On this episode of the Samson Strength Coach Collective, we sit down with Bailee Sturgeon, Coordinator of Certification and Education for the CSCCa. Bailee provides an inside look at the administrative side of strength and conditioning, explaining how certification, accreditation, continuing education, and conference planning all contribute to the profession’s growth.
She shares her journey from collegiate athlete to organizational leader, discusses the importance of mentorship and relationship building, and explains how maintaining high standards benefits coaches across the industry. Bailee also gives listeners an update on exciting initiatives coming from the CSCCa and encourages professionals to become more involved within the organization.
Key Takeaways
- How Bailee transitioned from athletics into organizational leadership.
- What goes into maintaining the CSCCa certification process.
- Why accreditation matters for the future of strength and conditioning.
- The year-round work required to organize conferences and continuing education.
- How strong relationships create opportunities throughout your career.
- Advice for coaches interested in leadership and administrative roles.
- New updates and opportunities available through the CSCCa.
Quote
“It’s always been about the people and giving back to the people… knowing what I do matters so much—not only to the strength coaches that matter to me, but also making sure the CSCCa certification maintains that gold standard.” — Bailee Sturgeon
Bailee Sturgeon:
it’s always been about the people and giving back to the people and the fulfillment of the people ⁓ in my role. And I think that’s what gives me purpose. Just knowing what I do matters so much, not only to the strength coaches that matters to me, but also just with accreditation and and making sure that.
the organization’s S Triple C certification is, you know, has that gold standard and that that high level of expectation with accreditation.
Connor:
What’s going on, Samson Strength Coach Collective Listeners? On today’s episode, we have the coordinator for certification and education at the CSCCA, Bailey Sturgeon. Bailey, thank you so much for coming on the show.
Bailee Sturgeon:
No, thank you. I’m excited to be here and and share my story ⁓ with the organization.
Connor:
Well, I’m really excited about it too, because honestly, one of the things about our podcast is that we want to interview every facet of strength and conditioning. So we’ve had, you know, obviously a ton of strength coaches on from every separate sector. We’ve had ⁓ nutritionists, dietitians, we’ve had ⁓ sports psych, athletic trainers. And like this is the first time we’re speaking with somebody, at least when I’ve been the host, who has actually been on more of the administrative or kind of one of our governing board side. So I’m really excited to hear about it.
Bailee Sturgeon:
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, no, thank you. I’m excited and I feel like my story’s a little bit unique on how I got here. So I’m excited to to have that conversation with you.
Connor:
Well I can’t wait. Let’s just get right into it. So can you just give us your background ⁓ and you know what your story is?
Bailee Sturgeon:
Yeah, absolutely. And I’ll try to do my best summary of it ’cause ⁓ it is pretty long, but I do think all of this details yeah, very important. Yeah. But I so I would say a good starting point would just be, ⁓ I was very fortunate and thankful enough to be recruited for softball at the high state university. And so I ⁓
Connor:
D go right ahead. We love the details. Love the details.
Bailee Sturgeon:
Played softball there for four years. And I would say the first three years of my career, there was no change in the strength and conditioning staff. There was no change in coaching. And so it was pretty consistent. I was like pretty comfortable with where I was at. And then going into my senior year of ⁓ my career, we had some changes and it was a change in some of our assistants, but also a change in the weight room. So at the time,
Football at Ohio State and the Olympic side was pretty separate. And so now they ⁓ they went to like one unit and one ⁓ program, I would say, or department is a better term. And so with that came some new strength coaches and some new faces. And so at the time that’s when ⁓ Heather Mason and Claire Quivodeau came on staff. and my s particular strength and conditioning coach was changed to
Coach Claire Quibodeau and the reason I bring that up is because I now see them as mentors. And in my senior year, ⁓ the impact that she had specifically on my life just as an athlete was tremendous. And ⁓ I evolved so much as a player and just as a person. And so
All that to say it kind of scoped my perspective on strength coaches in in general and ⁓ how much they they mean to me and the impact that they have just in student athletes in general. And so leading up to graduation, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my my life. And I feel pr that’s probably a normal feeling, especially with athletes. I mean, all you know is your sport and so
Going in towards the end, I’m like, okay, I was getting my degree in sport management. That’s all I knew. That was what I was comfortable with. And so I met c Coach Claire and I fell in love with the weight room. And I’m like, maybe I should dabble into the strength and conditioning side of the weight room and and see if this is something that I would enjoy. And so after after college, I graduated. I went to the University of Pittsburgh. Tyler Carpenter was out there as a director and I did my summer internship with him.
I had never ⁓ lived away from Columbus, Ohio. That’s where I I grew up. And so I was very homesick during that time. But I finished the semester of the internship and I decided to come back home to Columbus. And luckily, ⁓ Coach Claire and Coach Mason welcomed me back. And we actually had an internship program ⁓ that was starting in January. So graduated in 2018, did my internship that summer.
And then 2019 is when I started this internship program for ⁓ the Ohio State University for the strength and conditioning department. So as I was going through it, ⁓ there were some things that I loved about being a strength coach, and there was some things that I didn’t know if it would be right for me. And so again, I was ⁓ very interested in the admin side of things and actually leading up to that January start time for the internship program.
I was doing some here and there admin roles for Coach Claire and I really enjoyed it actually. And so about six months into the strength and conditioning internship, I had approached Coach Claire and I was like, look, I don’t know if being a strength coach is for me, but I do know that I love working with the staff here. I do know that ⁓ I love being in the weight room, but I just don’t know what other options I have. So
I started to build more of a relationship with Coach Mason and ⁓ they gave me a amazing opportunity to I would I would call it more of like a operational director of operations, but I wouldn’t give myself the director title because obviously that wasn’t my role, but I was like a assistant for the operational side. So I started that and I did that from twenty nineteen all the way till I believe twenty twenty one. So through COVID and everything else and the ironic apart
The ironic part about that situation, on top of just obviously creating this amazing bond with the strength coaches here and having my mentors just kind of helped develop me as a more of a professional now, not so much of an athlete, but is that part of my responsibility at the time was to book all of the ⁓ flights, the hotels, the conference registrations for the CSCCA’s national conference. And so at the time.
