Interview Conducted by James Macfarlane and Elie Waitzer

IB2s James Macfarlane and Elie Waitzer double up to interview UCC’s new strength and conditioning coach: Mr. Matthew Verboom, also known as the second coming of Jordan Foley.

JM: What brings you to UCC?

MV: The job. I was working as a personal trainer the last three years and this job came up as an opportunity to be a strength and conditioning coach, and I’ve been working towards that. So, Foley contacted me to let me know he was leaving and there was a position opening up and he didn’t want the job to go to the dumps.

EW: Have you known Foley for a long time?

MV: He’s now teaching a course that I took and we became buddies through that.

JM: Before you started working here, did you guys have much discussion about the SAS?

MV: He phones me, I phone him here and there. I still contact him about how he did things so I can just keep running things smoothly here. Hopefully I can build off his successes and improve areas which I think need to be improved upon.

 

JM: So what kind of improvements do you intend on making to improve the culture of working out at UCC?

 

MV: I’d like to get more student involvement. If they want a program to follow, I’ve created a few sample programs for the guys who aren’t on a team and who just want to come lift. I try to help them out with the best of my abilities. Then we have the elite fitness program, which has grown from about six guys when I started and now we’re almost up around twenty. That’s the kind of success that I like to build upon.

 

EW: What’s the biggest difference between being a personal trainer and a strength coach?

 

MV: The lack of motivation. If you’re one-on-one, you have to hire a trainer because you don’t really have the motivation to get into the gym by yourself. It’s hard on me because I care more about their success than they do. Whereas if you’re on a team, you generally have more motivation, a little more drive. That’s not always the case, there are some kids who just go through, and then there are the guys who come in and push themselves and that’s what I like.

 

EW: How jacked are UCC kids compared to other schools?

 

MV: I haven’t really seen many kids at other schools, but from what I’ve seen here, Foley’s done a good job.

 

JM: That just about covers all the bases. Thank you for your time.