Building Trust & Coaching for Growth – A Conversation with Ryan Berry
In this episode of the Samson Strength Coach Collective, host Connor Agnew sits down with Ryan Berry, a Graduate Assistant Strength Coach at Florida Atlantic University (FAU). They explore Ryan’s journey into coaching, lessons learned during his assistantship, and his future aspirations in the field.
Key Discussion Points:
•Ryan’s transition from baseball player to strength coach, and how that experience shapes his approach to coaching.
•The importance of mentorship and the invaluable lessons he has learned from seasoned professionals in the industry.
• His coaching philosophy, focusing on trust-building, effective communication, and athlete relationships.
•Insights on overcoming challenges, learning from mistakes, and adapting to the demands of managing multiple sports teams at FAU.
•The role of motivation and supplements in coaching and athlete development.
•The fast-paced nature of basketball, dealing with losses, and maintaining team morale.
Top Takeaways for Strength Coaches:
✔ Trust is the foundation – Building strong relationships with athletes leads to greater compliance and performance.
✔ Listen more than you speak – Understanding your athletes’ needs is crucial.
✔ Mentorship matters – Learning from experienced coaches accelerates growth and effectiveness.
✔ Keep it simple – Overthinking coaching decisions can be counterproductive.
✔ Prioritize movement quality over simply lifting heavy weights.
✔ Managing multiple teams requires strong organization and communication skills.
Whether you’re a new strength coach or a seasoned professional, Ryan Berry’s insights provide valuable lessons on growth, resilience, and effective coaching strategies.
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Connor Agnew: What’s going on Samson Strength Coach Collective listeners on today’s episode, we have Ryan Berry. He’s coming to us from Florida Atlantic University, FAU. He is now the third FAU Strength and Conditioning member that I’ve interviewed. We talked about, there’s one more I got to get to and then we finally completed the entire set. It’s like Thanos and the infinity stones, right? But thank you so much for coming on Ryan. I appreciate you greatly,
Ryan Berry: Yeah.
Ryan Berry: Thank you, Connor. Thank you for having me. And dude, that’s what I’m saying. You gotta get Carson on. Have the whole squad.
Connor Agnew: Carson’s next, and then we’re gonna do one big episode with everybody. Well, I mean, I can tell you, I wanted to interview you, but just based off my conversations with Zane and Ty, those really high level coaches, and obviously they picked you to be a high level graduate assistant. So I’m excited to kind of dive into it.
Ryan Berry: That would be awesome. That would be awesome.
Ryan Berry: I appreciate that. I appreciate that. Thank you.
Connor Agnew: Absolutely brother. Well, give me please just give me a brief. Let me be polite here. Please give me a brief background of your career. Then what’s brought you to FAU?
Ryan Berry: Yeah, so here at FAU, I oversee indoor volleyball, men’s soccer, men’s and women’s tennis and swim. Prior to that, I came from Mount St. Mary’s as a part-time assistant. And I also worked in the private sector out there as a part-time assistant. And then actually my old strength coach, my old boss strength coach, she was also Ty’s old boss. So that’s kind of how we got the connection and they got in contact. They were looking for a GA and then it kind of just
Worked out, and I got to move out here.
Connor Agnew: That’s awesome. We’re at Mount St. Mary’s or?
Ryan Berry: Yeah, Mount St. Mary’s in Emmitsburg,
Connor Agnew: Okay, very nice. Where are you from originally?
Ryan Berry: I’m originally from Maryland too, so it kind of worked out.
Connor Agnew: Zane loves to recruit those Northeastern guys, Yeah, exactly. I’m from Syracuse, New York myself. I think Zane’s got a 315 number. I couldn’t remember what tie was. The was 585, right? And so yeah, all the Northeastern guys. Bringing it down to Boca Raton, Florida. That’s quite the meetup spot.
Ryan Berry: Yeah, we’re the best. mean, he can’t get away from us.
see, yeah.
Ryan Berry: Yeah.
Ryan Berry: Yeah, now we have to show them what’s up. We have to show them.
Connor Agnew: Awesome brother. Well, I mean look especially as a GA, know what just always interests me is about one having your previous experience as a part-time coach but then two, you know, the GA is the time where you learn the most. Like people always talk about, you know, a school which is obviously, you know, something that does help teach you a lot. And I like to glance over school a little bit because I was a terrible student. But at the same time, I feel like the GA was kind of like drinking through a fire hose.
What are your goals of this GA experience? And especially with having a little bit of part time experience previously, like what do you want to get out of being a GA? And what to you would mean you had a successful graduate assistantship at Florida Atlantic?
