Intro

Welcome to the “Unlocking Athletes” podcast - My name is Nate Woodruff. I’ll be hosting this podcast and interviewing athletes, coaches, parents and friends about different aspects of what it means to be an athlete in today’s world. This podcast is designed to help athletes, parents and coaches navigate this crazy sports climate we are in. Regardless of what sport you are involved in, there is a mountain of information out there - some of it good, but a lot of it is bad and even debilitating for families who simply want what’s best for their athletes. We’ll dive into subjects like How do I get my kid seen by coaches? Should he play on a travel team? Does it matter what club team she’s on? When and how should we start lifting weights? How do I get recruited? What should I eat? What are college coaches looking for? Should I change schools if the sports program is bad? Should we focus on 1 sport or play multiple? I want to give you an opportunity to hear from nutritionists, college coaches, HS coaches, HS/College players, parents, scouts, former players, sleep coaches and performance coaches who have lived it or are living it now to help give you quality information that can help you, your athlete or your team achieve their potential. A little background on me - I was a multi-sport athlete growing up in the Atlanta area and ended up playing Division 3 Football from 2005-2008. In 2009, I graduated and began coaching football, girls basketball and baseball at the HS level. I did that from 2009-2017 becoming a Private School Athletic Director for those last 2 ½ years. During my time as a coach, I began doing performance training with all of my teams. In 2017, I took a job as a Recruiting Specialist with the largest Athletic Recruiting Company in the world. I was also training athletes on the side until 2020 when I had built up enough clients to make performance training my full time job. I am now the Manager of a large performance gym near Pinehurst, NC and have the opportunity to coach athletes of all ages and skill levels. From 4th graders just learning how to move to high level HS athletes looking to play in college, to adult athletes training for specific tactical or sport events - I feel truly blessed to be where I am and am excited about the future I hope this is a resource for you going forward - If you like it, please share it with other people. If you don’t like it - be a good human and keep it to yourself. Let’s get into episode 1 of “Unlocking Athletes”