Current Activities: Strength training, hiking, walks, yoga, just did my first Spartan Race at Fenway!
Certified Functional Strength Coach
Level 2
ACE Certified Personal Trainer
Soccer was always my main sport growing up, with weekends spent traveling and playing 2-4 games. In high school, I was a defender for Whitman-Hanson where we competed in the state tournament yearly. Soccer ended when I graduated, and I went off to UMass Amherst to start my engineering degree. Quickly I realized that engineering did not fit my strengths, and in my sophomore year I switched majors to kinesiology. I decided I wanted to get my personal training certification and really leaned into fitness. In my junior year, I was an intern for Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning and in my senior year, I worked with the UMass sports Performance department in keeping the athletes strong and injury-free.
As my first semester at UMass ended, I was in a phase of inactivity. I realized how much I missed exercising and competing with myself. I had gone to the gym before in high school, but it was the normal two-week kick and then I wouldn't go again for months. When I had a team practice I knew I HAD to go since I made a commitment to the team, but when it came to just me I wasn't creating the same urgency. I had always thought of myself as someone who wasn't disciplined, and that I could never be a "gym person". I remember saying to myself that I was going to commit to working out for 1 year and see the progress I could make - pretty ambitious. I started writing workouts I wanted to do, taking inspiration from people online, and educating myself on WHY I was doing each exercise. From there, I switched my major to kinesiology and was soon learning a lot about sports performance training and how I could be training smarter and more efficiently. I had the opportunity to learn from the coaches at Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning during their internship program and saw the differences the coaches made in the athletes' lives firsthand. My varsity high school teams never scheduled time in the weight room, and looking back I think that was a huge missed opportunity to keep us healthy. I've watched so many friends have serious injuries and I want to help young athletes with strength training so they are strong enough to prevent injuries during competition.
To me, performance training is so much more than being faster and stronger. It's learning how to safely and properly strength train and stay healthy during and after their sport ends. It's teaching athletes and adults that they can be consistent and make progress if they show up for themselves and that working with a coach can give them the tools to reach their goals. It's being able to move through life and enjoy each moment because you are healthy and feel great. It's learning how to push yourself when you don't think you can do another rep. I want to teach as many people as possible to learn to love moving their bodies and that exercise is for everyone. As a coach, I hope to instill confidence and consistency in each person I work with to help them reach each of their goals.