I had a very small understanding of what the CSCCA actually was. And it’s just funny to look back being in the seat that I am now and just realizing, hey, like, you know, I some point years ago ago, I was organizing ⁓ for this large staff. I don’t for those who don’t know, Ohio State has like a very large strength and conditioning staff. And so I was in charge of all of the planning for that in regards to then getting them out to the national conference every year and
Who would have thought that years later I would end up in this seat? And another full circle moment about that is ⁓ when we would have new assistant coaches come through ⁓ for interviews, I would be the one. It it was kind of like a recru like I would call it similar to like a recruitment process where I would be the person to drive them around and kind of talk about Columbus and take them to their next scheduled thing. And Beth Byron, who is now our ⁓ chief science officer at the CSECA.
one of she was there for an interview for for the Ohio State and I was the one kind of showing her around and talking about the university. And so who would have thought in that moment, years later, she would, you know, be giving me a phone call at the time and saying, Hey, you know, there’s this opportunity. I just took this role ⁓ in Austin, Texas for the C S C A and
I watched you and how you operated with at Ohio State and I think that you would be great for this. And so and I even left. That’s the wild part about it. After COVID, COVID in the strength and conditioning world and just in college athletics, it was completely different. I mean, from the the policies that were in place just to keep the athletes safe and to keep everybody safe. ⁓
Right after that time, I decided, you know, I I want some growth, I want some change. And so I had left college athletics as a whole and started a business and ⁓ thought I wanted to do teaching. I was even in the process of interviewing with Columbus Fire. So, like as you can tell, I was truly trying to find myself and and what I wanted to do with my life. And I was still young and I just yeah, I I didn’t know what I wanted to do. And so I had these different avenues.
I completely left. I didn’t think I would come back. And Beth gave me the call and I had thought about it because I had these other options and moving away from Columbus again to go to Austin, Texas was going to be extremely hard. And but I think ultimately the big picture for me is like I knew the impact as an athlete the strength coaches had on me. My mentors impact my life still to this day on a daily basis. And I just wanted to be able to almost
feel like in a way I was giving back to those strength coaches that once gave to me. I don’t know if that makes any sense at all, but I do feel some type of fulfillment in my role for that.
Connor:
Yeah, absolutely. I think that makes complete sense. Yeah. I I’m I I think it’s just such a cool story. And, you know, again, like it it’s ⁓ it’s not funny to hear, right? But it’s just a little bit different from a standpoint of when I talk with other strain coaches, like all they talk about is I just want to be on the floor. I don’t want to do the administrative work, I don’t want to do those types of things. I I I personally take joy in it. You know, like I think it’s I think it’s fun to solve a problem, right? There’s a puzzle that you have to solve and you get it done and
Bailee Sturgeon:
Yeah.
Connor:
⁓ I like going into meetings and being told no, you know, from a director role standpoint and then figuring out, okay, how do we get this to a yes, you know, and different things. I think it’s fun, but a lot of my friends and a lot of coaches I know are always like, No, I just want to coach. That’s all I want to do. Yeah.
Bailee Sturgeon:
Right.
Absolutely. Yeah. And
there is some joy in that. Like I do miss the floor in some capacity, but I think it’s more of just that human interaction that I missed. And so but I just yeah, I I enjoyed the admin role. And ⁓ I think it’s being an admin for strength and conditioning coaches is completely different, maybe to in my opinion, to some of the other admin positions I’ve had, even with like teaching.
and owning a business and things like that. So yeah, I I was excited to take this role and I had no idea anything about like accreditation or even just the certification itself. So when I sat in that seat, I had to completely learn everything. So yeah.
Connor:
That’s I mean, I’m sure it was quite a process. Wha I’m just curious, like what drove you to the admin side? Like what what draws you to it? Why do you like being on the administrative side?
Bailee Sturgeon:
I I maybe it is like a solving problem thing or maybe it’s just in the aspect of like ⁓ just taking care of people. ⁓ and and it’s cool to just see how you know a process works behind the scenes and it does give me a a huge appreciation.
Even when I’m like out and about at a random business, ⁓ just kind of understanding probably what’s going on behind the scenes for that business to run, it gives me a completely different perspective on how I approach things or ⁓ appreciate things. And ⁓ I I I find myself giving a little bit more grace to a lot of people, even in situations where it’s like, let’s just use an example of like you’re at a restaurant and you have a bad experience or
You buy something from a store and you have a bad experience or you attend an event and you have a bad experience or something happens that messes up. A lot of people would probably be a little bit upset or maybe annoyed by something going wrong at an event, but from my perspective, I gain this completely different viewpoint on it and I understand how much it takes to set up an event. I understand all the the different, you know, directions that you have to go in order to make sure that a ship
that everybody relies on smooths saily or smooths sails smoothly, if you know what I mean. That’s a tongue twister. Yeah.
Connor:
There you go. Yep. Yeah. Yeah, it is. That’s tough for sure. I I
you know what it’s funny because my wife watches Love Island and I’ll, you know, I watch it in the background. Like, so I’ll I’ll typically be doing something else. but I, you know, I I would be lying if I said I didn’t pay attention at certain points. But we were just talking about this two nights ago when we were watching one of the episodes, and I was like, this is a nightmare to edit. This is a nightmare to like I think about there was like a clip where the sound was really bad, and I was like, this poor
sound editor and the people who are recording it. Like, you know, it’s funny, like you say, because you you just think back through, okay, there’s so much stuff that goes into this production and there’s and it’s a nationally televised production. So everybody wants to, you know, do the best job they can. But, you know, people don’t really give grace to the people who are setting these things up. And it’s like it’s like a, you know, one and done type deal. You have a bad experience at a restaurant and, you know, you’re like, well, I’m never going to go back there again. When, you know, it it’s it’s a different there’s a lot going on behind the scenes.
