We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Corey Cooper a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Corey, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.
I would like to share a risk I took regarding how I got into my career choice. I was an All Big Ten athlete at the University of Nebraska, also a team captain and a NFL draft prospect. My professional career did not last as long as I would like, and my child was born as I decided to give up on pursuing my NFL dreams. I got a job as a Elementary school teacher and quickly realized I was not doing something I was passionate about. I then decided to start studying to become a certified personal trainer while teaching. As soon as I was certified, I quit my job and decided to pursue training full time. I started with no clients, no facility, no job in a actual gym setting, and no experience. I would utilize public parks, and sneak to train clients in planet fitness without actually working there. Due to my background as a athlete, my clientele list grew extremally fast which led to gyms reaching out to me to use their facility as a independent contractor. In less than 5 years, I was training dozens of division 1 and professional athletes. I have since became a Master Trainer through the ISSA with a reputation as one of the top trainers in the Chicagoland area.
Corey, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I got into the industry because it was a natural fit for me to be in a athletic competitive environment. I specialize in sports performance enhancement. My niche is agility training, I’ve developed a system to help athletes in power sports to limit deceleration in all athletic movements. I believe my experience as a high level athlete, combined with my discipline and desire to be near the top in anything I participate in sets me apart from other in my profession. I have six different certifications which led to me becoming a Master Trainer. I keep the same approach I had as a athlete and critique each session I give my clients. The exact same way I would critique my performance on the practice field everyday. My experience over the years has helped me write a Ebook on the Art of Change of direction.
Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?
I believe other than having the standard required knowledge you must also have the ability to relate and or demonstrate the information in a way every athlete can understand.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
I believe reinventing myself from an athlete to a sports performance trainer is something that displays my resilience. When you spend the majority of your life identified as an athlete, and it comes to a erupt end, that can become stressful and lead to depression. I’ve seen it happen to many of my peers and that story is not told enough. Imagine spending everyday of your life working to achieve a goal and failing in front of everyone. Thankfully sports has taught me many life lessons, I’ve failed in front of millions of people before and still bounced back to help my team win. I look at life no differently.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.coreycooper6.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coreycooper6/
- Facebook: Corey Cooper PT
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/corey-cooper-005477105/
- Twitter: BigCoop_6