Notre Dame Academy’s very own strength and conditioning coach and health, physical education and kinesiology teacher, Mr. A.J. Giovanetti, just added another title to his name: State Director of the National High School Strength Coaches Association (NHSSCA).

Giovanetti graduated from NDA and received his college education at Concordia University in Wisconsin. He is now a teacher and strength coach for many students and student-athletes at NDA. And he is extremely passionate about his job.

His goal, as a teacher, is to teach his students skills that they can use to maintain lifelong health as well as develop academic and “real world” skills that they can use both in college and in their future careers.

As a coach, he hopes to show his athletes how to maximize their athletic potential and God-given abilities and help athletes realize that this process can be applied to other facets of their life, such as academics and their potential career.

Giovanetti stated, “Each day, I strive to motivate my students and student-athletes to be the best that they can be and to provide them with an environment and the resources to do so.”

In fact, he has been very successful in motivating his students and student-athletes to reach their full potential.

Anne Fife, now a freshman at Michigan Tech, said, “He always pushed me to go one step further in each lift, sprint or activity. He would see what I thought I could do, and then he would push me further than that. He helped me see that I am capable of much more than I think I am, and that has helped me motivate myself to train harder and stronger each time I step on the field or weight room.”

Junior Jack Allen said, “He is a great coach to have around. He helps me become stronger and more conditioned all while building character. He really cares about each person’s development, not only as an athlete but also as a person.”

Being selected as the State Director of the National High School Strength Coaches Association is a major honor for him. The job entails many different responsibilities and expectations.

His role includes the following: collecting data on the state of high school strength and conditioning in Wisconsin, promoting the benefits of having a strength and conditioning program to high school administrators around Wisconsin, maintaining a database of Wisconsin strength and conditioning coaches, developing relationships with administrators, coaches, coaching associations, the WIAA and local sponsors, being a strength and conditioning resource, contributing at least one piece of educational material to the NHSSCA (article, blog post, podcast, etc) per year, maintaining the NHSSCA Wisconsin twitter account, setting up the NHSSCA state coaches clinic for Wisconsin, and contributing to the NHSSCA regional conferences.

The state director is a three-year term with the option of an additional three years.