve our youth and junior squads as they are the future. We also have to provide the necessary tools and financial assistance to help our athletes reach their goals and to build their future adult lives (college and trade schools). We want to use our success in the sport to help our local community with the best ‘at risk’ program in the United States. We want to teach our Team USA athletes to give back by assisting with the ‘at risk’ program.

It’s a big goal. I know that, but with your help we can do it together. We’ve already accomplished more anyone believed that we would. 2019 is going to be the best year yet. We have an incredible group of people that love our team and what we are doing. We also have some amazing parents that have agreed to volunteer their time to get the program off the ground. Thank God for these amazing people.

Here is what we need most urgently:

·      Money for travel- next year is going to have our athletes traveling all around the United States and the world. USA Weightlifting pays of most International Travel for the athletes, but not for the coaches. With our athletes qualifying for meets in Fiji and Cuba, our coaches are left with forking out thousands of dollars for travel.

·      At Risk Program- we need a full-time person to really kick off this program, and we need a small bus or van to transport the youth.

·      College Fund- I’m excited to start this fund for our top men and women to build their futures while training to be the best athlete in the world. I love the thought of allowing the athlete to choose the University or trade school that fits their needs the best. Along with USA Weightlifting’s fund, we could really make a difference in the lives of these young athletes.

Anything above and beyond these urgent goals would go directly towards the support of the athletes (‘at risk’ included in this). If we want to recruit the best athletes in America, we have to provide them with a future in the sport. Imagine if you could go to a parent and say:

“Hello Mrs. Jones, we can provide a college scholarship to your daughter, provide housing, and pay her a $2,500 per month with all expenses of the sport covered. Plus she can travel the world representing Team USA for free, and receive a stipend, bonuses, scholarship, sports psych, nutrition, recovery, and more from USA Weightlifting.”

When we make statements like this, we can recruit the best athletes in America. Then we can start dominating the sport of weightlifting Internationally like America already does in sports like track and field and swimming. USA Weightlifting under the guidance of Phil Andrews has already made massive strides in what they provide to athletes. Now it’s up to the clubs to do their part. I am trying.

Anyway, this is who we are, what we want to accomplish, and where we plan on going. I want to provide more and more free content to all of you to educate you more about the sport in hopes that you will grow the sport in your own area. We plan on producing more videos and podcasts with our athletes, so you all can get to know them. I want you to feel a part of the team because you are. I can’t do this alone. We already have four amazing sponsors that have helped us get this far:

Premier Sponsors

·      Intek Strength Best Bumper Plates and Bars  (www.IntekStrength.com)

·      Harbinger Fitness Belts, Straps, and Wraps ( https://harbingerfitness.implus.com/ )

·      Mash Elite Performance ( www.mashelite.com )

Sponsors

·      MG12 Magnesium Recovery Products ( www.mg12.com )

·      WOD Fitters Bands and Recovery Tools ( www.wodfitters.com) 

We couldn’t survive without these amazing companies. If we are to grow further, we need all of you to join the team. If you feel led to help, you can:

1. Donate (we have several options from a simple one-time any amount donation to monthly pledges with benefits from our team)

è Donate to the Team

2. Sponsor our Team (this is for businesses or individuals that specialize in philanthropy)

è Email me directly at masheliteperformance@gmail.com

I want to thank all of you for following this team. We appreciate you all so much. If you have purchased anything from Mash Elite Performance, you are making the dreams of our athletes come true with 12% of all gross profits going to our team. We’ve already accomplished more than anyone thought that we could. Now we know that we can help USA Weightlifting take this beautiful sport to the next level.

All my thanks,

Coach Travis Mash 

Head Coach Mash Elite

USA Weightlifting Senior International Coach