Bailee Sturgeon:
for sure.
for sure.
Yeah, absolutely. And yeah, it just a different perspective. And there was things that I feel like as an athlete has kind of prepared me to almost like operate kind of at a higher standard. And I don’t ever like to like talk about myself in that regard, but it’s like being a student athlete and then also just surrounding yourself with people that hold you to a higher level, it does allow you to develop certain, you know, traits about yourself that you eventually figure out where you thrive in with those traits. And so
admin and is is definitely something and operations is definitely something that I was around for a while here at Ohio State. And I do feel like ⁓ Coach Mason and Coach Quippado both just like allowed me to grow and to develop these qualities that, you know, operate at a high level. So
Connor:
Yeah, for sure. That’s why we you know, we I’m sure you heard this when you were a student athlete, but that’s why I tell our student athletes all the time is just, you know, you people are gonna wanna hire you just because they know you went through four years of a rigorous program where you had to high have these high standards. And so they know that they can trust you to get the job done.
Bailee Sturgeon:
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, absolutely. And I couldn’t imagine, and this is just like Bailey talking, not necessarily like the professional Bailey talking, but I just now with like NIL and everything, I when I was an athlete, that was not a thing. And so you just worried about playing. And so the stressors now, even for these athletes coming in, the transfer portal, at least for softball, is the transfer portal is just unreal. And so having that added pressure on top of just
Connor:
Yeah.
Bailee Sturgeon:
your regular day-to-day pressure and and so I couldn’t imagine, you know, what what they’re going through, but also what traits they’re developing. And, you know, they’re probably even able to to operate at a more high pressure level compared to, you know, some of us that was pre NIL that, you know, we just had the pressure of playing and performing and operating or performing at a higher level. So yeah, it’s times have changed in college athletics and we even feel that at the C S E C A just
like financially with NIL and so it times are changing but it is cool to kinda see like how a a small operation like the C S C C A can can adjust for that. So
Connor:
Yeah, it’s a truly different world. I mean, you’ve got agents, you know, it’s professional sports at the end of the day, just a kind of a minor league version of it. So it’s crazy, you know. I think the NAL’s been the kind of hot topic for the past couple of years, obviously. ⁓ but yeah, they develop these skills, right? They know how to negotiate. They know, you know, how to value what they some some people don’t, you know, know how to value what they can bring to the table, but some are really good at it with guidance from others too. Yeah. So okay, so you had to learn
Bailee Sturgeon:
Yeah.
Mm.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Connor:
Everything about accreditation, certification, what was that process like? I mean, it must have been a lot to have to sit down and really just figure that all out.
Bailee Sturgeon:
Yeah, I remember the first week of I just had moved out moved out there. I started and at the time, Beth, she had just taken the position her position as well as chief science officer, but she had been there a few months before I had. So she in a way had her feet on the ground, but she was still fairly new. So she was also trying to grasp all this information. And so
I remember the first week we she was teaching me like what the former ⁓ coordinator was doing and how she would track things and we had all we have like all of our different policy handbooks that we need to know the the language on and so it was just like a a complete like word vomit into my brain and I f I remember walking or not walking home but going home and walking into the door and just being like I am mentally exhausted. So I would eat dinner and I would go to bed and
Yeah, it was just like you were drinking from a water hose that never shut off. And I this is I’m going on two years now with organization and for the first time I finally feel like I understand b ⁓ just how the CSECA operates and our policies and I don’t have to
necessarily look in our handbook as much nearly more like the first six months. I I feel like it was just right next to me. And so if there was a question that came in, I would open up our our policy handbook and I would just have to read and study. And luckily Beth, she’s been great to work alongside. And if there’s a problem or if we there’s like information that we don’t know, we’re a very good team together and and trying to figure out what the correct answer is for our coaches or what the correct answer is just for our accreditation and our policies. And sometimes our coaches don’t necessarily
you know,
what our policies are in regards to specific things and I wish I could be flexible on that, but accreditation is so important for our certification and sometimes I think our strength coaches just forget that, which is is totally normal. I mean, why would they remember that if they’re not sitting in our seat? And I say that all the time. Sometimes they don’t understand ’cause they’re not sitting in our seat and I don’t blame them because you truly don’t know what’s going on unless you are in the in the fountain drinking the water hose. So
Connor:
Well, it’s just, you know, I I it made me think it’s just different for strength coaches, right? Because when I have two interns that are working with me over the summer, I had one that started a month ago, another one that started just this week. And, you know, it’s funny because like the first couple of days are just like, you know, all right, here’s the fuel station, you know, here’s what we restock at the end of the day, we’ll go over the lift and like it’s a lot of learn as you go, you know, because it’s it’s much more flexible. Like there doesn’t have to be this necessity for strict policies and procedures to make sure that you can
Bailee Sturgeon:
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Connor:
keep your accreditation, make sure that you can be a organization that’s taken seriously, such as the CSCCA. Like it’s very, very flexible, you know, and I’ll get questions and I’ll be like, I don’t know, it depends, you know, and and I’m sure you don’t say it depends a lot, which is a common response for strength coaches.