Ryan Berry: Yeah, I think coming into it when I first started, am coming into this is actually my last semester. Coming into it, I really just wanted to learn as much as I can. Seeing different coaches like Zane, Ty, previously when we had Jasmine learn from her, but now we have Carson. So just learning from her and then meet, meeting as many other coaches too as possible other than just here, but like football side and then trying to see if I have, can go out to other schools and just meet, see.
talk, and then just make relationships with my athletes and sports coaches. I think that so far has been the best thing that has really made my day is just making those relationships with the athletes and sports coaches.
Connor Agnew: That’s the best part of the job by far. mean, you know, at the end of the day, like you could hate admin, whatever, it doesn’t matter, but you can love your athletes. It’s way more fun. You know, what, what were the struggles that you had? Cause I mean, I, maybe I’m projecting here a little bit, right? I had struggles related to the athletes sometimes a little bit where, especially as a non-basketball player working in basketball, like I didn’t know how their bodies felt sometimes, you know, I didn’t really understand what common knowledge was, right? Or like what.
Ryan Berry: Yeah.
Ryan Berry: Mm-hmm.
Ryan Berry: Mm-hmm.
Connor Agnew: drills are and you can tell Zane this joke, right? We’ll talk about, you know, five on five shell. I thought we were talking about turtles, right? I had no clue about some of this stuff. So like what were some of the struggles that you originally faced in building those relationships and how did it get better over time?
Ryan Berry: Yeah, I think being introduced to the new sports that I haven’t had before was trying to find, I guess, their why and how I can explain myself to them and why I want them to do something. And once I kind of figured that out, sorry about that, something popped up on my computer. But yeah, once I figured that out, it kind of helped build that relationship and their trust with me a little bit better.
Connor Agnew: And so you speak about trust. think trust is one of the most important things. Like what are the things that you really try to do to build trust within your athletes?
Ryan Berry: I think get to know them on a personal level other than just in the weight room. Try to make as many times out to practice, games and everything along those lines. Because I don’t want to just be stuck in the weight room all the time and then just look at me as the meathead that’s stuck in the weight room and everything like that. But going out there, getting to know them on a personal level, what they like to do. But nothing like crazy like that.
Connor Agnew: Yeah, yeah, I know I understand. And I think again, the trust building process is it takes a while, but once you’ve learned how to kind of get the athletes to trust in you, it’s something that makes your relationship way better. And honestly, what’s cool about a GA is you have to learn how to do it within two years, right? Like it’s your last semester, you have to learn quickly. now with the transfer portal, like it’s giving me the same for full-time coaches as well too.
Ryan Berry: yeah. huh.
Connor Agnew: You know, I have to get these coaches or these athletes to trust in me when maybe we have eight months together, right? We had somebody who Jackson one of our players has his previous trade coach was a good friend of Zane’s Pat Lewis who’s incredibly high level coach and we had I had to say hey man I’ll probably do stuff different from Pat but I promise you I still have your best interest at heart, you know and developing that trust is just it’s a great experience because it just makes your relationships just that much better with your athletes
Ryan Berry: Mm.
Ryan Berry: Hahaha.
Ryan Berry: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Connor Agnew: Well, okay, so, you know, obviously you are going into your last semester. Like, what do you feel like are the most important lessons that you’ve learned across your time as a GA?
Ryan Berry: I think especially when it comes to people that have been in the field a lot longer than me, listen more than I talk. When they’re talking, just kind of sit there and just absorb everything. Whether it’s even about programming or anything like that, just how they talk to maybe their sport coach, how they talk to their athlete, and how do they kind of talk to each other, other coworkers.
Connor Agnew: Ugh.
Ryan Berry: And it’s really absorbing all of that and taking that and making it into myself.
Connor Agnew: What was the catalyst for that? How did you learn that?
Ryan Berry: I think my father, always kind of told me, just listen. Not in like, I have a military background. My dad, I mean, my dad was military and same as my older brother. So that was just kind of what you did in our family. And I don’t know, it just kind of always stuck with me. And I felt like I always learned a lot more just by keeping quiet and not in the aspect where I don’t talk, but keeping quiet, learn from them and then.
make it myself.
Connor Agnew: Yeah, 100%. I love to talk. Obviously, I decided to host a podcast or else I wouldn’t be doing this. at the same time, think, like you mentioned, if you can learn how to be more of an observer, if you can learn to listen to what people are really saying too. I think that’s a skill in itself is understanding somebody may be saying something, but they kind of mean something else. But if you’re not really listening, you’re not really 100 % picking up on it.
Ryan Berry: Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Connor Agnew: I think those things are valuable skills and they can certainly translate into success with your athletes, especially like you said on the relationship development side. I like hearing about successes, right? I like hearing about fun and feel good type of things and don’t worry, I’m gonna ask you about the bad stuff later too. But in the meantime, what’s a favorite success story of yours, especially across your time at FAU?
Ryan Berry: Mm-hmm.
