Today we’d like to introduce you to Kenny Watt.
Kenny, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I became interested in Human Sports Performance in college as an Exercise Science major. Like many athletes, I never gave my career much thought until my senior year when I suffered from a Lisfranc Fracture in my right foot that ended my season. The injury required surgery and took six months to heal. During that time, I became obsessed with Anatomy, Physiology, and Biomechanics and continued to stay present around the team as a Strength and Conditioning Intern. In the summer of 2016, I graduated with a Bachelors degree in Exercise Science. I moved back home to South Carolina and contacted who is now my mentor and Owner of Velocity Sports Performance of Greenville Mike Johnson. He gave me my second internship position. Not only was my season ended, I still wasn’t cleared to participate in any CFL or Pro-day tryouts. I decided then that it was time to much finally hang up the cleats. Throughout my internship, I not only gained knowledge about Sports Performance and Speed Development, but I also went through it. I went from being injured to being the strongest and fastest I’d ever been throughout my entire football career. The process taught me the importance of training with a “WHY” – a question many people fail to ask. Why am I training? And Why this way?
In August 2016, I was hired full-time at Velocity and had the opportunity to work with some great athletes from youth to the pros. For the next two years, I continued to learn as much as possible to perfect my craft. The goal was to learn everything about something and something about everything. It was never about money but about my purpose and my passion. As hard as that was as a recent college graduate, I realized that seeing the difference I can make in someone’s life, an athlete’s performance, a senior citizen’s health, was the most fulfilling part. In addition to the performance training, I found time to coach the defensive backs at my old high school. This allowed me to see both sides of training and how I could make what I did translate onto the field. It wasn’t until last summer that I realized I wanted to try something different and decided to pursue my career on the collegiate level. Georgia Tech gave me a position as a Strength and Conditioning Intern that brought me to Atlanta. Weeks later, I was told there was an issue with NCAA regulations for coaching on the high school level that would require me to be removed from coaching at least two years before returning to the college level. It was short lived, but I believe everything happens for a reason. Three weeks later, I made Stack Sports Performance my new home and haven’t looked back. Atlanta has been great to me over this last year and filled with so many opportunities to reach current and former athletes who need the extra push and a WHY.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Season ending injury eventually causing me to rethink my path and chances to go pro.
The recovery process of the injury.
Finding direction in life after college.
NCAA rule and regulations putting a stop to the plan I had in place to gain knowledge and grow at Georgia Tech.
Moving to Atlanta and having to start over what felt like from scratch.
Please tell us about Stack Sports Performance.
I’m the Sports Performance Coach. I specialize in Speed development and overall human performance. I don’t like to categorize myself because of my experience working with a variety of different athletes such as baseball teams, basketball academies, football/pro day athletes, professional sprinters, volleyball clubs and even swimmers. We are all about bringing the best out of our clients. From athletes to the general population, we do a great job of setting out to reach the individual’s goals. As a staff, we all offer something different and have our own unique style of training that really makes our gym one of a kind.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
My favorite childhood memory would have to be going to Furman University to watch the Falcons practice. I was a huge fan and all I wanted to see was Mike Vick and Warrick Dunn. It was my first time seeing pros in action and really influenced me in sports to reach the professional level.
Contact Info:
- Address: 1232 Collier Rd NW Atlanta, Georgia
- Website: Www.stackatl.com
- Email: coachwatt21@gmail.com
Image Credit:
Heri Mumma, Kayla Madonna, bossmanmedia
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