How Challenges Shape Us with Josh Poahway

Show Notes
Transcript

On this episode of the Samson Strength Coach Collective, we sit down with Joshua Poahway, Director of Sports Performance for Cache Public Schools. Josh shares his journey from growing up in Lawton to returning home and leading sports performance efforts in his community. Throughout the conversation, he reflects on leadership, mentorship, relationship-building, and the importance of authenticity in coaching.

Josh discusses the process of building a structured sports performance program within a public school system, creating alignment with coaches and parents, and developing trust with athletes through transparency and communication. He also explains how pursuing higher education and embracing his cultural background shaped his perspective as a coach and mentor.

The episode dives into how challenges and adversity can become powerful teaching tools for young athletes, and why strength coaches have an opportunity to impact lives far beyond the weight room.

Key Takeaways

Building trust starts with transparency and consistency
Community and culture heavily influence coaching philosophy
Strong communication helps align athletes, coaches, and parents
Personal struggles can become tools for mentorship and leadership
Sports performance programs should prioritize human development
Authenticity creates stronger athlete buy-in and relationships

Quote

“Struggles shape you into something amazing.” — Josh Poahway

Samson:
How have you kind of helped develop buy-in for the weight room from the athlete perspective?

Joshua Poahway:
It’s been magnificent, man. And here’s kind of what I’ve, it’s been my go-to thing is, is inspiration. ⁓ it creates belief, belief creates results and results create buy-in. inspiring the kids to want to be in the weight room, ⁓ getting them to believe in the process, ⁓ through their results, which ultimately gets them to buy into the weight room. So that’s been the biggest thing is just telling them that, you can do this. ⁓ it hasn’t been done before.

but you’re gonna be the first one that does it, right? And it’s just a constant, constant affirmation and building confidence and building things in them that where they think they can do anything, right? Like they think they can run through a wall. ⁓ And the biggest thing is letting them know that they’re not just bodies in the room, ⁓ that they’re actual human beings that are valued and that they’re not only their success in their sports.

Samson:
What’s going on Samson strength coach, collective listeners on today’s episode, have Josh Poe way director of sports performance at cash public schools. Josh and I, you know, just for some listener background met at CSCCA. ⁓ I believe it was two weeks ago now and you came up to me and just said, Hey, I’m a big fan of the podcast. It’s awesome to meet you. And it made my heart sing. If I’m being honest, I love meeting listeners in real time.

And so immediately, you know, after just a couple of words exchange, I knew we had to get you on the podcast. So I’m super excited to have you on Josh. Thank you for coming on, man.

Joshua Poahway:
Yeah, man, I’m super excited too, man. I appreciate the opportunity to be here to speak and be a part of something that has been a part of me for a while. So greatly appreciate it.

Samson:
Well,

I’m just stoked to hear it dude, seriously, because we talked about this a little bit pre-show like, know, Samson, we do this podcast not to, you know, just say, hey, Samson’s the best, even though I do say that a lot, because I do think they are the best, right? But ultimately to try to help coaches in the field and try to be a resource for people. So knowing that that’s the goal that’s being achieved is fantastic for me to hear. But enough about the podcast. It’s all about Josh today. So can you just give me a breakdown of your career, a breakdown of your background in strength and conditioning?

and then what’s brought you to Cash Public Schools?

Joshua Poahway:
Yeah, sure, man. I appreciate it. ⁓ Cash is where I graduated from. I grew up here K through 12. Yeah, so it’s great to be back home as I tell people all the time. My experience was I went and tried to play football. Didn’t quite work out the way I wanted it to. So I came back ⁓ to Lawton and pursued my sports exercise science degree at Cameron University. That’s where I got my bachelor’s and my senior. ⁓ You know, the last semester I did an internship at Cameron with a great coach, great mentor.

And ⁓ I had ran into a buddy of mine, because I was still working at my tribal fitness center. And he said, hey, man, you’d be a good strength coach. I had no idea what that was ⁓ until I had gotten into it and started my internship. But I was like, yeah, this is something I’m going to do. So kind of pursued that. to Arkansas Tech for my graduate degree. Got my master’s in kinesiology, strength conditioning, and super great experience. Got to be a GA through them.

the University of the Ozarks, they kind of had like a deal worked out. So man, it was a great experience there. Got to, I had a great mentor. He had also gone through that program too. So he kind of knew what it was about and really helped me navigate that situation. And it was, was, that’s kind of where I come from. Super short and sweet as I ain’t been in the field for a long time yet. So.

Samson:
Well, but you got a lot of experience which we’re going to dive into. But the first thing I’m really curious about, you went to Cache Public Schools, now you’re working at Cache Public Schools. Do you have teachers and different coaches that you’ve worked with, or sorry, you studied under and then now you’re working with? Is that how it’s worked out?

Joshua Poahway:
Yeah, absolutely man. A lot of people that have watched me grown up from pre-k through 12th grade now ⁓ get to see me come back. My defensive line coach, he’s now my assistant director. So it’s really awesome to have that, you know, still that mentorship that I had when I was younger. Now I still get that same mentorship now in the director role. So it’s pretty sweet experience.

Samson:
That’s incredible, dude. I mean, because I came from a smaller school. You know, we had a graduating class of, I think it was 110. You know, so how it would typically work out was honestly, I’d graduate with some of the teachers, you know, sorry, what am I trying to think? The word offspring is coming to mind, which is like the worst word possible. I’m trying to think sons or daughters, like a normal human being. Let me be normal here for a second. But, you know, I’d graduate with them and then a couple of them came back to be teachers, but you get to go back and be a coach.