Ryan Berry: Hahaha
Ryan Berry: Yeah, think honestly from when I first got here, I think maybe it was even from what I made in my relationship back at my Mount St. Mary’s. Having former baseball players of mine reach out, like they graduated, they reach out and they just send me a text. And just knowing that I built that relationship there, that they wanna reach out, see how I’m doing, I get to see how they’re doing and everything like that. And then even here too, some of my graduate students or graduates.
they do the same thing, just knowing I at least made something in their life to where I’ve made that connection.
Connor Agnew: Okay, so let me ask you more of a philosophical question, right? Or more of a larger view question. Like, those people reach out to you and you know you made an impact. What would you want people to say about you as a coach? If they were gonna talk to somebody completely, know, objective, somebody that had never met you before, and they said, well, Ryan did this for me as a coach, and I feel like it really helped me.
Ryan Berry: I think that I look out for them and I want the best for them. I would never do, like I wouldn’t do anything spiteful against them, but I want them to be the best, whether it’s sport, school, or just a person in general.
Connor Agnew: Okay. And so when you say spiteful, what is a, you know, I guess I may be projecting again here too, right? This is why I love talking with GAs, right? Because like there’s fears of mine in straightening conditioning. Okay. I’ll give you a very specific example of mine, right? We had, I had an internship and we talked about where I was previously right before the show, right? When I first started and
Ryan Berry: Hahaha.
Ryan Berry: Yeah.
Ryan Berry: Mm-hmm.
Connor Agnew: I went there and I remember I put my foot up on an assault bike during a three hour practice, right? And then I put my foot up there and I rested on the assault bike for just a little bit, right? And nothing was said at the time. And then we went into our head straight coaches office afterwards. And he cussed me out like you wouldn’t believe. Like, I can’t believe how disrespectful you were out there. You made the program look terrible. This was the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life. Like, and I literally just was leaning on an assault bike, right? And so,
I remember when that happened, I kind of vowed to myself that I would never be a coach like that. I’d never be somebody who would really just degrade somebody. And so my interns now, if somebody leans on us, I’m like, couldn’t care less. And it kind of makes me happy when I see them do it because I’m like, yeah, I’m not that guy. And so when you say something about spiteful, you’re looking out for people. Was there an experience you had in the past or has it just been things that you’ve seen within training conditioning that you’re just trying to model yourself?
Ryan Berry: Mm.
Connor Agnew: after for better or to try to avoid being on the kind of worse end, if that makes sense.
Ryan Berry: I think maybe that I’ve seen, never really, I wouldn’t say anybody I’ve worked for has ever been like that. But I also like the idea of kind of finding maybe which athletes like that a little bit too. You can be like, push the button a little bit, see which way I can get them. And then maybe that’s their why and like that pushes them. love that. That’s just so much fun to me.
Connor Agnew: Yeah.
Connor Agnew: Yeah.
Yeah.
Connor Agnew: Yeah.
so you like pushing buttons a little bit.
Ryan Berry: Yeah, just a little bit. But I gotta find the right people for it. Because then when you can just see it, when you see that come out of them, you’re like, here it goes.
Connor Agnew: Yeah, well, it’s next level training, you know, and it’s and they get excited, right? And I think it is fun like to be, you know, a kind of a jerk sometimes. Some people like we’ve got a player I know who has terrible balance, right? And I like to make it fun of his balance, but we’re working on the side and he does it because I like making fun of him. And he knows that it’s so somebody’s got to work on, but we can build a good relationship that way. Yeah, and if you know.
Ryan Berry: Yeah.
Connor Agnew: I know you said it’s not for anybody you work for, but if Zane’s abusing you, just blink twice, okay? We’ll save you from FAU. Yeah, good, good. I’ll call you immediately after. Okay, so we talked about the successes, right? It’s like the feel good stuff, but what’s a mistake you’ve made and how did you learn from it within your time, let’s say either at FAU or Mount St. Mary’s?
Ryan Berry: Yeah, I’ll wait till the camera’s off to tell you that one.
Ryan Berry: Yeah, I think, let’s see, I think two of them do actually come to mind pretty quickly when I think about it. think first is names. think names is like one of like, I’m terrible at remembering names and faces and everything like that. I’ve always struggled with that. So I’m trying, I’ve tried to find ways to kind of help in this semester. I really tried to make sure I can get this down. So whatever their card is, I make them hand it to me. I’ll read their card, look at their face and I’ll do that for the first two weeks.
I mean honestly even three or four weeks until I can get it real down, but that has helped me little bit Catch on a little bit quicker, but that is definitely one of them And then probably the second one is just too much volume. There’s at least from a private always giving too much volume. I noticed that real quickly
Connor Agnew: Okay, so I’ve got a funny story for you on the names one, and I think you can probably relate to this, right? So my first day here at AppState, I’m not very good with names either. I’m very bad memorizing them. And we had a testing day, like one of the first or second days that I was here, coach wanted to get done immediately. And so I had all their names on a sheet. I didn’t have any of their profiles or anything, right? And I didn’t want to ask them because for some reason on my first day, I was like, I’m great with names. Like I literally said that out loud. Like it was the dumbest thing I’ve ever said.