Bailee Sturgeon:
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah. And it’s w we are a staff of seven and so with my role too, like I there w there was some teaching, but I jumped straight in. So like answering the phones and like I basically had to adjust on the fly and be prepared every single day for the daily questions that our strength coaches had or the the I would say fires that came about within the organization and r in terms of like
Coaches’ questions or reinstatements with their their certification. And so yeah, it’s it was a lot. And ⁓ yeah, it’s we you learn as you go and there’s still situations that arise today that, you know, I haven’t experienced yet. And the unique part about when I started was that it was the last year of our CEU cycle. And so CEUs and tracking CEUs for our coaches is my responsibility. And
I jumped in at the last year and everybody’s rushing to, you know, get their their their CEUs up to date or renew their their SCCC by the end of the cycle. And so jumping in and trying to learn about the organization, learn about the national conference that we have in May, on top of the CU cycle ending, it like I said, it was a water hose. But ⁓ luckily the staff there, they were great in terms of teaching me things that, you know, as fast as they possibly could.
in order to set me up for success there. But yeah, my first year it was a whirlwind. But I actually probably wouldn’t have it any other way because I have my first CEU cycle ending under my belt and now I know what to expect. And obviously we had a national conference my first year and now I know what to expect. So now I starting to feel more ⁓ mature, I would say, in in my ⁓ my role with the organization. So
Connor:
Yeah, I I’ll say I’m guilty of that. I upload my CEUs on like the last day. So I apologize. Knowing that there’s a a human being on the other side, I I feel worse now. ⁓ so I’m good to know I’m glad to know that. Now our strength coaches can know that as well. So this is a reminder for your strength coaches. Upload your CEUs as you go. ⁓ so you mentioned tracking CEUs as part of your role. Like what is your role as the coordinator for certification and education? What does that entail? What does your kind of day in the life look like?
Bailee Sturgeon:
Okay.
Hey, yes.
Yeah, absolutely. So day in life is different, especially depending on what year we are within the the CEU cycle. But I like to kind of just as a brief overview, ⁓ just speak about the two lanes. So we have certification. ⁓ on the certification side, I work closely with Beth Byron, ⁓ the chief science officer, like I’ve said, and ⁓ we I would say my biggest task that I focus on is our certification exam. And so
Our certification exam for those who ⁓ are not familiar, we do a written portion and we do a in-person practical ⁓ portion of our exam, which I feel like is very unique compared to a lot of other ⁓ certification exams that you see out there. And so typically ⁓ the candidates that
register for our exam, they will come to the national conference because that’s where we host our practical exam. And they do that practical exam in front of our master strength coaches who will rate them based off of their answers. And so ⁓ and with that certification exam, we do have some exam requirements and all of that needs tracking. So when a candidate registers
I start my daily communication with them in regards to their next steps and what I need from them in order to even just be eligible for the exam. And so we have some documents that they can upload, well, not can, they must upload to their account. transcripts, we have some course requirements that is located on our website that they must have on their transcripts in order to be eligible. ⁓ for those strength coaches that have three years or less of full-time experience at the collegiate professional level.
they must do a 640 hour internship under a CSCCA approved mentor. So it can’t be under ⁓ just any coach. So ⁓ all of that needs tracking and all of that needs reviewed and all that information just has to go somewhere. We store all of that within our shares in the organization. And so I do all of that ⁓ and then work alongside Beth with some of the ⁓ approvals of the transcripts and things like that, and also with the certification commission, ⁓ because sometimes we’ll have ⁓
Some candidates that don’t meet the all the course requirements, for example. And we do have an appeal process for that. So that’s usually when the certification commission ⁓ becomes involved. And so that would be my biggest task on top of just being in the meetings with the certification commission. ⁓ approved mentors. That’s another, I would say, in regards to that side of my role. ⁓ we have some guidelines for that. They have to apply to become an approved mentor. So I review and track all of that. ⁓ and then
So that’s like the bigger scope for that side. But then on the CEU side, the biggest thing would be tracking coaches’ renewals for their SCCC. And so reviewing so every single CEU report that is reported to the CSECA via email or even on their account is I review that. So ⁓ every single day I am looking at CEU reports, seeing what categories that they fit into because we do have category caps.
approving that and then communicating with that coach. So it’s just like a constant cycle of communication. ⁓ Another, I would say I guess on the certification side again, because I just thought of it, is our MSCCs. Every year at the national conference we have a MSCC ceremony. So coaches, strength coaches that have been in the collegiate or professional sphere for 12 years or more can have this master strength and conditioning coach certification and they’ll be inducted into their class and get their jackets.
And I’m a part of that whole application process. And ⁓ when we do have the ceremony at the national conference, the inductees, I that’s probably my favorite part of my position. It or yeah, my position is just that ceremony part because it is such a huge mo moment in their careers. And so ⁓ just being involved in that and getting to know coaches that I might not know ⁓ or more on a personal basis and ⁓ getting to meet them face to face and have those conversations with them, that’s something that I enjoy.
Yeah, so then going back to the the CEU side, it’s just all about CEUs, events. If you want to be a CEU provider for the CSECA and you want your event to be approved, we have application process for that and you send me the itinerary for all that, I will review that and communicate with those ⁓ providers or those event supervisors. The same with course applications. I ⁓ if you want to be a CEU provider for your course.
You can absolutely apply and I will work alongside our education board for that. So they will review the course application and approve it. Or, you know, if they have further questions, I’ll I’ll reach out and be that line of communication for them. But so I’m a part of that process and saving all the documents because we require so many documents from even those sides. So overall, I just do a lot of tracking and I would say a lot of customer service base, ⁓ answering the phones, ⁓
Yeah, and I’m sure I’m probably missing a a a lot, but I would say if I had to describe it quickly, those are like the big areas. ⁓ but yeah, CU cycle is a big one for me and just tracking every single day and the certification exams, like the big honchos. And then on top of that, speaker committee. I’m on the speaker committee that selects the speakers for the national conference, and then we have national conference prep in general. So there’s a lot going on for for seven of us. So yeah.
Connor:
I mean, wow, I’m I’m impressed, seriously. I got I I have one question to follow up with this. Like how many emails do you get a day?