Joshua Poahway:
Hahaha

Samson:
You know, what does it mean to you to be back in in cash where you grew up? What does it mean for you to be a coach for that school system?

Joshua Poahway:
Yeah, it means a lot, man. I mean, we had a lot of great things built here. ⁓ It’s very meaningful to me to be able to coach a lot of my family members that are going through the program. ⁓ Kids that were in the youth programs when I was a senior and when I was in high school. Now they’re growing up and they’re graduating and they’re, you know, becoming upperclassmen. And it’s really awesome to kind of see how much this program that I’ve given to the program as a student athlete. Now I get to come back and give it as a coach. I think it’s been awesome to see like

It’s been very meaningful. know, it’s like a, there’s kind of a deeper rooted connection ⁓ to this place than if I was just to come in as like, you know, an employee, right? Like it’s, it’s, I’ve got family ties here. You know, it’s, it’s been amazing.

Samson:
Yeah, you know, I’ve seen that with, ⁓ you know, one of our assistant strength coaches went to App, graduated from App and is now a strength coach with App. And you can tell, you know, App State means a lot to him, right? And so I’m sure it’s the same case for you, but it’s even more during your formative years, right? K through 12, you’ve been in the school system and then now you get to coach through it. I’m curious, you don’t have to name any specific names, but does anybody remind you of a young Josh?

Joshua Poahway:
Yes, man, all the time, dude, all the time. ⁓ Sometimes I’m just like, dude, please don’t remind me of that. but yeah, man, I get that quite often. And it’s really it’s really cool to hear, where I come from and kind of the struggles I grew up with and then hit them saying, you know, hey, we’re super proud of where you come from and what you battled through to get to where you are now. I think that’s the best part of of all the ⁓ bringing up, you know, who I was and what I struggled with. And then them saying, you know what?

you did a really good job and it makes us proud. So that’s huge to hear.

Samson:
That’s awesome. love to hear it. Well, you you say you are a young guy, you are a young guy in the field. I’m a young guy in the field as well. It’s just two young guys talking to each other, right? But at the end of the day, ⁓ you essentially got your master’s degree and then became a director right away. What has that experience been for you? I mean, it’s got to be like drinking water through a fire hose. So, I mean, how has it been over the three years that you’ve been with Cash as the director?

Joshua Poahway:
Yeah, man, ⁓ it’s definitely been something for sure. I mean, I went from running a few teams to now coordinating things with 12 head coaches with 12 different experiences and 12 different opinions who each one of them have over 10 years of experience over me. ⁓ So it’s definitely been an experience for sure. ⁓ mean, going from a GA, just running my teams and doing my programs and kind of having that freedom. Now I’m like the guy and it was an unorthodox way of getting the program started.

Like my assistant director, as I mentioned earlier, he was the guy that was running the strength conditioning. ⁓ Football was the primary sport that was kind of taking care of all the weight room stuff. And I just kind of came back and I talked to my admin and I said, hey, I’ve got this experience that I gained at the college level that I’ve been doing for a while. I went and studied this and I would love to bring everything that I’ve learned back home. And they kind of just opened up that director role for me and they were interested to see what I brought. ⁓

And the biggest, I think the biggest challenges and the experiences that I’ve gotten from it was being young and never really truly navigating these conversations with people. mean, like, you know, when I was a GA, my head coach took care of everything for me. I got to just go and coach. Right. And so now it’s, it’s building those relationships with people and then also trying to build relationships, different relationships with people that once taught you and coached you and saw you in a different perspective. That has been.

Definitely a different experience for me for sure. But other than that, man, it’s been good and a lot of learning, a lot of changing ⁓ that ⁓ has to come from within myself and figuring out kind of where my flaws are and where I need to grow and become better as just a human being in general ⁓ that helps me kind of navigate the growth that I’ve had to go through in this position, in this role.

Samson:
Well, you know, I just think back to when I first started out coaching, you know, I was lucky to have the position just as you were, ⁓ you know, and ultimately, like you said, you’re kind of the assistant, you know, you don’t really have to go to the meetings with head coaches. You don’t have to, you know, have some of the tough conversations. And I was fortunate enough where I got to be involved with some meetings. So kind of saw how it worked. But, you know, there’s no head coach that’s coming up, especially where I was at with at Tennessee, you know, who’s going up to the G.A. and saying,

Well, what do we think about this? You know, unless it’s like in a malicious way, you know, which luckily I never had to do that, right? ⁓ You know, where they’re trying to go behind the head strength coaches back. So, you know, ultimately I remember going and starting off at Texas Tech and just really having the experience of like, okay, this is the first time I’m talking to a coach ⁓ and this coach is really successful. Like you said, all these people have different years and of experience and different opinions and how they want things run.

Joshua Poahway:
Yes.

Okay.

Samson:
It’s the right because they’re the sport coaches, you know, and I remember like, mean, literally being so nervous just to say basic general things, you know? And so I was fortunate enough. I started off with one head coach. You started off with 12 having to talk with a bunch of different head coaches. You know, what was that experience like just first of all, having to speak to a coach and understand what they needed as the strength coach and then having to do it 11 other times over with different sports.

Joshua Poahway:
huh.

Hmm.

No.