Ryan Berry: You
Connor Agnew: I was like, I’ll remember everybody’s name. And so the day two we’re doing testing, the Tyree Boykin comes up and I’m like, I think that’s Terrence, right? And so I write down every single one of Terrence’s numbers for vertical jump and everything like that. And then I like look back over my numbers later and I’m like, six of these people are completely wrong. Like there’s no way our post player has a 38 inch vertical, you know, and I’ve seen him jump. He can barely fit a credit card underneath when he jumps. So.
Ryan Berry: You
Connor Agnew: Like I think the names aspect is very, very important to learn about. know, what, what, what we, you know, I always say, bring up a mistake where you learn from it, you know, why did it become important to you to learn the names quickly? Was there a specific instance or was it just something where you recognize like the relationship development aspect is going to be easier if I could say their name.
Ryan Berry: I think the relationship part, but then there’s sometimes I thought I was so, like you said, you’re so confident knowing the names. would be, I would yell the name out and they’d be like, looking at me like I’m a little crazy and I’m yelling the completely wrong name. And I’m like, man, I really got to get these down. but like just seeing them kind of like look at me and be like, who are you even talking to? but then just building the relationship, them knowing that I can at least know that pretty quickly.
Connor Agnew: Yeah.
Ryan Berry: and just getting an athlete’s attention across the room a lot quicker.
Connor Agnew: Oh, a hundred percent, right? It’s a lot easier when they know your name versus, buddy. Awesome. Well, okay. And so you mentioned the too much volume. I think that’s a mistake everybody makes, right? It’s whether being too much and then all of you go too little because you’re worried about being too much volume, right? And then it’s a tough, it’s almost like the homeostatic curve I always like to compare it to, right? You go too high, too low, then everything eventually balances out at the end.
Ryan Berry: Yeah, instead of waving and everything like that
Ryan Berry: Mm-hmm.
Connor Agnew: what was the understanding with too much volume? What was the instance that made you realize maybe this might be too much? And then how did you kind of correct it from there?
Ryan Berry: I think seeing the fatigue pop up in the weight room, like they didn’t have like the pop in their voice the way they walked in. And then when going out to practice, kind of see him seeing him drag. Numbers started to stay stagnant. I dropped volume for a little bit, kind of did the brief deload, helped a little bit, but just kind of finding, I tried to find the middle ground for them, especially in the beginning. It’s yeah.
Connor Agnew: Yeah. Were they complaining about being sore, Todd?
Ryan Berry: No, actually, no. Someone will just head down, let’s go. And I’m like, maybe I overdid it a little bit.
Connor Agnew: that’s a good group.
Connor Agnew: Well, it’s a mistake that everybody’s made. I promise you that. mean, and it’s never going to stop, right? And it’s funny. I was even talking to another basketball strength coach previously about just programming in season and just being terrified of giving them too much to recover from, but then also giving them too little that we’re not actually maintaining our strength and we’re not getting better. So it’s a continual mistake. So I promise you, you’re not alone in that one. And then it’ll happen to me again. I promise you that.
Ryan Berry: Thank
Connor Agnew: And whether it’s too much or too little on my side. And so you have how many teams do you have total?
Ryan Berry: I have
Five. Yeah, five.
Connor Agnew: Wow, how do you balance all that? That’s a lot of names.
Ryan Berry: Yeah, I know a lot of sheets a lot of rereading over and over again, but honestly Just kind of rolling with the punches. I actually initially came here only had men’s and women’s tennis and soccer I started building trust with Zane and Ty and I was given more responsibility and I started picking up I think I picked up swim swim first and then this
coming this last fall I picked up indoor volleyball. But building their trust and then just kind of doing what I can rolling with the punches.
Connor Agnew: Yeah, I mean, again, like I said, that’s a lot of names, but it’s a lot of various sports as well, too. Who did you rely on to help you with understanding how to program for these different sports and, you know, how to actually manage having five full teams?
Ryan Berry: Yeah, I think I talked with I would talk with Zane. I would talk with Ty and kind of what should I do here? What should I not do in that aspect? And then reaching out to my old mentors to Travis Scott from Mount St. Mary’s or Mike Snowden and just kind of seeing what they did when they had some of these teams and going from there.
Connor Agnew: Yeah. What was the best advice you got within that, within those talks? Okay. That’s awesome. That’s great advice. I mean, if I can only follow that, then I mean, I’d be in a great spot. It’s tough to follow.
Ryan Berry: Don’t overthink it. Don’t overthink it.
Hahaha
Ryan Berry: Yeah, sometimes I’ll just be the minds just going, going, going. And they’re just like, man, it’ll be OK. No, you’re right.