Bailee Sturgeon:
Okay.
⁓ it depends actually. You would be surprised. So I would say last summer at the end of the CU cycle, I couldn’t even tell you how many I would get. Just about questions or uploads or or you know, just whatever you can think of. But like right now in the summer, I feel like it all ebbs and flows on what the strength coaches are doing. So maybe the summer isn’t nearly as busy for the strength coach. And if it is, yeah.
Connor:
Okay.
Bailee Sturgeon:
Like typically from my understanding, it’s not nearly as intense as when all of the athletes are there for school. The summers, you know, are a little bit more laid back. So we don’t hear nearly as much from our strength coaches. we still get emails. So like right now I’d say probably like ten a day.
Connor:
Okay, wow, that’s better than I thought. I mean, I was thinking in the hundreds. You know, I’m sure for the CU cycle that’s when it comes along. Yeah.
Bailee Sturgeon:
Yes. And
like early bird for our national conference pricing. So ⁓ we’ll get a lot of coaches that just don’t know which email to email. So they’ll just email the the contact from the CSCCA that they communicate with the the most, which makes sense to me. But and so then just helping out Tyler any way I can. He’s our our business manager in that aspect. And yeah, it’s just different seasons of the year require
Connor:
Mm-hmm.
Bailee Sturgeon:
you know, more emails or not so much emails and we have a season where we get more phone calls and so just answering the phone calls. Usually when application opens, we’ll get more phone calls and more emails. So it honestly just depends. But right now I would say I probably get about ten in the CU inbox and then ten in the ⁓ cert inbox ’cause I’ll navigate both of those inboxes and and answer any questions. So
Connor:
Okay, definitely manageable then. I’m I’m glad to hear that. You know, I’m I I I was worried. I was you know, I mean, obviously I know you love the admin side of things, but that’s that that’s certainly a lot that you’re, you know, overseeing.
Bailee Sturgeon:
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, absolutely. And I th it’s right now in a way I am thankful for like a slow season because then it does allow me to ⁓ like prep for we had to update our new registration and we have new languages and some of our policy handbooks. So working with Beth just to make sure we have time to do that and yeah, it’s just it gives us time to maybe show a little bit more love to areas of the organization that we don’t necessarily get to when we’re in high volume season with our coaches and so
⁓ yeah, we have coaches that are finally figuring out we have a new website and so we have coaches finally figuring out that they can upload their ⁓ CPR cards and report their CEUs uploading like that way. Cause usually in the past with our old website, they just had to email me. So a lot of coaches do not know that they can upload their their CEUs yet to their profile. And so ⁓ we do s have some coaches that were like probably just digging through the new website and found it and were able to upload it. And so
Yeah, just it it allows me to show a little bit more love to other areas of my role that I don’t get to ⁓ necessarily do whenever I’m answering the phones or e you know, going back and forth emailing and, you know, we’re in a high volume season, so
Connor:
That’s great. I I I’m curious too, like, what does conference prep look like? Because, you know, it’s the conference, right? Like it’s where everybody goes, you know, every year everybody’s texting me, or you’re going to see a CCA. I’ve seen it from, you know, the company side, obviously working with Samson. And I got to go this past year and was there with the booth. Like it’s just so much for one company to do it. I mean, what does it look like for the organization that’s actually hosting the conference?
Bailee Sturgeon:
Absolutely. And I my role specifically is completely different in regards to conference prep compared to like Al Johnson or Crystal who works more with our exhibitors. But I will say, and I don’t know if this will shock a lot of our coaches, but it our conference prep is essentially year round. So for right now, for example, we are our speaker applications for next ⁓ the next national conference in May ⁓ in Milwaukee, they’re already open. And so ⁓ we are
Connor:
Yeah.
Bailee Sturgeon:
Wanting to find the best speakers that we can for the national conference. And we have a committee that meets and we speak about this. We review the the speaker applications. And so during the fall, at least from my side of things, it’s really, really speaker heavy. And who do we want to speak in the national conference this year? let’s review these speaker applications and see, you know, what quality talks that we have in there. Maybe there’s a talk that we haven’t had at the national conference for the last few years. And so
Right now that’s like our our big major headpoint for the national conference prep. But then in September we’ll do like a pre-national conference. So we actually go and do a site visit ⁓ and start organizing. Okay, this is where the certification exam is gonna be, this is where the the dinner and ceremony is gonna be, this is where the exhibit hall is gonna be, and we figure out all the logistics of that with our A V company. And as we get closer to like the holidays, that’s when we really ramp up with
Okay, so we open conference ⁓ conference registration. So you want early bird pricing, you can register for the conference and you know start requesting invoices and making those payments. And alongside, we’re finalizing our speaker applicant or our speaker, I guess, candidates and having them sign their contracts. And our marketing team is starting to market coming to Milwaukee for our national conference. And but like Alan Crystal are, you know, selling booths and you know.
finding sponsors for different dinners and different speakers and so it is all year round. ⁓ and but right now it’s for my role it’s very speaker heavy and just making sure that, you know, we find the best speakers for the upcoming national conference.
Connor:
Yeah, that doesn’t surprise me, honestly, because it is it’s such a big event and I feel like if you were just to even try to put it all together in six months, like everybody would be completely overloaded. So it makes complete sense that you kinda have to segment it and do specific, you know, parts of the conference and specific times of the year. It’s just I mean, I can only imagine like, okay, you finish up the conference and then it’s like, All right, we get a week off and then we’re going right back to getting prep for the next conference right after that.