Yeah, right, man. ⁓ So I actually didn’t really get to have a conversation with all the head coaches really until this past year was over, like a couple weeks ago. ⁓ Like it was brand new to them, you know, especially at the high school level, not very many, especially in Oklahoma, not very many schools have had the experience to work with a strength coach. So really the conversations was like, here’s what I bring to the table and here’s what I can do for you and your program.

and ultimately for your kids. really a lot of conversations with a football coach, because he was once my defensive coordinator, he’s now the head coach. So a lot of conversations there, a lot of navigating just different communication styles, different, like just the way in people, in the way people operate, just trying to work with them and understand them and listen to them gives you a different skill set when it comes to

having to try to navigate how to talk to them, right? Because you can’t talk to people the same way you can talk to some others, right? Like you’ve got to navigate that. And that was one big one for sure when dealing with them is what is their communication style? How do they like being talked to? How can I approach them in a productive way so we can all get these things done efficiently and effectively? I mean, it really just navigating people, man, and just understanding kind of what the end goal is and what we’re looking to do here.

and what we’re trying to build, think that was one of the biggest things in terms of communicating with them that has really helped out.

Samson:
Well, you know, got to say I’m impressed genuinely because, you know, even when I first started out at Texas Tech and I was working with like the head coach is the example I gave earlier. I still had the director, right? You know, I still had somebody I could go to and I could say, Hey, I don’t think this conversation went super well with coach. Like, you know, what was something I can improve or something I can do better, but now you’re the guy, you know, like there’s, you know, there’s obviously some mentors you can reach out to and talk to them about that, but it’s always nice to have somebody kind of.

Joshua Poahway:
because

Samson:
on site. So I’m impressed with your ability to, you know, kind of navigate that. It must have not been easy when you first started. I guess what I’m curious is, you know, did you say you essentially created the position? Like you came in and told them, Hey, this is something I can provide. And then they, said, let’s make the position. Let’s get it rolling.

Joshua Poahway:
Yeah, absolutely man. That’s just kind of what happened. I’d reached out to the current athletic director, great lady and the superintendent who was once my superintendent. ⁓ I said, yeah, this is essentially what I can bring to the table. ⁓ They told me what they were looking for, what they wanted. And I was like, yeah, this, this will work. And, ⁓ you know, we’re one of the few forays that do it, let alone have two full-time guys ⁓ and then building kind of a department with it. It’s been.

super, super awesome. But yeah, man, I mean, I came into this, essentially said, Hey, here’s what I can do. And here’s what I offer. Not knowing what was in store, not knowing what other things I was going to have to do on the administrative side of it. And trying to establish the program and trying to get to make it legitimate and trying to work through building a handbook ⁓ and trying to do all these things, man. mean,

I didn’t know what that came with it. I’m like, yeah, let’s just get into the coaching. Let’s get into the programming. Let’s get into the exercise technique and whatnot, not knowing the other things that it entailed.

Samson:
Well, you you thought it just gonna be sets and reps and then all of sudden we’re getting into budgets and all this different stuff. What were those administrative things that you had to handle? What were the things that, you know, kind of popped up that, you know, took you by surprise a little bit?

Joshua Poahway:
I think the things that really took me by surprise, because I mean, we don’t, don’t have a budget. Everything goes through the athletics department. I’m just a little ⁓ kind of a little subsection of the athletics department. ⁓ It really is just figuring out what we need. ⁓ What’s going to be of most benefit for the least amount of cost. Cause I mean, we’re a public school system, so we don’t have millions of dollars just sitting around to send funds everywhere. ⁓ Also kind of getting set up and establishing.

These things like I didn’t I’m not even I mean, I just this is the first year I’ve had a handbook because it’s been really navigating what this position is and getting coaches and people to buy in. I think that’s been the biggest thing for me was advocating for what the program is and what we do and trying to get people to understand it’s not just weights like I’m not just in there getting these people strong. I’m not just in here getting these kids strong, but I need them to move better. I need them to also be able to have be efficient in.

communication with us and I need them to be do all these different things is what I’m trying to build within them and it’s not just strength conditioning. I think that’s been the biggest administrative thing is getting across to these coaches into really the community that it’s not just lifting weights, squat bench deadlift, it’s jumping, it’s bounding, it’s leadership, it’s all the things that are gonna matter to them once they leave this place.

Samson:
How have you convinced them? Because it is something that’s easy for us within the field to know that, right? I know for a fact that I’ve grown to be a better man because of the weight room, right? I know that’s taught me different lessons in life. And I know when I work with athletes, it’s like you said, I’m not just trying to get people to come in here and squat 500 pounds and say, hell yeah, we did it. And then everybody gets a gold star and then gets to move on, right? There’s a lot of different components that go into it.

Joshua Poahway:
.

Thank you.

Samson:
How have you kind of raised that legitimacy and how have you really communicated those things to the coaches and the community?

Joshua Poahway:
I mean, the biggest thing is football like the head football coach and I butted heads a lot, but that has led to us building something truly remarkable within the football program. That’s kind of just trickled out into everyone else. They see the benefits that these kids are getting. ⁓ We have our athletic development hours throughout the day, first through sixth hours. So I’ve gotten to work with these kids more one-on-one and build them up. And then the kids are like,

the word of mouth, right? Like they’re going and telling their coaches, hey, this is helping, this is this, this is that. And the coaches get to kind of see it. The parents get to see it and just building a legit program and saying, hey man, this is for the kids. This is why we’re here. This is what we’re doing. Being fully transparent. Like there’s no hiding anything. ⁓ So that’s why I really just kind of dug in this year on creating a playbook going into next year. Playbooks getting sent to all the coaches, the admin, the parents, and it’s just transparency and what we do in the program.

and how everyone has a role in this program and how everyone contributes to making these kids and making their experience a whole lot better, as long as we’re all on the same page.