Connor Agnew: Yeah, don’t overthink it. Okay, so I mean, obviously, that’s the best advice you got within that scenario. What’s the best advice you’ve received as a whole throughout your career, whether it is from your father or whether it is from Zane or Ty or anybody you’ve worked with?
Ryan Berry: I think learn as much as you can, meet as many people as you can. And like those two have stuck with me. and make relationships with your athletes. If I could, those three have just like been my foundation since I’ve learned them. if I didn’t have those, I don’t think I’d still be here.
Connor Agnew: That’s awesome. so like, obviously relationship development is important for you. It’s important for me. Like what have you seen relationship development do with your program? And especially just the first couple of weeks versus the next six months that you have after you’ve been able to develop strong relationships with your team.
Ryan Berry: I kind of, I think it was more of the head down, do what you say, like type of aspect. Like you could tell me to jump off this cliff and I’ll do it type deal. Once I built that trust, it was like, I’ll do what you say type deal. Even if I like, like I said, maybe like the volume, I may have went too high or something like that. They’d be like, okay, let’s do it. No matter what, no matter how they felt.
Connor Agnew: Yeah.
Connor Agnew: Yeah. Yeah. Well, like you said, they didn’t complain about me in Seoul or they were happy to be there, which is always a very good indicator. Yeah. And I mean, I’ve gotten certainly some feedback from athletes that they weren’t happy with my workouts before. So maybe your relationship better, development is a little bit better than mine. It’s just good.
Ryan Berry: Yeah.
Ryan Berry: Nah, I won’t say that. I’m just starting.
Connor Agnew: Well, OK, I said, means you mentioned just starting like what’s the ultimate goal for you? What would be if I could say here’s the dream job for Ryan Barry? What would your goal be?
Ryan Berry: I think I would also like to get into basketball. I think that’s the main thing I really want to get into. I really like the energy of basketball, like, in that aspect and just being around the guys and everything like that. That atmosphere is just so much fun to me.
Connor Agnew: Hmm.
Connor Agnew: Yeah, it is fun. It’s a lot of fun. And then it can suck too. I’ll be, to be candid with you, when you’re losing, sometimes it sucks. But when you’re winning, it’s a ton of fun. Well, I’m going to be open with you about everything. That’s the only way that this is fair. But I mean, basketball is a, it’s a fantastic choice in my opinion. I think it’s the best choice. Obviously this is the reason I picked it. But you know, there’s certainly ups and downs with it. There’s positives and negatives. Like I said, when you’re losing, it sucks and you feel it.
Ryan Berry: Yeah
You can’t tell me that just yet.
Connor Agnew: But the best part about basketball is that it’s not like football where you play one game per week, right? You get to go play a game immediately afterwards. We played Sunbelt Thursday and Saturdays. I mean, I couldn’t be more grateful for that because you lose on a Thursday, all of a it’s like, well, let’s just get back at it on Saturday. Yeah, immediately afterwards. Were you with the team or were you with Florida Atlantic when they went for the final four run?
Ryan Berry: bounce back right there. Yeah.
Ryan Berry: No, I got here just after that. Yeah, I got here just after that and I worked with them, I think, yeah, the following year. And then I got to work with basketball at Mount St. Mary’s too. And so kind of being around them, I was like, man, this is definitely, this is it.
Connor Agnew: Yeah.
Connor Agnew: That’s awesome. What draws you to basketball? The energy or is there anything else you feel?
Ryan Berry: Yeah, I think it’s the energy more or less than anything. Them wanting to get after it and then seeing them play, yeah.
Connor Agnew: Yeah, it’s cool man. You get to see some really cool stuff, right? Like we had a guy who came in at 285 pounds. He was recruited to be a football player. Now if you ask him, he’ll tell you he was supposed to be the best defensive end in this country, but he was already 285 pounds. He’s a pretty athletic dude. I was like you’re they were going to put 50 pounds on you and you were going to be a left tackle just so you’re aware like they were lying to you. OK, but he came in and he lost 55 pounds. He’s 250 now and watching him.
Ryan Berry: Hahaha!
Ryan Berry: Heh.
Connor Agnew: dunk for the first time and know, in game, obviously he could dunk before, but watching him dunk for the first time in game and watching his red shirt year pay off, like that was a really, really special moment. It’s very cool. So I think I’m biased. think basketball is a great choice and Zane would probably tell you the same thing too, unless Ty tries to recruit you to the baseball.
Ryan Berry: Yep.
Ryan Berry: yeah, he’s definitely tried. And to see that, I’ve actually played baseball in college and growing up and everything like that, but I don’t know. There’s just something about being around basketball. It’s different.
Connor Agnew: Yeah, I’m sure.
Connor Agnew: Yeah, where did you play baseball?
