Jeremy Evans is the Director of Sports Performance and Taylor Smith is the Assistant Sports Performance coach at The King’s Academy in West Palm Beach, Florida. They are two highly qualified and passionate strength coaches who team up to lead one of the top strength training programs in the country.
Jeremy and Taylor discuss how they work together to develop the school’s strength training program and philosophy, and how they communicate their shared vision to their student-athletes.
How do you two work together to develop the overall strength training program and philosophy?
Jeremy Evans: I have been at The King’s Academy for four years longer than Taylor, so when Taylor first started, I wrote the programming and asked for her thoughts on what she would like to modify for her female classes. Last year–her second year at the academy–Taylor was much more involved in the programming side and started writing all of the programming for her classes.
We see our athletes during the regular school day five days a week, so we work off of an upper/lower split: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday with Wednesday being an alternative day. Sometimes Wednesday is a recovery day with some yoga or nutritional education, other times it’s a speed/agility day, and sometimes Wednesdays is a game day that serves to get the athletes out, moving, sweating and having some fun outside of the weight room.
Taylor Smith: The transition into TKA was very smooth. The previous female strength coach, along with Jeremy, laid a good foundation for me to follow. Jeremy gives me the autonomy to do what I feel is best with our female athletes. Our programs are similar in terms of our foundation, but we have different ways of achieving the same goal. For example, on Wednesdays with our female athletes, I like to have conversations with them revolving around mental health, body image, social media, and the daily struggles of being a female athlete.
How do you share the individual training of athletes?
Jeremy Evans: I have five training classes for the boys every day, and Taylor has three training classes for the girls every day. After school, we work together to train the sport teams/individuals that come in to get better that day.
Taylor Smith: Recently with greater buy-in from our female athletes, we’ve had to work together to share our space effectively. We still keep our classes split by gender while in the weightroom, but it takes open communication between us. It’s a great problem to have because we work well together in those situations.
How do you communicate your shared vision/philosophy to your athletes and coaches so it’s clear this is a join effort between both of you?
Jeremy: We both have the same vision/mission, so communicating this is pretty easy. We speak from our hearts and we are passionate about what we do. Our philosophies are very similar, and we just want to serve our athletes and help them be the best athletes and people they can be. We want excellence in all things here at TKA, and we want to help plant seeds that lead young people to Jesus. When that is your mission and passion, then it is pretty easy to speak the same language.
Taylor: Our athletes see the healthy relationship that Jeremy and I have. When we coach teams such as football simultaneously, they have trust in both of us to answer their questions. I am respected among all of my male athletes, and I request the same respect be shown to Coach Evans when he’s present with my female athletes. If one of us is unable to lead a session due to a meeting or extenuating circumstances, we know our athletes are in good hands. The sessions run smoothly due to the standards we have set for our kids.
How often do you meet to discuss the effectiveness of the program and whether to adjust the program?
Jeremy: We try to discuss things about once a month or so. Sometimes it happens more organically than other times. If one of us sees something that we could get better at, or our testing numbers show us something we can get better at, we just bring it to the other’s attention, and we discuss our plan or how we could improve in that area. Sports Performance is a science, but it is not rocket science. We try to keep things organic, and we try to have zero egos and just push each other to get better––and have our athletes get better––when we see something to improve on.
Taylor: Being at conferences and talking to other female coaches and assistant coaches, I think a lot of head coaches don’t allow their assistant space to grow and learn as a coach. They box them in as “female athletes only”, give them smaller / inconsistent teams, or see them as less than. Head coaches should be encouraging assistants to lead big groups that are bought in, bring ideas to the program, and support their goals to get better. I can say that I am blessed to have all of those things at Kings. I have the support to be my best self, and I have the space to go through my own trial and error. I’m trusted to do my job well. Jeremy and I have a good relationship to discuss important details when it’s needed. We trust each other to do what’s best for the kids, and I think that’s all it truly comes down to.
Jeremy Evans is the Director of Sports Performance at The King’s Academy in West Palm Beach, Florida. Prior to TKA Evans was a performance specialist at EXOS in Gulf Breeze, Florida. He is married to Chasity Evans and has 2 kids that attend TKA, Allie and Eli.
Originally a native from SC, Taylor Smith is currently the Assistant Sports Performance coach at The King’s Academy in West Palm Beach, FL. Smith received her undergraduate and masters degree from Winthrop University where she had opportunities to work at the NSCA, York Comprehensive High School, and Charlotte Country Day School during her development as a coach. Smith believes in holistic training (mind, body, and soul) of all athletes she works with in school and through her personal training business, GRIT Performance LLC.