Samson:
I love the playbook, man. I think that’s such a great place to start. Well, you know, obviously not a start. It’s how you kind of perfected this process. What goes into it? What are the things that you’ve put in there to really hit the emphasis points?

Joshua Poahway:
Yeah, absolutely. It’s got like individual playbooks in there. So it’s got like what my staff does, me, the athletic trainer, my assistant director. And I’ve got a couple of interns that just graduated that they’re going to come back and work with me and go to Cameron as they work with me for these next four years. I get to develop them. So what their roles are, what the sport coach’s roles are in the communication and collaboration with me and my staff.

And just kind of the roles, the set roles and also what the parents roles are and how they can contribute to making their kid better and how they can contribute to the Sports Performance Department overall. Because I mean, I’ve run into some problems where there’s been too many cooks in the kitchen, head coaches and myself and having to navigate, know, not stepping on each other’s toes when it comes to doing things and navigating those things. Well, now we have a handbook to say, OK, well, you you got.

You got to also communicate with me as well because I’m trying to communicate weekly with all these other head coaches. So it would help me out if you would communicate with me as well instead of it being like a one sided type of thing. It’s getting everybody on the same page of when we communicate, who to communicate with, and it’s kind of just making it just cleaner and clearer.

Samson:
Yeah, I think structure is so huge, right? You know, when there’s just a basic path set out in a basic understanding of, you know, here’s how these things essentially work, right? And sometimes we might have to navigate outside of the handbook, but 90 % of the time, this is what it’s going to look like. And I think it makes things much clearer. You know, you mentioned one thing with the football coaches I think is interesting, right? You guys, you said you butted heads a little bit, but it’s ultimately come to a great product. You know, I guess what, you know, how did you keep your confidence through that?

Joshua Poahway:
Yes.

Samson:
because you’re a young strength coach, right? Like you said, this is a former coach of yours. So there’s already a little bit of a relationship dynamic where, you know, he’s coached you in the past. And so there’s a little bit of that authority, you know, kind of dynamic. And then on top of that, you know, it’s just trying to basically say, well, I know what I’m doing is, you know, going to be best, you know, or what I hope to do is going to be best for the athletes. You obviously want to do best by the athletes. And we’re going to kind of disagree on some things to get a high quality product. How did you keep your confidence through?

Joshua Poahway:
Really, it’s just understanding what the ultimate goal is. Like, it’s understanding that we’re both here to develop the kids ⁓ and letting him know that I’m here to help you be better and help you succeed. ⁓ You know, of course, everyone’s got an ego. And this is one of the things I’ve presented about before, ⁓ was you’ve got to put that ego aside and you’ve got to listen to someone else. You’ve got to listen to what they’re saying because at the end of the day, it’s…

really not even about confidence, it’s understanding where he’s coming from because his job depends on wins and losses, mine doesn’t. He’s got a lot of extra stress that he has to go through and it’s also my job to take that off of him, not only just as an assistant football coach, but also as somebody that is also a director in another area. It’s coming together and realizing that, okay, let’s take a step back, listen to each other. Especially those first couple years were rough, the seasons weren’t great, was a-

a rough transition and I had just got here and it was, it was a lot of things going on extra. Um, it was really just looking at him as a person and not as just a coaching role. Like he’s a human as well. He’s got things going on as well that he has to deal with as do everybody else. So it kind of made it easier to navigate that understanding that what he’s doing isn’t personal. He’s just trying to do what he thinks is best for his program that right now isn’t where he wants it to be and where it should be and how he’s trying to navigate that.

That’s just one of the biggest things when it comes to understanding that it’s bigger than us, man. I mean, it’s bigger than us.

Samson:
I love the creating the human aspect of it, right? Because I think that’s where a lot of people fail in the relationships with their sport coaches is they can kind of hold them up as this kind of other worldly figure, right? Is this person’s just a coach. And one thing that really helped me, I’ll never forget when I first met the head coach I work with now, you we’ve got a great relationship. I love working with him. He trusted 100 % what I’m doing. And I also trust 100 % in what he’s doing that’s been built over years. It wasn’t just like that, you know, within the first week.

Joshua Poahway:
Absolutely.

Samson:
But one thing that really helped me is I remember the first week I met him His kids came in and his dog came into the office. And so I got to see him, you know, he’s very stoic at work You know, he’s very stoic as a coach He lets his assistants do a lot of coaching so he can be kind of quiet sometimes, right? You know where ultimately his kid comes in and then he’s got his dog Cheerio and he’s like hey Cheerio, know like and everything and it was just it was a good reminder for me to like, okay, this is a human being, know, I don’t have to hold him on this pedestal and

Joshua Poahway:
Yeah, yeah.

Samson:
At the same time, like you said, we both have a common goal. We both want to win, but there’s also a process that will help us reach the ultimate goal, which is helping develop young men, young women, and really making an impact on their lives. So I’m really glad that you were able to kind of continue with that process. I’m curious, you know, how was the relationship process building on with the high school athletes themselves? You know, how has it been working with them? How have you kind of helped develop buy-in for the weight room from the athlete perspective?

All I care about is that you leave this program and you go out into the world and that people know that cash is good at developing human beings, not just good at developing athletes, but we’re developing humans to go out and be successful and productive in society and help others. I mean, and once they get that and they understand that it’s just not here to advance your career or here to just win things. Then they then they’re like, you know what? We, trust this person a hundred percent in what they’re doing. So.