Ryan Berry: I played baseball at IUP, Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Oh yeah, a little P-sack. I was a pitcher. Yeah, a little right-handed pitcher.
Connor Agnew: Yeah, yeah, I know IUP. yeah. What position were you? Pitcher. Okay, very nice, man. That’s awesome. And so what did you know? What was your experience? Did you have a strength and conditioning coach as a baseball player?
Ryan Berry: It was, it was a little weird. actually went, Juco first. I played, I was actually there for four years. I was in like a weird, I was in there in that COVID. I got hurt one year. So I stayed for, ended up staying for four and then I transferred there. We didn’t have one in junior college. And then when I got there, we had one, my last semester. But yeah, I never really had one.
Connor Agnew: Okay.
Connor Agnew: Yeah, I have.
Connor Agnew: Wow, I mean, and that’s gotta be tough, right? To be going from being a player and never having a strength coach to all of sudden being on the opposite side and leading the lifting. What is your experience as a player? How has it helped you as a strength coach, do you think?
Ryan Berry: Yeah
Ryan Berry: I think understanding the task at hand, kind of like what you’re there to do and what I’m there to do, what the players should be there to do, being able to make those relationships with the athletes and the sports coaches, and just generally just getting them to love lifting.
Connor Agnew: Yeah. Yeah. Well, you mentioned the sport coaches too. Like what, what has been a success story for you from working with sport coaches? Like how have you grown in your relationships with sport coaches as well? Cause obviously that’s a really big piece of strength and conditioning as a whole.
Ryan Berry: Yeah, I think them trusting me and like, just like, hey, I trust you, you go do it. Like, I don’t need to ask many questions, I believe in you. And I think that’s like, wow, like you trust me with that. Like, let’s go, I’m ready to go.
Connor Agnew: Yeah.
Connor Agnew: Yeah. Can you give me a specific instance, anything that you can think of that you got trusted with for the first time?
Ryan Berry: Yeah. Yeah. So, specifically indoor volleyball. mean, taking them over, right. right at the start of in season, our head coach was like, you know, optimistic. It’s a GA taking over. she comes in for the first time. She sees me lead the girls just through the warmup. She was like, Nope, I’m a good hands. I’m a good hands just from that. And then kind of the scene, the way I talked to the girls and everything like that, like, Hey, I’m good.
Connor Agnew: Awesome.
Connor Agnew: Wow, that’s great. You must make quite the impression.
Ryan Berry: I tried, I tried.
Connor Agnew: That’s awesome. Okay, well, I’m gonna put you on the spot a little bit here just because I know these guys, right? And I think they’re awesome. Like what has Ty taught you during your time? What’s the number one thing that you can take from your time at FAU and say Ty Curtis taught me this and it’s something I’m gonna take with me for the rest of my
Ryan Berry: I think Ty’s taught me like coaching, how to, how to like use your voice and everything and how to go about like using it to get what you like, not what you want, but what you need to get done. With him coming from working under Travis too, they were both, they’re both relatively the same. And then just having that reinforcement, cause that was definitely one thing coming in as a GA, I definitely struggled with. didn’t have that.
and my voice to kind of get what we need to get done. Just having that there and hearing how he did it every session with 40, 50 baseball guys and controlling the room. That really helped me use that when I have my teams now.
Connor Agnew: I mean, that’s a very valuable skill. It’s invaluable, I would say. Yeah.
Ryan Berry: Peace.
Yeah, it’s like, and the way he leads it to like, and whether it was Travis or whether it was Ty and just like the way, the way they say it to get everybody together, listen, like, let’s go. Like, I can’t change it. Like, I’m super happy to be a part of that and be around. I was able to be around that.
Connor Agnew: That’s awesome. And it’s always great to take specific skills from your mentors as well too, right? Like to be able to learn things specifically from them. I think the biggest thing I ever took was from Craig Fitzgerald at Tennessee when I was with football was how to have fun. know, like, cause he’s, he’s like one of the best strength coaches in college football you can possibly get, man. And I remember working with him and I was like, this is just, we’re at Tennessee. It’s like one of the most esteemed programs. Like the stakes are high.
Ryan Berry: Yeah
Connor Agnew: And he just never stopped having fun every day. I remember he kicked over a chalk bowl. He would like, this may be kind of a weird example to give everybody, right? one time we were in a meeting and we were all meeting there and he’s like, everybody take your shirts off so when the guy comes back in, he has no clue what’s going on. It’s just weird stuff, right? But at the end of the day, it makes your job way more fun. And it’s great to take those things from your mentors.
Ryan Berry: Mm-hmm.
Ryan Berry: Haha
Ryan Berry: Hahaha!
Connor Agnew: Okay, well then now I’m put you on the spot with Zane. What is the number one thing that you’ve taken from Zane at your time with him?
