Introducing: The Camp4 Performance Coach Certification Course

By Camp4 Coach Collin McGee

I played baseball from the age of 4 until I graduated college. I was blessed to extend my career collegiately in the Ivy League at Cornell University. I worked hard in high school academically and was top of my class but there is no doubt in my mind that my athletic career helped push me into school. I had an amazing 4 years of university making too many friends and memories both on and off the field. And graduating from Cornell was one of the proudest moments of my life.

That is the power of athletics for our youth.

It has the power to push you to places you may only dream of. Participating in sport can introduce you to lifelong friends, take you on amazing adventures, and instill self-confidence in yourself to take on much more of this world than just the sport.

My baseball career ended with injury in college, and I did not get a chance to play professionally. I had the ability. I just lost the opportunity to truly see what my potential was. This story is too common in our youth athletes.

Injury is not 100% preventable and is a lesson of life all can benefit from. However, there are exercise, practice, and competitive behaviors that exist that increase the risk of injury unnecessarily. As coaches, these moments are where we can truly step in to be the first line of defense against preventable injury.

The C4PC was created to set the educational standard in the climbing coaching industry.

To date, little to no formal education exists to systemize the thought process of creating training programs that balance skill practice on the wall and physical preparation off the wall. And even less educational programs exist via a process that challenges the coaches through text, lecture, and a hands-on environment where the coaches must demonstrate proficiency in the skills and knowledge presented to pass the course.

Like many other sports, climbing coaches originate from the sport themselves. Passion created from the sport and realizing all the accomplishments, memories, and experiences that came from it drives the individual to stay involved and may lead to a coaching career. However, the downfall of this process is the level of coaching education gained. You may be able to pass on personal lessons learned and skills acquired but there is no objectivity in the personal process to say whether what you learned and what worked for you is the right choice for the individuals you coach.

I experienced this in my first year of coaching. I played baseball at a very high level and regurgitated some of the training and practices that I did in college. I quickly learned that was a broad-brush approach to training individuals with unique needs, wants, and physical limitations that I needed to attend to individually to the best of my ability. That lead me down a path of mentorship, certification, education, and years of getting things right and wrong to slowly begin to understand that playing collegiate baseball was not a great prequalification to being a coach and strength coach.

The C4PC provides current and aspiring coaches with the knowledge and skill to become more objective in their practice.

The course will raise their standard of critical thinking, training plan creation, and coaching to help them become the elite coach they aspire to be. And the elite coach that their youth teams deserve to help them realize their athletic potential.