JOSHUA AYCOCK ’97:
Coaching Olympic Athletes on the Far Side of the World
By Chris Gregor
“Our reputation in the field and in the world is well respected and is synonymous with strength and conditioning. It makes me very proud to be a graduate of a college that has global visibility.”
IN MARCH 2011, AYCOCK GOT THE OFFER FROM THE WORLD-RENOWNED STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING COMPANY, ATHLETES’ PERFORMANCE (AP). He did not immediately jump at the opportunity. The job was working as a strength and conditioning coach for China’s Olympic teams. The commitment was to work in Beijing for 10 months. It would be a demanding job. Aycock had to think it over: “I took out pad and paper and did a pros and cons list. Many things came into play; for instance, I’m a finicky eater. Another issue was traveling distances and adapting to other cultures. That wasn’t really on my ‘bucket list.’ But the opportunity to work with Olympic caliber athletes, at a time in my life when I still do not have a family, won out. I knew I would never forgive myself in 10 years if I let it pass by.” Joshua Aycock ’97 was a health and fitness major and, while at Springfield College, was encouraged by strength and conditioning coach Kevin Handzel to pursue an internship with IMG Academy in Florida. “Kevin had worked there and told me it was the place to go if I wanted a career in the strength and conditioning field. In Florida, I met Mark Verstegen who
was running IMG and later started Athletes’ Performance. I worked at AP for three years, and then went on to coaching at colleges. When I was contacted by AP about the China opportunity, it just seemed like one more step on a unique and varied career path,” Aycock tells Triangle. There are six members of the AP group working in Beijing, three coaches and three physical therapists. “We live at a facility with 20 teams and a couple hundred of China’s best athletes. It is very much like a college campus
with dorm-style apartments and an on-site cafeteria. I room with another coach, we are about a mile from the facility, so I can jump on a bus or ride my bike to work,” he explains. Teams may go off site to compete or train, and while Aycock works with athletes mostly at the main facility in a weight room, very much like the one at Springfield College, he has occasionally traveled with teams. “I’m on call whenever I am needed and watch the team practice when I am not coaching,” he says. “Many times my schedule is not set. It is up to the team how they use me, so my schedule can change. It is one of the demands of the job.”
Coaching a Team with Unusual Pressures
Aycock went to China in October 2011. Initially working with athletes in many sports, later he focused on two teams, women’s volleyball and diving. Now, he coaches the divers full-time. “I doubt many Americans can even name a U.S. Olympic diver, but the sport in China is huge. The Chinese took 7 of 8 gold medals in the Beijing Games in 2008, but amazingly they viewed that accomplishment as a failure, because they didn’t win 8. I work with a team that has unique pressures to say the least. Expectations are intense. Training is very uniform throughout the country. Athletes are chosen and paid by the state. It is a career allowing athletes to support their families, which is a big motivation; in many cases young kids are breadwinners for entire families,” he says.
Celebrity Coach/Fifteen Minutes of Fame
His work with the women’s volleyball team, while brief, was very interesting. “Volleyball has heroic standing in China, it is viewed as ‘The Spirit of China.’ For the masses, it signifies the
12 TRIANGLE 1 Vol. 83, No. 3
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