Ryan Berry: I think it’s movement over everything. Teaching full range to whether it’s a squat, hamstrings touching calves, everything full range. Slow it down when you need to with tempo and then start adding your weight. Make it look good before you just, hey, let’s put a ton of weight on. I think that’s probably the biggest thing and that’s actually helped all of my athletes either perform better or just everything just looks.
Connor Agnew: Yeah.
Ryan Berry: so clean in the weight room when you do it. Once he taught me that.
Connor Agnew: Yeah. He’s spoken like a true Preston Green disciple. Has he brought up Preston a lot with you?
Ryan Berry: No, just 450 times, you know, I’ve been keeping tally.
Connor Agnew: Yeah. I mean, there’s a reason that system works and there’s a reason press has been very successful as a strength coach because those things matter. They influence the quality of your program. That’s just amazing. I’m glad you’re able to take things. I’m glad you’re able to experience those things from your GA position. So when you look ahead, obviously basketball is kind of the goal. Like what do you want to continue to learn? What are the things that you want to continue to work on? What do you feel like?
you may need to know within your first couple years as a full-time strength coach.
Ryan Berry: I think continuing to learn, I guess, more just from the program perspective and how to fluctuate stuff in the long scheme of things, maybe when I get to basketball out of season, in season even more, especially when I have them on my own, instead of just kind of seeing what everybody else does. Those definitely the biggest things. And yeah, that’s it for right now.
Connor Agnew: Yeah. Well, if I could give you some unsolicited advice on the programming aspect. Yeah, yeah. Okay. The number one thing I always hear is people want to improve programming when they first start out, which I think you should spend your time on that because it does take a long time to learn, but don’t pressure yourself more than anything in the believing it’s the end all be all for your program. Now I’m biased. I’m not a very good programmer, right? So I’m going to hang my hat on the relationship development aspect and worrying about
Ryan Berry: No, take it. I love it.
Ryan Berry: Mm-hmm.
Connor Agnew: if my guys are bought into the weight room. But at the same time, almost every program works, right? And what people do, you’re gonna get stronger. Now, will some make you a little bit stronger more efficiently? Then yes. Will some help you be quicker and all those things do matter? Yes. But at the same time, always, always, always worry about the relationship development aspect, which you’ve already done, which I don’t even know yet, but I’m proud of you for doing that to start off with.
Ryan Berry: Mm-hmm.
Ryan Berry: Hahaha!
Connor Agnew: But always focus on those things because it makes the biggest difference in the end. Somebody could have the best program in the world. If your players don’t care, they don’t want to be there, you could end up having the worst program in the world because nobody’s actually getting it done how it needs to be done. Yeah.
Ryan Berry: Mm-hmm.
Yeah, yeah. So what have you done to help with that? Yeah, yeah.
Connor Agnew: Relationship development. may have asked myself and you know, made a fool and you know, been bad and then learning how to be better. I think, you know, the biggest thing is if you could look at is the self determination theory, which I’ve mentioned many times on the podcast before, there’s a solo podcast I’ve done on it. But I think that really helps me understand the motivation for athletes. And it helps me understand exactly how to improve their motivation quality.
So it’s simple, just says motivation is not a quantity, it’s a quality. It’s not about how much you have, but how high quality motivation you do have. understanding that’s been really useful. And then I think you brought up a really good point earlier too of understanding that at the end of the day, doesn’t matter wins or losses, the athletes just need to know that you’re there for them and that you care about them. And so when I started asking questions like, do you have brothers and sisters, right? Like those are very simple and easy ways to get there, but then what-
a lot of coaches will do is they’ll ask those things, but then they never really follow up on them, right? They’ll never ask again, like, oh, how’s your brother doing? You know, or I’ll give you an example. We have a player right now who’s injured. He’s with me on the sideline. He’s got a crazy family. Like I love him, you know, and I don’t even know his brother is a DJ who tours across Europe because he’s from Switzerland, right? And so I’m like, how’s your brother’s tour going? You know what? I followed his brother on Instagram. His brother messaged him. It was like, your strength coach is weird for that. You know, like
Ryan Berry: Mm-hmm.
Ryan Berry: Yeah
Ryan Berry: Hahaha!
Connor Agnew: But it’s allowed us to have a lot more conversations and get to know each other on a really personal basis. Yeah, yeah. I asked about his little brother, how’s basketball going? Because it was his first season, is he any good? Do you think he’s going be better than you? And so small questions like that and really remembering those things and following up on those things. That’d be my advice from a relationship development aspect. Yeah.
Ryan Berry: that’s built that relationship. Yeah.
Ryan Berry: Okay, no, that’s awesome. You said it was the, actually haven’t had a chance to listen to that podcast. It was self-determination theory.
Connor Agnew: Yeah, self-determination theory. I think that one cracked the code on how to motivate your athletes beyond belief. It talks about autonomy, relatedness, and competency are the three main areas. Like I said, I’m not the best programmer, but I at least can quote some sports psych theories that can help support what I try to say at the end of the day.
