New faces in the halls of Windsor High School always draw quite a bit of attention. And in the case of new strength and conditioning coach, Ty Van Valkenburg, a generous amount of muscle as well.

“This is my seventh year coaching and my fourth year teaching. I previously taught at St. Mary’s High School, Lake Forest College, Lindenwood University, St. Louis University and now Windsor. I’ve heard a lot about how great the students are,” Van Valkenburg said.

Van Valkenburg became a coach because he depended on himself for training throughout college and he wanted to help others with their workouts.

“I didn’t have a strength and conditioning coach in college, so I would make my own workout programs. I wished I had a coach teaching me the proper way to lift and program for the best results. Now I can be that person, not just for myself, but for my athletes,” he said.

Van Valkenburg is now helping his old St. Mary’s football coach, Alex DeMatteis, with getting the football players in good shape for the season.

“I have full confidence that he is well qualified to make sure that they’re bigger, faster and stronger, through and through. I think we’re going to start seeing differences as soon as this season and our strength throughout the course of our season that we worked so hard to gather over the summer. He has a tremendous attitude towards strength and conditioning as a former football player, so I feel very good having my players in his hand,” DeMatteis aid.

Van Valkenburg enjoys watching his students transition into being strong minded.

“I love being a part of the process an athlete works through during their high school years of training–from being hesitant and vulnerable, to confident and strong. And, then watching them use their confidence and strength to master their sport, their studies, and ultimately, their life,”  Van Valkenburg said.

The new strength and conditioning coach has been working with athletes before, during and after school. Several athletic programs use him throughout the day. Van Valkenburg has many athletes training to gain “Elite Owl” status, which is a way to motivate athletes to improve in a variety of lifts and exercises.

Van Valkenburg said, “I can’t wait to build a culture of awesomeness here at Windsor through strength and conditioning. ”