Football | 2/24/2016 4:02:00 PM

ITHACA, N.Y. — On a busy afternoon in the Giannotti weight room on the lower floor of the Athletics and Events Center on the Ithaca College campus, one person stands out as the leader who is helping student-athletes reach their strength and conditioning goals.

The Ithaca football team is participating in an offseason workout as the Bomber student-athletes are hustling from station to station. In the middle of the scene is Caitlin Finn, giving directions and offering motivation to the student-athletes.  

Finn serves as a graduate assistant strength coach and mentors student-athletes as part of the Ithaca College Leadership Academy. While Finn now feels at home in the weight room, her career was initially supposed to go in a different direction when she enrolled at Nazareth College in 2003.

 "I studied social work and psychology and worked in that field for a few years," remembers Finn, who at the same time began entering competitions as a powerlifter.

"When I started competing and coaching, I realized that I wanted to blend the two and that's why I was drawn to the graduate program at Ithaca. Coaching individuals like I did before is very different than coaching a team. I knew helping a team develop its culture in the weight room was going to take some time."

"Coach Cait," as she is called by most student-athletes on campus, came to Ithaca in the fall of 2014. She supports the staff of head strength and conditioning coach Vic Brown, working with the football, women's cross country, gymnastics, and track and field teams on South Hill.

"Cait has been a tremendous asset to our team," said Brown, who has been the head strength and conditioning coach at IC since 2014.

"Cait has shouldered major responsibilities in excellent fashion in helping lay the foundation for our strength and conditioning program from its onset.  She showed tremendous growth in her first year. She is completely dependable, has proven to be a quick learner, and has developed into a respected leader."

Transitioning to coaching in a college weight room presented Finn a challenge that she conquered with the help of the Leadership Academy.

Finn, who graduated from Nazareth with a degree in exercise and sport sciences (human performance) also possesses a background in psychology. She is a part of Dr. Greg Shelley's team during Leadership Academy sessions while benefiting from the program herself.

Student-athletes that missed the sessions because of academic commitments used to watch a taping of the Leadership Academy meetings.

Now, instead of relying on student-athletes to learn that session's lessons on tape, Finn has taken charge and leads makeup sessions that are more interactive and more beneficial to the student-athletes.

"The program that (Dr. Shelley) has created and implemented with (Director of Intercollegiate Athletics) Susan Bassett here at Ithaca College is just tremendous," said Finn, a 2007 graduate of Nazareth.  

"Not only do I get to work with Dr. Shelley within that program, but I am also lucky enough to sit down with him afterwards. He has been a huge mentor for me in leadership as a coach, as a person and even as an athlete."

While women are still underrepresented when it comes to working with men's collegiate teams, Finn never had a problem establishing herself as a leader in the weight room.

"Gender was not intimidating to me," Finn said. "You just don't know how any new team is going to respond to you."

Reflecting on her first months as a coach at Ithaca College, one particular moment stood out to Finn concerning her development as a coach. After a lifting session with one of her teams, she pulled one student-athlete aside and pointed out the positive atmosphere in the weight room, as well as the way the team respected her as a coach.

Finn vividly remembers the moment, which added to and aided her coaching philosophy. The student-athlete answered by saying, "we will always respect you because that's what we are taught to do, but now we trust you in here.

"To me, that was a lightbulb moment and a lesson that I can teach to other athletes and coaches - you can always be respectful but you need to build that trust," said Finn, now in her second year at Ithaca.

Finn's peers have taken notice.

"As a coach, it's important for her to make a connection and learn about the student-athlete and/or team to get a pulse on what makes each tick," Brown said. "Cait does a nice job of applying what she's learned and finding the right coachable moment to debrief the team or communicate with the student-athlete to get the most out of them."

Finn's impact has also been directly felt by the Bomber student-athletes, who immediately recognize the many ways Finn has helped them improve through their offseason workouts.

"We definitely would not be as strong without her," said Jordan Smith, a senior on the men's track and field team.

"Coach Cait told me to change up my form on hang cleans. After getting used to it over winter break, I am improving already. I trust her one hundred percent," added Devan Shambo, a junior on the football team, who credits Finn with helping him become more explosive.

Earlier this winter, Finn earned one of five prestigious assistantship positions from the National Strength and Conditioning Association.

Finn knows what a student-athlete needs to do to improve in their sport because of her own successes as an athlete. Her competitive powerlifting career started after her time at Nazareth, when she was searching for ways to stay in shape.

The former college track and field student-athlete quickly developed a passion for Olympic lifting and still trains up to five times a week despite her busy schedule.

In her first year at IC, Finn competed in the American Open and finished 12th in the country in her weight class.

The lessons Finn teaches to Ithaca's student-athletes have proven to be just as beneficial when it comes to her powerlifting career.

"I'm constantly practicing the Leadership Academy lessons myself in terms of consistency and character," said Finn, who will graduate with a master's degree in exercise and sports science this May.
"The energy that the Ithaca coaches and student-athletes bring draws you in right away. I may not have played sports here but I consider myself a Bomber." 

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