Ryan Berry: I’m definitely gonna be taking a listen to that.
Connor Agnew: Absolutely. appreciate you taking a listen. All right. And so let me ask you this. I like Eli asking the fun questions as well too and just finding out the fun stuff. Are you pre-workout guy? Have you, as a young strength coach, picked your specific pre-workout or your specific energy drink?
Ryan Berry: I’ve converted a little bit. used to be a rain guy. I’ve now converted to ghosts and I can take that. I can take that from Ty and Zane. They’ve converted me. Ghosts and C4s. then probably going to, cause I’ll be honest, I probably just drink those during the day, not even before I work out. And then just a non-stem.
Connor Agnew: Okay?
As all young bucks do, they swing rain to ghost.
Connor Agnew: Okay?
Connor Agnew: Yeah.
Connor Agnew: Yup, there you go. Let’s look at it.
Ryan Berry: Feeling the beta aline just like crawl through my forehead. That gets me going enough.
Connor Agnew: You’re a mature young man. I’m very proud of you. Seriously, the rains are where everybody starts, but ghosts are for the distinguished gentlemen. What’s your favorite flavor of ghosts?
Ryan Berry: No.
Ryan Berry: Ty’s gonna hate to hear this. He’s gonna hate it. Actually, same with Zayn, tropical mango. That one is so good.
Connor Agnew: Tropical Mango, that’s a good one, that’s a good one. That’s a good one. What are their favorites? Why would they disagree?
Ryan Berry: They zane or tie likes the the red lemonade one. I can’t remember the exact name of that. And then I believe zane likes the same thing. Yeah, cherry limeade. There you go.
Connor Agnew: Okay.
Connor Agnew: I think it’s cherry lime in. I’m a little too in deep on the Ghosts. very aware. Grape, the Welch’s grape that they have is, yeah, it’s out of control. I mean, it’s the best one they’ve had. But we went to, I went to GNC and this is another, if I could give you a small advice, go to Black Friday or GNC right after Black Friday. Cause they’re always gonna have some crazy saline energy drinks. they had, and I just talked two weeks ago about how.
Ryan Berry: What’s the new grape one? That was good.
Connor Agnew: I should give up the caffeine addiction piece, right? But they had Ghosts for a dollar, so I bought 50 of them, because I was like, this is the best deal I’m ever gonna get. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, Tropical Mango was 15 of them. So I do like Tropical Mango. I shouldn’t rag on you too much for liking those.
Ryan Berry: You
Ryan Berry: that’s a steal.
Ryan Berry: Have you tried the actually I can’t even remember if it’s C4 if it’s ghosts up the top of my head the the green apple Jolly Rancher
Connor Agnew: Yep, that’s C4. And that’s fantastic. Yep, yep, absolutely. Now what I love about the C4 is definitely the skin crawling. That’s always fun. Yeah. And it cracks me up because I never do SP workout. Like that’s like sometimes how I just prefer to start my day as a woman. I feel jazzed up for the day after a C4.
Ryan Berry: Yeah. So good.
Ryan Berry: Yes.
Ryan Berry: Wow.
I’m gonna have to try that one. I like to sprinkle a little bit of extra beta-aluminum in mine too. That might be why I’m a little… Little non-stem, don’t need the caffeine, but I’ll take the extra beta-aluminum.
Connor Agnew: yeah.
Connor Agnew: You’re sick. You’re sick. That’s why.
Connor Agnew: That’s awesome. Well, you’re going to be a great strength coach. can tell you that just based off of your supplement choices alone. Well, Ryan, man, I really appreciate you coming on. Thank you for your time. Seriously, I do appreciate you. And I’m excited to follow your career from here, especially if you go within basketball. I love to meet young coaches and I’m a young coach myself, right? But who are interested in basketball and want to keep growing. I’m excited to stay in touch with you,
Ryan Berry: Thank you.
Ryan Berry: No, thank you for having me, Connor, and I would love to stay in touch and really pick your brain even about some of the stuff you do too.
Connor Agnew: absolutely, can’t give you much but hopefully I can give you something quality. If any of our listeners want to follow you on social media, what’s your Instagram handle? What’s the best way to follow you?
Ryan Berry: You definitely will.
Ryan Berry: It is Barry B-E-R-R-Y dot Ryan 14.
Connor Agnew: Awesome. Was that your baseball number?
Ryan Berry: Yes, it was. Yeah, I totally forgot about that.
Connor Agnew: There we go. Look at that. I’m good at decoding Instagram usernames. Awesome. Well, Ryan, I really appreciate you, man. Thank you for coming on.
Ryan Berry: You
Ryan Berry: No, thank you for having me, Connor.
Connor Agnew: Absolutely.