Samson:
You got me fired up. I’m inspired right now. So I love it, dude. Seriously. Well, because again, like we talked about, that’s the ultimate goal, right? Is it developing quality human beings? And especially at the high school level, one of the things that intrigues me so much is, you know, there is obviously going to be the division one and the wins and losses and people trying to make it to the next level and everything. But there’s a lot of athletes who you’re going to impact. And it’s going to be the majority of the athletes who are going to be able to continue to compete after high school.

Joshua Poahway:
Yeah.

you

Samson:
Right? You know, like you said to yourself, and I said, you know, I tried to compete in track and field. You try to compete in football and it just, you know, well, at some point not work for us, right? You know, whether you even go to the college level, it’s tough to go professional. It’s tough to keep leveling up. And so there’s a big aspect of, you know, when you’re working with high school athletes is I don’t really care about, know, I’m not going to hang your Jersey up just because you went division one. I’m going to hang your Jersey up because you’re an amazing human being and you made an impact. So I love that. That’s what your focus is.

Joshua Poahway:
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Absolutely, man. Absolutely.

Samson:
Yeah.

Well, it’s like I said, you’ve got me fired up now. So I’m to go, you know, tell my wife that this is a fantastic episode already. I’m curious because I know a couple of other things about you. OK. You know, you’re a Ph.D. student currently, correct? What’s the importance of getting your Ph.D.? I’m excited to hear about

Joshua Poahway:
Yeah

Correct.

Yeah, man. It’s definitely, it’s extremely important to me as my wife knows, she’s 100 % supportive and she knows how long these nights get these days. But when I was a sophomore and undergrad, I really got into exercise science and I figured out strength conditioning was something. So I went to the NSCA Midwestern Regional Conference. I’m like 20, 21 years old. I have no CSCS. I have no business going to this thing. But I just got so invested that I’m like,

I want to do this. I want to go full tilt and I want to get this thing done. And I want to really pursue this higher education. And for me, you know, I’m also Native American. Not very many people in my family have, you know, that higher education. And it’s huge for us, ⁓ not only just for my family, but also in the tribal aspect that there has been very few that have gone and pursued the higher education. I know there’s a lady in my cohort now. She’s a good friend of mine.

⁓ She’s also Comanche. And so it’s big for us as a tribe and a community of people to show that, know what, we’re not just a negative statistic. We’re not just out here drinking and smoking and doing all these things that there’s actually quite a bit of us out here that want to get educated and do things that will benefit not only just ourselves and our families, but benefit our tribes. So at the end of the day, the PhD is great for me. Like, I mean, I love it. It’s leveling me up and I’ve learned so much already.

but it’s also for the future generations of tribal members that need that, the role models and the people that have done it to say, hey, you can do this. ⁓ Even though you may not start off with everything, you may have to work, ⁓ fight, scratch, claw, tooth and nail to get to where you wanna go, but it’s possible. It doesn’t matter where you start, it matters where you’re going and what you’re willing to do to get there.

Samson:
So this is for a bigger purpose for you too. Wow. And do you have a lot of high school students who are also Native American?

Joshua Poahway:
No, absolutely.

absolutely. We’ve got tons of family members that I coach. ⁓ Our whole, defensive line, we’ve got two Native American kids, ⁓ Comanche and Kiwas. ⁓ We’ve got tons of Native American kids. One of my interns that’s coming back, she’s actually Comanche. So it’s really awesome to be able to mentor the future generation of Native American students, not only just within my tribe, but also other tribes that come through here. ⁓ Our compound, our tribal complex is in Lawton. So it’s about 15 minutes away from here.

So we’re a big Native American community. So it’s awesome to come back and to see so many Native American kids trying to do big things and being able to help them get there. I think that’s huge.

Samson:
Yeah, absolutely. I guess when I’m sitting here and hearing about your process and understanding about your program, kind of one of the thoughts in the back of my head is this guy’s dialed in, right? That’s something that I think about. And I think that helps me to understand a little bit more about why it’s so big for you why it’s so important for you. Because like you said, you get to be an example. mean, that must mean a lot for you to be able to be there for high school students and for younger students to be that example for them.

Joshua Poahway:
No, absolutely, man. It’s huge for me. mean, it’s it’s been definitely something that I’ve looked forward to. You know, I had those good examples in my life that I followed. And, you know, I’m like, you know what? I want to be that but for other kids as well. And I want to be able to do that myself and impact people in a positive way. And my biggest thing is not even just impacting the kids and growing them, but also everybody around me. I want everybody around me to succeed, to grow, to get better. ⁓ And for me, it ain’t even just about what color or what tribe you are. It’s just

getting people around me that are willing to get better, help them get better and succeed themselves and to achieve their goals and do things that they didn’t think were possible.

Samson:
I love it dude. Seriously, like I said, now I’m even more fired up. So this is fantastic. You know, this is a question we can skip if you’re not comfortable with it, but you mentioned earlier on in the episode having some struggles that you faced growing up and your coaches and teachers understanding that you’ve went through some struggles and now they get to see you, you know, ultimately be successful and be a role model. You know, can you kind of detail some of those struggles for us?

