Cohen Crispin is the QRL Sport science coordinator and former strength and conditioning coach within Surfing Australia's high-performance program. Cohen is an ASCA Elite L3 elite coach and holds a Bachelor of Sport and Exercise Science. In addition to his commitments in surfing, Cohen is also an assistant strength and conditioning coach and sports scientist for the Queensland women's State of Origin team. With a multifaceted background, Cohen is dedicated to optimising athlete performance and giving back to the S&C industry.

QUOTES

“My footy coach at the time, Frank Baker, was Dan Baker's brother and he was talking to me one afternoon about what I wanted to do after school and he started telling me about what his brother did, working at the Broncos, strength and power coach. And I was like, is this a job?!”

“So when I started at sprint kayaking, Worko gave me the opportunity to write a program for Kenny Wallace. And I remember I spent all night and I was reading all the research and then I've delivered it to him and he's gone, no, I don't do those exercises. So I've walked away from it, just defeated! And Worko has gone to me, did you talk to him before you wrote that program or did you just go to the theory? So that was a perfect lens for why the practical experience was so important.”

“So it really makes our job about the need for engagement with the athletes. Engagement's our biggest currency and that engagement allows us to educate them and then a lot of our job is educating and giving these athletes all the tools that they need to be successful wherever they are, whether they're local or they're on the other side of the world.”

“I've found that athletes that are proficient in the counter movement jump, have the ability to generate more speed and are getting good scores in smaller waves”

“Whenever I'm writing programs, I'm always thinking what's the best exercise for the athlete, or what's the exercise that I can easily implement into their travel program. So we'll have a Monday, Wednesday strength and power session planned at the gym but if that doesn't work out, they'll then go to their body weight sessions that could easily be done in a hotel room using their bags and bands.”

SHOWNOTES

1) Cohen’s journey from becoming a sparky in a small QLD mining town to a strength & conditioning coach for Surfing Australia

2) The balance between practical and theoretical experience in learning the S&C craft

3) Understanding surfing as a sport and the role strength & conditioning has to play in a surfers development

4) The nature of working with surfers and the industry and the importance of athlete engagement and education in surfing

5) The key strength & conditioning focuses for performance in surfing and how this may be manipulated based on different wave profiles

6) The importance of paddle speed and conditioning for surfers and key tests and test standards for surfing athletes

7) Why having a plan A, plan B and plan C in S&C programming is essential for surfers and the programming template at Surfing Australia

PEOPLE MENTIONED

Dan Baker

Deb Savage

John Mitchell

Glen Workman

Ken Wallace

Nick Winkleman