Bailee Sturgeon:
Yeah. Yeah,
absolutely. And I like the week leading up to the national conference happening, like we get so exhibitors and sponsors will send things for the swag bag that we give out to coaches when they check in at registration and we’re all in there just packing those bags and the the shirts, organizing the shirts and setting up all the signs and ⁓ we’re just like really hands on the week before, cutting all the badges, all the badges that each coach gets.
is hand cut and organized and stuffed by us. So towards the the end of April it’s it’s a lot of like ⁓ the this the packing and the physical aspect of it instead of just like the planning of it, if that makes sense.
Connor:
Yeah, for sure. That makes complete sense. Okay. you know, you mentioned watching the master strength coaches get their jacket. I think that’s a really, really cool event. Like, you know, I was curious earlier on when you were talking about your role, like what are the joys of your position? Like what are the things that really, you know, give you purpose and really ⁓ provide joy with your role within the C SCCA.
Bailee Sturgeon:
Yeah, absolutely. It was I it’s just the people from my from my perspective. ⁓ and just developing new relationships with strength coaches that I have never met before and the appreciation that they show within ⁓ the organization and so getting the the you know like the good feedback from them. It’s it’s just incredible to feel like our job and my role is worth it and that.
this past MSCC ceremony actually, ⁓ one of the coaches that got her strength her master strength and conditioning coach jacket was Coach Qibido, Coach Claire. And I was a part of that. So another full circle moment of I had this mentor when I was a student athlete or my strength coach who turned to my mentor. And then now I’m a part of this vital, you know, part of her career where she gets her master’s jacket and I’m a part of that. So it was just constant full circle. But
Outside of Coach Quibo, just meeting so many strength coaches that are so appreciative and of our national conference of our organization, developing those new relationships. And I remember the first year I communicated with coaches so often, I never could put a face to the like the name. But then getting to the national conference and meeting these coaches in person and developing relationships with these people, it makes our conversations easier as we go through the CU cycles.
⁓ it allows me to feel like I have a familiar feeling with the the base or yeah, the base of our our community and our our culture within the organization with our strength coaches. And so it’s always been about the people and giving back to the people and the fulfillment of the people ⁓ in my role. And I think that’s what gives me purpose. Just knowing what I do matters so much, not only to the strength coaches that matters to me, but also just with accreditation and and making sure that.
the organization’s S Triple C certification is, you know, has that gold standard and that that high level of expectation with accreditation. So
Connor:
Yeah, it’s exciting. You know, I really do think it is. You know, I can s I can see your passion when you speak about it. Like I think it’s really cool, like you said, to actually, you know, uphold a standard and then watch coaches and meet coaches who want to be a part of that standard, right? It goes back to what you mentioned earlier where you were surrounded by people who had a specific, you know, l standard or a level of quality that they wanted to see. And, you know, you lived up to that, and then now you get to be part of an organization that does the same thing.
Bailee Sturgeon:
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, absolutely. And I do think even I will say the first probably six months to a year, and this is just me being like completely transparent. So obviously you have the the great side of those relationships and the happy people and the ones that are giving you compliments and making you fulfill like fill fulfillment within your role. But I also appreciate my position because I do have to have hard conversations and I do have to not necessarily provide
you know, shrink coaches maybe with the best news that they want to hear. And so it puts me in a position to grow as a human ⁓ and as a professional, just to figure out how to have those tough conversations with coaches that ⁓ don’t necessarily either agree with our policy or they’re just frustrated with with what’s going on with their certification. And so I do, even though I would be completely transparent and say that I would take it home. Like if
I had a a c a hard conversation with a coach and let’s just say it necessarily didn’t go the way that I was hoping in regards to the communication style. and I get just to be clear, I get frustration and lapsing in a certification or if there’s some type of policy that necessarily doesn’t allow a strength coach to be where they wanna be or do what they wanna do. I totally understand the emotion and the frustration, especially with the anxiety of your certification lapsing.
And so when there are some of those tough conversations where I do have a strength coach that is upset or just frustrated with the situation as a whole, for a while I would take that home with me and take it personal ⁓ in regards to like how they responded to me. And it took a while of just reflection like reflecting and learning how to navigate those hard conversations to finally stop letting it impact the rest of my day. Like it would literally impact the rest of my day and how I would approach going into work.
the next day. I would just, yeah. So, but the more and more of those situations I would run into, I feel as like a professional and just as a human, I was able to kind of navigate those those conversations a little bit differently and also just ⁓ not take it home with me and just ⁓ recognize that it’s not necessarily me that’s the problem. It’s just the situation that this coach is is frustrated with or upset with. And so
As much as the good interactions are, you know, and the people is like the highlight of my day, ⁓ I’ve started to learn to, you know, kind of appreciate the the hard parts about my position as well.
Connor:
I think it’d be really hard not to bring that home. Right. I mean, you know, it’s gotta be tough because you wanna help people. That’s why you’re in this position. And if you’re not able to help somebody in that instance, it can be really hard not to, ⁓ you know, f carry that weight, you know. And and I think you especially with you starting out, like you’re still learning the policies and procedures yourself. And so then you you now have more experience. It’s easier for you, like you said, to navigate those conversations and
⁓ not that you weren’t able to be helpful in the beginning, but you just have more confidence in what you know, so it makes the conversation flow smoother.
Bailee Sturgeon:
Yeah, absolutely. And I think I’ve learned in a way how to respond back to the strength coaches in a way that, you know, I guess is still professional, but in a way that they can relate to as well. So I’m obviously not like yelling at them or being disrespectful, but it’s just it’s different. And I can, you know, allow them to know that, hey, I understand your frustration. I understand, you know, how
Connor:
Yeah.