Joshua Poahway:
Yeah, yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Absolutely, I’m very comfortable with it. think it’s one of the parts of my philosophy, one of my values is authenticity. So I like to be as open as I possibly can with everybody. I grew up and most Native Americans understand eating government-subsidized foods. We call it kamachis. For a lot of people, it’s a liquid gold. That’s just kind one of the biggest things. Growing up, my junior, senior year of high school, my mom and I were living off about 800 a month. So we had literally almost nothing.

But we made it out. I was having to do that while still playing football and still wrestling and still trying to become the best student that I could be in hopes to set up myself for successful future. ⁓ I was born with a handicap. ⁓ I have no feeling in my hand. It was born with nubs. had an amniotic fluid band around my wrist. So I dealt with things that not very many normal kids dealt with on top of a physical handicap of being

of a poor background and having to go through a lot of these struggles, seeing drug abuse and alcoholism within my family and within the people in my community, it just was, it just makes me who I am today. And that’s why it’s so important to me to impact everybody around me in a positive way, especially the kids that I know for a fact are going through the same thing I went through. And that’s just been the biggest thing for me is understanding that, you know what?

that those struggles, man, those struggles are important and they may be seen as negative, but they’re not, man. They create you into something that is just amazing, you know? And it’s the positive, looking at it from a positive standpoint and understanding that those struggles make you into something, into a better version of yourself. That’s the best way you can look at it. I mean, it was negative at the time, but as I look back and I reflect, man, it’s a big part of who I am.

and a big part of why I do what I do.

Samson:
Yeah, I look back to my earlier question about how you were able to keep your confidence when you’re button heads with your coach, right? It seems a little bit trivial to ask that question now because knowing more about your background and what your struggles were, like obviously you were able to keep your confidence because like you said, there were negative things in that moment, but you’ve been able to turn them into something where it’s helped increase your confidence, it’s helped increase your ability to handle struggle, and it’s helped increase your ability to just be a fantastic human being all around.

Joshua Poahway:
You

Samson:
I really appreciate you being open with us and for the listeners because truly you never know who this can really impact, who’s listening, who really needs to hear those things. I guess I’m curious, do you have these conversations with your athletes? Are there any athletes you’ve seen go through similar struggles that you’ve had kind of more one-on-one conversations with?

Joshua Poahway:
Yes, absolutely. I address all of my shortcomings and failures with my athletes. That’s where that inspiration and belief comes in to building their buy-in with me is, look man, I graduated with a 2.9 GPA and now I’m a doctoral student. I was poor at one point and now I’m making a steady paycheck providing for my family and doing what I need to do. There are kids that have had one-on-one conversations with like, look man, I’ve been through what you’ve been through. There’s no excuse. You just got to get it done and you have to do it.

And for me, for them, it’s somebody that’s been there, right? Like oftentimes kids may run into people that, know, and there’s nothing wrong with this, that people that have had steady homes and stable homes and two parent homes and grew up that way and don’t really truly understand that struggle. And that’s amazing. Thank God they never had to deal with that. ⁓ But at the same time, it’s good for these kids to have these one-on-one conversations with somebody that has been through the struggle and that understands that has been there.

And so that’s just the biggest thing is that I tell them like, look, man, I had a 2.9 GPA. Look, I went and I played football and it didn’t work out for me. I failed classes in college before. Who cares about the negative things that have happened? Look at the positive that’s come out of it. Look at how I’ve been able to put myself in a better position and I’ve used those failures. And I just tell them, use it. If you failed, use it to teach you. You haven’t really failed.

There’s no such thing as a loss, it’s just lessons, right? Like it’s either wins or lessons, not wins or losses. So that’s been one big thing for me in expressing to them, like it doesn’t matter how many times you fall or how many times you fail, as long as you have your purpose in mind, you have your path and you know where you’re going and you’re confident in that, then you’re gonna get there one way or another.

Samson:
Yeah, you know I can tell you seriously are very great at the inspirational work because like I said I’ve felt inspired myself But you know ultimately I’ll be honest with you. I’ve lived a very privileged life You know I’ve always ⁓ you know had the ability to kind of just focus on what my you know main thing has been at the time school or strength conditioning You know my parents helped me out when I first did my GA position with rent and different things like that So I’ve I’ve certainly had a lot of privilege with it. So

Joshua Poahway:
You

Samson:
I guess what I’m saying this is I applaud you to be the example for these students because I can’t relate on that level, right? I can’t relate with some of our athletes who I know have similar stories to yours, where basketball has been their ability to change their situation and help support those who have supported them along the way, where we can develop a relationship. But obviously with your story, you’re able to relate even more to them, right? And you’re able to be even more of a role model to them. So I applaud you for that.

Again, it’s amazing for me to hear the background of these things because it really helps me relate back to why your program has been successful and why you’ve been able to help inspire the athletes. So I applaud you for this. you say, again, you mentioned at the start, you don’t have much to say because you’re a young strength coach. Well, I think that’s highly incorrect if I might say so myself. well, what does it mean to you to be able to live back close to your tribal community? Because that’s something where

Like you said, I’ve spoken with some athletes who have said basically, as soon as I’m away from home, I don’t want to move back home, right? Because it may not have been the best situation for them. What does it mean to you to be able to be back and be the example?

Joshua Poahway:
I mean, it means a lot to me. I was in that same boat where I was like, I don’t think I ever want to come back and I don’t think I ever want to be back home. But it’s definitely been a very meaningful thing. And I think that sometimes we can allow the trauma and the things that we’ve went through to dictate where we should or shouldn’t be and try to dictate where our purpose is. And that’s just one of the things is like, look, man, I know what I went through here. I know I had negative experiences here.

