Strength and Conditioning Staff Brings Energy Amidst Pandemic

By: Justin Lafleur, Lehigh Sports Communications

Lehigh head strength and conditioning coach Eric Markovcy is like a well-oiled machine. His nonstop energy is obvious and infectious.

Over the past several months, that energy hasn't been on display in the same way, but rest assured, not even a pandemic could slow him down.

How Markovcy has coached the last few months is different than "normal" (and won't be the same this fall). But he's adapted to – and made the most of – the challenging times the COVID-19 pandemic has brought.

"I always say adversity brings evolution," said Markovcy. "If things are easy, you're not going to develop. That applies to physical training; you put stress on the body so it learns how to adapt and grow.

"We've certainly had physical and mental stress with the pandemic."

Despite the stress, Markovcy has remained positive throughout – even when everything shut down in March.
Eric Markovcy

"In my head, I thought we were going to come back halfway through the summer with our fall teams and start training," he said. "That motivated me. But then, that got pulled away and I focused on getting ready for the start of classes. Then, focus turned to the winter and spring.

"Maybe the optimism was to a fault, but it also dangled the carrot in front of my face, which kept me motivated."

With Markovcy motivated, he focused on helping the student-athletes do the same.

It was a success on both fronts.

"I believe a huge help was [strength and conditioning's] strong relationships with our teams," said Markovcy. "We know what makes them tick. For example, we don't train a certain team the same way as the previous year. Everything is so specific, not just to the sport, but also to that specific team and the people on the team."

One of Markovcy's first messages last spring was simple… no excuses.

"The pandemic opened a door for an excuse," he said. "But it's important you don't even give an inch for that to happen."

The biggest reason for an excuse was limited or no access to gyms or equipment for student-athletes who reside all over the country, especially with many areas in the middle of stay-at-home orders in March, April and May.

To combat those challenges, Markovcy sent several videos detailing home workouts with no need for any equipment.

"My message was you can get it done and you're going to see benefit from it," he said. "Some of the workouts looked hokey until you did it, but then you were exhausted after because it really made you work. It gave us a lot of clout with our athletes, who realized they could get better without equipment."
Dom Carlineo

No one expected to be in this situation – in the midst of the largest public health crisis in a century – but a positive growth mindset allows for continued development no matter the circumstances. In fact, while spring sport seasons abruptly ended in March, Markovcy's "season" was just beginning.

"The offseason is my in-season," he said. "People often ask my favorite team to train."

"My answer is teams in the offseason."

Markovcy identified two aspects of strength and conditioning – development (primarily in the offseason) and performance (primarily in-season).

"The development component is fun," he said. "And the way I looked at it in March was that in some ways, I was almost handed this gift of having weeks and months to develop."

Because of Markovcy's mindset and approach which was previously instilled on the student-athletes, they were set up for success (as much as anyone could be, given the circumstances).

"I say all the time that strength and conditioning is low on the totem pole. Development of the person is of number one importance, first and foremost," Markovcy said. "I believe our athletes were more prepared than the general population for the pandemic and we were more prepared for these alternative take-home workouts because of the months and years of preparation that we've put these athletes through.

"It's never been about increasing your squat," he continued. "Rather, let's develop the human being so he/she can crush all aspects of life. A byproduct of that is his/her squat increases, strength increases and explosion increases. It was easily transferrable into this situation, just like it's easily transferrable into the next stage of life."

How have the student-athletes stay motivated, despite being physically distanced from each other?

By feeding into their drive to compete.

"If you can turn anything into a competition, you're going to be more engaged, more motivated and you're going to have more enjoyment," said Markovcy. "In this day and age, you can link people through technology a lot easier. We were able to compete remotely, which was extremely beneficial."
Strength Crew

Markovcy and his three assistant strength and conditioning coaches – Owen Breininger, Dominic Carlineo and Dylan Baxter – worked with the teams and kept tabs on the student-athletes' progress over the days, weeks and months.

"The administration has also been absolutely phenomenal, particularly (Assistant Athletic Director) Doug Strange who oversees strength and conditioning," said Markovcy.

"For the student-athletes, seeing their numbers increasing is motivating in itself," Markovcy continued. "The athletes have submitted their numbers on a daily basis and seen their progression. Every Sunday, I've spent about four hours adjusting their numbers so they'd have a new target and new goal for the next week to chase and compete against."

Markovcy's program has always demanded a team effort from all constituents, which has continued through the pandemic.

"I leaned on Dom, Owen and Dylan a bunch," said Markovcy. "The best part about our program is that we're not only coworkers and colleagues, but we also have an awesome relationship. We make each other better, so if something doesn't work, we tell each other. We have very open lines of communication and we're continuing to evolve and develop."

Development is what it's all about. No matter the person, no matter the circumstance.

Markovcy hopes this fall will look a little closer to normalcy, but admits there are still many unknowns. He has been impressed by the work the student-athletes have put in, but enters the fall with no expectations, since it's totally new territory for everyone.

"It's unfair for us to assume that our athletes are going to come in at a certain level," he said. "I'm going to use my eyes. That can be a forgotten tool. Coaching is adjusting on the fly. I have a plan, but also have the plan to adjust that plan if needed. I believe I know where they're going to be, but I'm willing to instantly take a right turn or left turn if needed."

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Earlier this month, a number of people from across Lehigh Athletics came together to create socially distanced workout spaces in preparation for student-athletes' return to campus. "Everybody feels like we're getting something taken away from us, but I truly think this is an opportunity we need to embrace and take advantage of in a safe way." - Eric Markovcy, Head Strength and Conditioning Coach

A post shared by Lehigh Sports (@lehigh_sports) on Aug 20, 2020 at 10:52am PDT

Being adaptable is a powerful and important tool, which has certainly been on display over the last five months. It's served as a reminder of the value of collegiate athletics, which is developing the complete person.

"For a few years now, multiple areas have been trying to evolve and merge together – like strength and conditioning, leadership development and sports psychology," said Markovcy. "We've been trying to create a more holistic philosophy and training environment for our athletes.

"The situation we've been in has been like rocket fuel, putting us in a more vulnerable situation and forcing us to evolve."

That they did. Instead of coaching the student-athletes in the weight room, Markovcy coached them from afar. There was still support in place, but it forced the athletes to be independent at the same time.

"We can coach our kids to a fault," said Markovcy. "As soon as they do something wrong, we jump in and help.

"Thinking independently is a huge tool in development as a player and person. They had to figure it out for themselves, which is going to pay huge dividends in the next competition they play, the next weight room session they have and the next real-world experience they encounter."

In the process, Lehigh Athletics' five pillars (self-awareness, integrity, competitiveness, team first and toughness) were injected in a big way.

"I don't wish this situation to ever happen again and I wish we were out of it, but there are going to be some beneficial takeaways," said Markovcy.

"We will be better because of this in so many ways."

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Strength and Conditioning Staff Brings Energy Amidst Pandemic

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