Bailee Sturgeon:
if there’s any anxiety or, you know, but policy is the policy and that’s my responsibility within the organization is to make sure that accreditation, like that is just every answer is like accreditation, accreditation. We cannot lose our accreditation. And if I do not follow this policy, then we lose accreditation. So
Yeah, it there’s good and bad, but that’s every role. I mean, as a strength coach in the weight room, I’m sure there’s the similar conversations and similar experiences as well. It’s just a different perspective because we’re on the admin side and we’re dealing with a certification for coaches that need that certification and ⁓ are required in some in some situations to have that certification in order to have their job. So I’m very aware of the importance of the certification and what it means for it to be lapsed. And that’s why I do
My very best to communicate with our our strength coaches throughout the year to make sure that they’re staying on top of their stuff and reporting their CEUs and during the years just making sure I have the best like customer service, I would call it. But I just I would like to call it more like conversations with them, ⁓ just reminding them of what they need to do. And if they do lapse, we do have an avenue for them to reinstate their their certification with us that for the first
for the first pathway, it’s not sitting for the certification exam again. ⁓ but we do have a pathway after a certain time that you have to do that. But anyways, so yeah, it’s it’s ⁓ good and bad, but I do appreciate the good and bad of my my role, so
Connor:
I could only imagine just having to deal with strength coaches. I can say this personally, ’cause I have all my friends who are strength coaches call me and they get so irate over the smallest things ’cause it’s just such a intense and passionate, you know, kind of field where you know, everybody like I think everybody just gets amped up emotionally all the time because you’re trying to, you know, energize the athletes and so that kind of becomes how you carry yourself in a lot of other avenues. Like I can’t tell you how many times my wife has had to tell me like you’re yelling.
Bailee Sturgeon:
Absolutely.
Connor:
Like and I didn’t even notice it because it’s my coaching voice or whatever. So I I kudos to you and and I’m glad to have you on this podcast because again, seriously, like I think it it can humanize organizations a little bit more too, right? You know, like you’re a human being who’s working towards what you need to do and what your goal is, like you say, to keep accreditation and ultimately I think it’s good for strength coaches to hear from your side too.
Bailee Sturgeon:
Ha ha ha.
Yeah.
Yeah, absolutely. And that’s why I appreciated you inviting me as well. Just because I wanted to show like Bailey. And I think through email exchange or even just some coaches don’t get this interaction with me if they don’t come to the national conference. And so it does allow a a more of a human perspective, but also ⁓ a deeper perspective of the organization and knowing that there’s not like five of me that is in charge of this, there’s one of me and
I’m definitely not perfect. I do make mistakes, but the forefront of my mind is just making sure our strength coaches are taken care of. ⁓ not only our certified strength coaches, but the strength coaches interested in our national conference and the strength coaches that wanna eventually sit for our certification exam. Like that has always been on the forefront of my mind with every decision and honestly every conversation, even if it’s me having to tell a strength coach no. So yeah.
It’s it’s I appreciate you having me on and allowing me to kind of express myself and talk about the organization. So
Connor:
Well, of course. It’s been a great episode, seriously. ⁓ I’m curious too, you know, let’s say there’s a young Bailey listening, somebody who likes the strength and conditioning side, but also doesn’t necessarily want to be on the floor a ton. They like the kind of sector. They want to fill a role that you may have at some point in the future. You know, what advice would you give them for them to be able to kind of lean more to the administrative side?
Bailee Sturgeon:
Yeah, so for me, I would say just making sure along the way what regardless of what you’re doing, you’re making a positive impact. And so, ⁓ and every relationship that you form is an important relationship, even if it’s five minutes that you communicate with that person, you’re always gonna make some kind of impact or impression on that person. And I think that I’m in the seat that I am today because of
my impact and because of you know my my relationships with people and I had no idea that this position was even a thing. Like growing going through the different career paths that I took with just being like on the operational side at Ohio State and then ⁓ doing my my small business for a little bit and becoming a teacher. Like I ebbed and flowed as much as I could. But ultimately sitting in my seat now and looking back, like I’m supposed to be exactly where I’m supposed to be
And there was little glimpses in my life that allowed me to not necessarily see it in that moment, but kind of reassure me now, looking back, like, okay, this is where I’m supposed to be, even though I had some other options, this is where I’m supposed to be. And so just trusting the process and making sure, regardless of what you do, you ⁓ you know, just make an impact and make a good impr impression and don’t be afraid to say no, because for a while, when I
doing more of the admin role. I was still an intern. So I would intern in the admin sector here at Ohio State up until like five. So I’d report probably at 6 a.m. and leave at 5 p.m. which is normal for a strength coach. But after that, because I was still interning, then I would go to it’s like our local restaurant here in Columbus. It’s called Roosters. It’s just like a wing place. And so I would work from six to essentially midnight in order to make some cash. And then I would show up again.
Just because I didn’t want to say no. And I knew that the what I was doing here, I was still making an impact with the admin side. And so I got very fortunate enough that the Heather, Coach Mason, and Coach Quibido were open minded about this position of me just doing strictly admin. I don’t think a lot of strength coaches would maybe think that this was even like a role unless you’re like a director or I
I think on like the football side, there’s more admin roles that are dispersed between the assistants. I don’t want to misspeak, but that’s kind of from the vibe that I get from some of the coaches that call in from the football side of ⁓ the departments. But yeah, I just I was in a unique situation, but I think ultimately what allowed me to get here is just my impact on people and not saying no and ⁓ just building those relationships and making sure the traits that I do continue to develop are at a high level and
yeah, I just that was part of my path and I definitely think it’s just trusting the process, even at times where I didn’t know what I wanted to do even afterwards and maybe didn’t necessarily trust the process, but it’s just such a surreal feeling and a full circle moment just to know that I’m here now and all of the glimpses that I got along the way to be where I am. And I’m sure outside of my position, there’s probably a lot more admin sport.
related positions out in the world that I don’t even know of. And so just knowing the right people, like I said, building those relationships, knowing the right people that might know something more than you know, you know, and knowing more opportunities that maybe you don’t know, it will allow you to be in like a seat that I’m in. Cause I had no idea about this position until Beth called me and told me about this position. And I was like, this is a great position. So yeah, just developing those relationships, operating a high level
And just making an impact positively as best as you can r wherever you are, regardless of where you are. So
Connor:
Yeah, I think that’s fantastic advice because obviously you met Beth first at Ohio State and then you’re able to come here to the C S C C A. So I think it’s it’s great advice. It shows how you were able to get to where you are now.
