Mike Kuschner Named US Sailing Team Strength & Conditioning Coach
It is with honor and humility to have been announced as the Strength and Conditioning Coach of the US Sailing Team.
Over the past decade I have worked within the US Sailing Team organization as an athlete training in multiple classes of boats (Tornado, 49er). Over that time, my journey as an athlete has changed me forever. The US Sailing Team brings together the best sailors in the USA with aspirations for the Olympic Games to work with elite coaches, mentors, and support staff in order to have the best chance of success at the Games. Through my journey as an athlete I harnessed a passion for the strength and conditioning side of the sport.
With my education and mentorship from OPEX Fitness, I was able to begin a coaching career helping other elite level sailing athletes reach their full potential. Now as an OPEX HQ Remote Coach and owner of Sailing Performance Training, I aim to inspire sailing athletes through fitness.
The OPEX model of fitness partners well with the US Sailing Team’s need for a strength and conditioning program helping each Olympic hopeful by individualizing their specific training based on their position, boat, sports specific schedule, lifestyle, work capacity, and physiology.
We have a great team of professionals within OPEX and the US Sailing’s Performance Enhancement Team lead by director Chris Ellis that will aid in the development of each athlete’s progression in the sport of sailing.
Malcolm Page, the director of the US Sailing Team, has a great vision for the new culture of the team: “I’m definitely looking forward to building a strong team culture,” Page stated. “Only one boat [per nation] will get to compete at the Games, but everyone has to openly work together as a team to get there. That reality is hard to achieve, and it takes time to create, but in order to be successful that’s where we want to get to. The top athletes on the best teams in the world work within their programs to fix each other’s weaknesses and raise the collective bar.” Read more about the era of the US Sailing Team….
It is this essence of an athlete that is a requirement to succeed at the top of the our sport. From a strength and conditioning point of view, I aim to enable each and every athlete with the resources, awareness, and capacity to raise that bar for themselves and within the team culture.
Sailing Performance Training and the OPEX Remote Coaching Program for sailing athletes will continue to grow and provide great opportunities, education, and coaching for sailing athletes worldwide.
Source: Sail Performance Training