There’s negative experiences everywhere, but how can I turn them negative things into something positive? ⁓ It means a lot to me. I mean, it really does. It’s wonderful, amazing experience to be back home around my people. I’ve gotten to speak at many, many ⁓ college and high school graduation banquets for my tribe. ⁓ Kind of considered one of the leaders within that, and it’s super meaningful for me. It just really is.

There’s no other way to put it than that it’s, you know, euphoric feeling to be able to get in front of, you know, next generations and people that, you know, tribal people that have, that are 20 years older than me, that are going back because they didn’t have those opportunities when they were younger to go to college, that they’re now going back and they’re finishing their degrees and getting educated. And it’s awesome to be able to speak to them as well. You know, it’s not even just the ones that are younger, but the ones that have had rougher experiences than I have that are going and

trying to do what’s best for their family and for themselves. And I think that they’re also in probably an even better representation of what resiliency is than I am.

Samson:
Man, I am fired up, dude. I’m telling you, seriously. I know I keep saying it, but this is a fantastic episode. It’s really great to hear from your experiences. Okay, I’m gonna, this is slightly creepy. I did some Instagram stalking, okay? I know you’re an expecting father, is that correct? How has that process gone? Are you excited for the kid coming? Ultimately, what I think back to too is you saying you have been able to get a steady paycheck now and.

Joshua Poahway:
Tweet.

absolutely brother, yes sir.

Yeah.

Samson:
being able to provide for your family, know, what’s the excitement level for the kid coming?

Joshua Poahway:
I mean, I’m ecstatic about it, man. Get to continue my legacy as what every person wants to do, right? But I actually already have a kid. My wife has adopted a little girl ⁓ out of our tribal children’s shelter. She had adopted her a year before I met her. My wife is also tribal as well. So she got to take a little girl that she has my last name now. So she’s 10 years old, 25 years old with a 10 year old. ⁓

Samson:
⁓ shit, didn’t Instagram stalk enough, I apologize.

Joshua Poahway:
But it’s an amazing experience ⁓ to have children and to be able to hopefully influence them in a positive way as well. It’s a huge thing being a father. It’s a big responsibility. But at the end of the day, it’s really worth it getting to see part of you, something grow up and to have its own path, but also to have a little bit of you within them and to go and spread that to the world, man. That’s super exciting.

Samson:
And they’ll go through Cache Public Schools too, I’m sure. That’s awesome, dude. I mean, seriously, that’s fantastic to hear. I guess, you know, I’m curious. You’ve gone through three years now as the director. You’ve been through a lot of different experiences. What comes with three years forward from here? What comes at year six? What are the things that you’re trying to develop and grow with the department from here?

Joshua Poahway:
Yeah, absolutely.

No, absolutely. mean, first of all, my athletic director, man, she’s been great. I don’t know if I mentioned it, but she’s been great in helping us kind of establish it. Again, she is just ⁓ new as an athletic director. So, and she doesn’t fully understand what strength conditioning was, but she’s been very open minded and guiding and helpful in this situation. ⁓ So what I’m looking for within the sports performance department is to grow it into like a full fledged machine. So.

What I’ve thought and kind of where I’m looking to go is I’ve got high school kids I want to provide internship opportunities for within the program so they can see if strength conditioning is something that they would want to do. But I’m also, I’ve got interns coming back that are going to attend Cameron, which is, also work there as an adjunct instructor. ⁓ I get to go and teach them again at the next level anyway. So I’m trying to get kids to go to Cameron and get their sports and exercise science degree and experience there, but also come back into

be a part of the community and to be in it and be able to work in, you know, we got a new facility, so they’ll be able to work there and building a ⁓ full program in a feeder program from bringing kids from the high school level straight into strength conditioning. ⁓ And that’s huge because at the end of the day, we know like, I always have a big old desk and I put a little piece of paper on this desk and I’ve told my interns, said,

Here’s the amount of jobs is this little piece of paper and this desk is amount of coaches that want to be in it. So the earlier that you get involved in the field and in strength conditioning, the better it’s going to be for you going into getting a GA ship or getting a part-time or full-time position, whatever it may be, at least you’re starting off with a lot. You’re starting off with a lot of experience. And I’m hoping to get them by year two to where

We’ve got some certifications on the belt like the USAW or some things that will allow them to be able to coach ⁓ kids junior high and high school correct technique. And hopefully I can get them to run, be able to run teams and run things and they go full confident to the next level.

Samson:
Yeah, you know as somebody who hires GAs I can tell you for a fact that the people who go right to the top of the list are the ones who have the most experience already because that tells me they have the experience within coaching and they can coach, you know athletes and they’re ready to rock essentially and you know what I really truly believe too is if you can teach, know middle school or high school kids the appropriate lifting techniques then you’re probably gonna be a better coach than somebody who’s been working with division one athletes who can pick up on things really quickly.

So if any of your interns or any younger coaches are listening right now, know for a fact that Josh is telling the truth. He’s being 100 % correct with that. So I appreciate you saying that. You’re an adjunct professor as well.

Joshua Poahway:
Correct, ⁓ I’m serving both places that have built me into the man I am today, ⁓ Get to serve at Cameron University, which is where I got my bachelor’s degree. I’m working back with the departments that taught me. It’s super awesome.

Samson:
I mean, do you ever get tired? ⁓ You got the C4 right there. ⁓ Well, how do you manage all that? You know, cause there is a piece of, know, like you said, you’re being able to serve these communities and you’re being able to be the role model and that’s a lot to bear. How do you manage that? How do you kind of stay sane through doing that?