Bailee Sturgeon:
Yeah, absolutely. And yeah, even with that situation, like Beth and I, we crossed paths in our interview, but like it wasn’t as like a deep as a relationship as we do now working alongside each other. But to s to hear what she had said when we sat down at lunch and tell, like, I guess in a way, kind of give me my flowers on what she saw from outside perspective when I was working at Ohio State. ⁓ it just was reassuring ⁓ to myself that hey,
you know, I was doing the right things and I was making an impact, even if maybe I wasn’t even aware that I was making an impact. But it’s just it’s a really cool story and a really cool situation. And I’m very thankful that Beth, when she accepted her position, she thought of me instantly and and gave me call to to have that conversation to join. So
Connor:
Yeah, that’s huge. I love that. And it’s you know, it’s exciting that you get to work with her now too. I love that. ⁓ so okay, so the CSCC I know there’s a couple new updates and some kinda exciting news, you know. Can you share those with us? ⁓ I’m excited to hear about it.
Bailee Sturgeon:
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, absolutely. So our national conference this year, I May 3rd through 5th, ⁓ it’s the first week of May, and it’s in Milwaukee this year. So that’s exciting. we hope to see everybody there. and so we have a new website that
It’s kind of old news, but I just would, I guess, like to share kind of with our strength coaches that are certified with us and may not know this, but you are able to upload your CPR AD and first aid to your profile. And you are also now able to upload CEUs to your profile, which is completely different from the past where you were just sending all these documents to an email and then that person, aka me, had to upload it to your profile. So we have a a brand new website. ⁓ so far we’ve gotten great.
feedback from it. We worked really, really hard. We actually was launching the new website at the end of the CU cycle as well. So last summer was just like complete chaos with all of that. But that’s some new updates for our strength coaches to know. And if you have any more questions, obviously you can reach out to us about that. And then I would say one of the biggest things that I’m excited for is our virtual practical exam. So typically we only well not typically we used to in the past only allow
Candidates to sit for our exam, first timers, I’ll say, in the spring. You had to attend the national conference to take the practical portion. But then let’s just say you failed. We did have retake offers throughout the rest of the the year, but we never really had more than that spring for our first time test takers to sit for our exam. And so now we are offering twice a year, which is a huge deal.
And so in the fall we’ll be doing a first time virtual practical exam. So what that’ll look like is you’ll register just like you normally do for an exam. And then instead of flying somewhere or driving somewhere to sit in front of our MSCCs in person to rate you for the practical portion, you’ll be doing it through your computer screen. And so we do have some policies in place for that that ⁓ you’ll learn more about once you register. But
It gives our candidates a little bit more flexibility to be able to sit for our exam wherever they are. ⁓ and once they do their recording and take their exam with us, it’s they’re still graded by our MSEC coaches, which is great. And then they’ll take their written portion in November. And so we are just very excited to offer this second opportunity for our candidates to, you know, just kind of expand our certification in hopes to be able to reach more people that maybe
wasn’t taking our certification just because of having to go to our national conference and, you know, travel with all the expenses and things like that. And so we’re really we’re really excited about it. And ⁓ registration for that opens on August third. So yeah. And yeah. So
Connor:
I think that’s huge. Seriously. I think it really helps out strength coaches, especially for the ones who are first trying to get certified, because, you know, obviously to be a strength coach and to get your position, you need to have your certification. So I I love the accessibility piece of it.
Bailee Sturgeon:
Yeah, absolutely. And in regards to our ⁓ I just want to make sure I say this too, but for our national conference, just a reminder, we do have our speaker applications open, which I know I talked about previously, but seriously, if you have any itch, if you’re a strength and conditioning coach and you have any itch to speak at our national conference, please apply. It’s on our website under the national conference tab. we would love to hear what your thoughts are and what you think.
Connor:
Yes.
Bailee Sturgeon:
you would like to speak on and ⁓ yeah, so please apply. We we really, really, really would love everybody to apply to to have the opportunity to speak at our national conference. So
Connor:
I love it. Well, seriously, it’s it’s just been really exciting for me to learn about your role and obviously get to know you better. ⁓ but I I I was excited for this episode because it’s something unique to our show, but it’s it’s really you’ve lived up to the hype in my mind. I can say that for sure. So ⁓ if anybody, you know w I you know what, honestly, I usually say if anybody wants to reach out with follow-up questions or anything, but I might save you some emails here.
Bailee Sturgeon:
Mm-hmm.
Thank you.
No. Honestly,
it’ll be fine. I feel like if I answer the question now, then maybe I won’t have to answer the question six months from now. So I’m being proactive, so
Connor:
Okay. I’m being proactive.
What would be the best way to reach you then if anybody has any questions?
Bailee Sturgeon:
Yeah, so I would say either the CEU at cseca.org inbox or the cert at csca.org inbox. But however, whatever email you email within the organization, I’m sure that it’ll get to me. So ⁓ a lot of our coaches just pick the one that they ⁓ recently emailed, which is totally fine because then we just start forwarding emails to where they’re supposed to go. So I know ⁓ there’s a lot of avenues, but luckily I
Connor:
Yeah.
Bailee Sturgeon:
manage more than one inbox. So there’s a really high chance that you might get to me first. So
Connor:
Okay, there we go. I love it. Well, seriously,
Bailey, thank you so much for coming on. I really appreciate your time.
Bailee Sturgeon:
Yeah, no, thank you. I appreciate it.
