Cal Basketball: Mark Fox hires new Strength & Conditioning coach
Welcome to Berkeley!
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After the departure of S&C coach Jordan Jackson, the Cal Men’s basketball has filled the void with the hiring of Blake Bender. He joins the Cal program from the UNC-Charlotte 49ers. Coach Bender spent two years as the Director of Strength and Conditioning at Charlotte, specifically helping with the men’s basketball team. Prior to that, he worked for the Florida Gulf Coast University Men’s Basketball program and the University of Florida’s Men’s basketball program as well.
Welcome to Berkeley, Coach Bender!
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While it's always great news to fill out the staff, does anyone have a feel for how different S&C coaches are or how much they make a difference relative to other S&C coaches? I'm thinking it's pretty difficult to attribute stats or success to the S&C coach versus the "on court" staff, but maybe I've just never heard of it. Maybe the differences are how they relate to the student athletes, fit with the program, etc.?
Welcome to Cal, Coach!!!
“ Strength and conditioning “ is an outdated concept of the role this coach handles. State of the art approaches to performance enhancement is what is at stake here. Yes Increased explosiveness, quickness and Agility are highlighted but also mental resilience (toughness?) and ability to focus are important.
Fox and the outgoing coach did that pretty well last year. It was refreshing to see our team handle the adversity they were under. All part of the process getting back to being relevant in the Pac-12.
Welcome to Berkeley Coach Bender. Show us what you got.