Conner Freeland, Vice President of Municipal Sales at O2X Human Performance, joins the Samson Strength Coach Collective to discuss how relationships have defined every stage of his career—from the weight room to business leadership. A career-altering back injury redirected his focus to coaching, sparking a passion for helping others move, perform, and recover. Conner reflects on developing athlete buy-in, teaching recovery in tactical populations, and how mentorship and servant leadership continue to guide his approach to building people and programs.

Key Takeaways:

• A major injury led Conner to discover his passion for coaching.
  

• Recovery and simplicity often create the greatest progress.
  

• Buy-in starts with authenticity, humility, and consistency.
  

• Servant leadership connects coaching and business development.
  

• Mentorship and curiosity fuel long-term professional growth.
  

• Tactical coaching requires empathy, recovery education, and adaptability.
  

• Great leaders build people through relationships, not authority.
  

• Leaving every role or program better than you found it defines success.

  Quote:

“OK, now what do I do? I need to rehab. I need to like… get back to be able to just squat and move again, like what do I do? And it was kind of going through that rehab process with the ATs, the PTs, the docs, strength coaches—getting that one-on-one attention. It was really cool to see that you can make substantial progress even from an injury, to get back to moving well. That became an avenue for me to stay in sports and provide value to others the same way others had poured into me.”

— Conner Freeland