Joshua Poahway:
I’m exhausted brother, every single day. mean, I mean, look dude, I’ve got C4 right here, man.

Yeah, man, mean, my wife is extremely supportive of what I do. She works from home. So she just makes sure everything’s straight and that I’m good and that I’m supported. She really is kind of the backbone of what I do. She’s willing to do anything, move or whatever the case may be ⁓ so that I can be successful because she knows I’m trying to do it because I love and care about her and about everybody in my life. I mean, it’s been.

the drive within me, man. Like I always tell people all the time, and sometimes it’s a little much of how ambitious I am. Sometimes it can rub people the wrong way. Oftentimes I just am really driven about what I do, man. And here’s how I explain it. I have no way to explain it because it’s so deep within me and it’s so powerful. It just draws me. It’s something greater. Oftentimes I say it’s God because I mean, I can’t understand why I’m so driven to do what I do.

Even when I’m exhausted and even when I’m tired, I know that I’ve got this support I’ve got people who’ve poured a lot into me within my family within my community to have poured a lot into me and I don’t owe them anything and they know that I don’t but inside me I feel like there’s something that I owe them to go make it big and hopefully one day impact them and their families and give them, you know that sigh of like dang, you know what like we

put all this into somebody and it came out as a positive thing, man. And it’s just way deeper than it is. It’s just way deeper than me, man. I mean, I can’t explain it any other way. It’s just something that’s deeper within me that drives me to do it.

Samson:
Well, like I think you said, there’s a path laid out for you and you’re following the path, right? And I mean, it’s just, it’s something that’s going to be a profound effect on a lot of people around you. I love that you say, you know, sometimes it can rub people the wrong way because sometimes it does. You know, some people, sometimes people get, you know, nervous or they can be a little bit jealous with ambitious people, right? It’s, it’s just a natural order of things. And for me, you know, I had this conversation with one of my interns yesterday.

Joshua Poahway:
Yeah.

Samson:
We were talking about, you know, what his future path he wanted to do and he said started talking about post on social media a lot, right? And he was like the first post I made I had, you know, 15 people send it to me and like, bro, what the hell is this? What are you doing? You know, like and I just told him I was like, you’re gonna get rid by some of your guys, right? But the people who aren’t your friends and you know, are just really kind of just hating on you or the ones who were jealous and wish they had the confidence to be able to do those things. So

Joshua Poahway:
you

Samson:
⁓ That’s kind of a natural part of the process for ambitious people is they will see that or some people will be uncomfortable around them, but I applaud you on your ability to kind of keep pushing through that as well. Because at the end of the day, there’s a path laid out for you and you’re following it you’re absolutely crushing it.

Joshua Poahway:
Man, I appreciate that brother. I really do.

Samson:
Yeah,

well, you know, seriously, I usually end on a fun question or something like that. But, you know, I do just want to say, you know, I don’t really have a fun question for you besides what’s your favorite C4 flavor? Maybe we’ll go there.

Joshua Poahway:
Man, I I just started drinking these. I’ve been a big Red Bull Zero guy for the past five months. But ⁓ yeah, I mean, I guess I could say probably the, it’s like a sour gummy worm flavor or whatever it may be. That one was really good, man. That one’s huge.

Samson:
Yeah. Okay.

So now we figured it out. You’ve started to develop a C4 ⁓ habit, which is helping you kind of be not so be so tired. I love it. ⁓ But seriously, you know, I just want to commend you. I want to commend you on what you’re doing. I think you are a really, really ⁓ sensible and strong young strength coach. ⁓ It’s inspiring to me. Like I said, I’m already fired up coming off this podcast, you know.

Joshua Poahway:
You

Samson:
It’s Friday when we’re recording it and it’s kind one of those days where I was like, just can’t wait for the weekend to go hang out with my wife. And, ⁓ you know, now I kind of got to go for a run. Like I knew I had to hit one today. I already hit my lift, but like, I got to get this energy out of me somehow. you fired me up and you’ve inspired me. So thank you, Josh. I appreciate it. This is, this is a gift of a episode.

Joshua Poahway:
You

Yeah, brother, man, I appreciate being on here again. Samson’s been a big impact for me. ⁓ Hearing all these other coaches’ stories and what they’ve been through and what they’ve done, ⁓ it’s really great to be on something that I look up to so highly. It’s just an amazing experience, man. It’s been one of my goals for a while now.

Samson:
Well, look at that, we got to achieve it. And you know, it’s all, all due to you seriously coming up to me. I would have never met you if you didn’t come up to me at CSCCA and we had a great conversation. So that’s fantastic to get to know you even better. You know, I usually go the other way where I meet people over the podcast and then meet them in person. So I’m glad to be able to meet you in person first and then get you on the podcast. If anybody wants to reach out, follow you on Instagram or, know, kind of contact you, what would be the best way to do that?

Joshua Poahway:
Yeah.

Sure, I mean, I’m on Instagram heavily all the time. They can reach me at Coach Poeh, P-O-H-W-A-Y. Pretty simple, they can find me. I follow a lot of the people that have been on the podcast, so a lot of people do already. I have them on Insta, but those that want to reach out, Instagram is where it’s at. I’m always on there, so I’m always looking to connect.

Samson:
Awesome, Josh. Well, I can’t thank you enough. Thank you for coming on the show and I appreciate everything, man. Seriously.

Joshua Poahway:
Yeah, brother. Thank you, man. I appreciate it.