The CP baseball community was hard at work at the high school, college and professional levels this past weekend.  Here’s a quick look at some of the more interesting highlights:

Cory Gearrin (Braves) earned a win with a strong inning of relief and some fortunate timing.  After throwing a scoreless 8th inning with Atlanta down 1-0 to the Dodgers, Cory watched his offense score 3 runs in the bottom of the inning and put him in the position to earn his first win of the season.  Box Score

Tim Collins (Royals) struck out a pair of batters in a scoreless inning of relief against the Athletics.  Tim has now recorded 15 strikeouts in 14 innings of work in 2013.  Box Score

Nick McBride (Rangers AAA) was promoted from the high-A Myrtle Beach Pelicans to the Rangers triple-A affiliate, the Round Rock Express.  Nick has yet to have his first appearance since joining the Pacific Coast League.  Nick’s Bio 

Ryan Leach (Franklin Pierce) pitched 6 innings of 1-run relief to help lead the Franklin Pierce Ravens to a 5-1 victory over Wilmington University and earn a trip to the NCAA Division-II College World Series.  Recap

Mark Stefaniak (Worcester Academy) struck out an impressive 15 Phillips Exeter batters in a win on Saturday.  Mark will head to Tufts University to pitch in the fall.  Recap

Not surprisingly, this week’s CP week-in-review is fairly baseball-heavy.  However, I did manage to sneak a few other interesting tidbits.  So, we’ll kick things off with some non-baseball content…here we go!

New Hire:  CP is on the lookout for a new Office Manager.  Shelly will be relocating to VT after her wedding next month, so we’re in need of a new face to greet clients every day.  Let us know if you’ve got a good candidate in mind!  Job Description

Intern Spotlight:  This week’s featured intern is Luke Serwinski.  As you’ll see, Luke is a quirky dude.  For those wondering, the name of the metal band mentioned in this piece was Harriet Tubman had a alb Skull.  Intern Spotlight

Twitter:  CP took a jump in the twitter game, officially breaking 5,000 followers this week.  Just 39,191,237 more and we’ll eclipse Justin Bieber on the most-followed list.  World domination is coming.

On to the baseball news and notes…

Corey Kluber (Indians) earned his third win of the season, going 6 strong innings in Philadelphia on Wednesday.  With the game taking place in a NL park, he also got a shot at swinging the bat.  He finished 0-2 with a BB and a run scored.  Box

Tim Cooney (Cardinals AA) earned a call-up to AA Springfield on Monday and earned a win in his first start following the promotion.  Tim allowed just 3ER in 5IP against Tulsa, striking out 7.  Box Score

Logan Carman (Southern Maine) tied a school record by earning his 11th win of the season in a 3-hit shutout of Daniel Webster College in the opening game of the NCAA New England Regional Tournament earlier this week.  Recap

Eric Stout (Butler) was dominant in a 2-hit shutout against Xavier in a must-win game on Thursday.  Eric retired 22 consecutive batters at one point during the contest and earned his team a birth in the conference tournament.  Recap

Name:                Luke Serwinski

Internship:          2013 Semester 1

Hometown:         Norwich, CT

How Luke found his way to CP

As a student in the University of Connecticut Kinesiology program, and an avid reader of Eric’s material, Luke has had our internship program on his radar for a while.  Coming into this experience, he was most eager to learn more about the CP business and training model, along with the logistics involved in our day-to-day operations.

Some Quick Facts about Luke

-       Prior to his time at U-Conn, Luke attended culinary school and was employed in food services

-       He played drums in a metal band during his high-school and college days

-       Has an alter-ego (Big-T) who roams the training floor at CP dispensing poor nutrition advice to fellow staff members

Example:  He recently asked Greg to list his groceries and promptly explained that he had not heard of most of the vegetables on the list and encouraged him to consider adding more corn syrup to his diet

Most valuable learning experience since joining CP:

Luke:  I’ve come to learn that, in many ways, our actions and habits outside of the gym have a greater impact on how we look and feel than those that we take inside of it.  More specifically, I now appreciate the value of something as simple as focusing on my posture during my long commute to CP each morning and how it will positively effect my training that day.

This mentality has helped me become a better coach because I now focus on discussing positive lifestyle habits with clients in addition to simply coaching the finer points of a program.

Most memorable CP moment:

Luke:  My most memorable moment at CP came on a day when snow caused a 100% cancellation rate for what would typically be a busy February Friday at the gym.  Instead of staying home and getting snowed in, I chose to drive up to CP in case there was a need for coaching if a handful of athletes chose to brave the elements.  Once the Governor of Massachusetts declared a driving ban, I had a long afternoon of hanging around an empty gym with a few interns and staff members ahead of me.

To fill the time, a fellow intern recorded video of “Big-T” taking Greg Robins through a formal initial assessment.  I was especially proud to have completed the entire assessment without breaking character or becoming phased by the fact that Greg refused to remove his weight belt during any part of the process, including the period where he completed his health-history paperwork.

Song are you excited to never ever listen to again once you leave CP:

Luke:  I will be very pleased if I never hear a single song by the band Linkin Park ever again.  Ever.

Have a look at some of the biggest and best #cpfamily highlights accumulated over the past 72 hours!

MLB Updates

Chad Jenkins (Blue Jays) earned a win in his first start of 2013 on Sunday afternoon at Fenway Park.  Working on a tight pitch count, Chad went 5 innings, striking out 2 and allowing just 2 runs.  Box Score

TJ McFarland (Orioles) threw 2.2 innings of scoreless relief on Friday night against the Twins.  TJ now has a solid 2.76ERA in his rookie MLB season.  Box Score

Tim Collins (Royals) worked 1.2 innings of scoreless relief against the visiting Yankees on Sunday.  Tim struck out 2 and allowed a single hit.  Box Score

Steve Cishek (Marlins) earned a save in a 5-4 win over the Dodgers on Friday.  Steve struck out 2 and did not allow a hit in the inning.  Box Score

Cory Gearrin (Braves) threw another inning of scoreless relief on Friday night, followed by .2 inning of scoreless work on Saturday, lowering his ERA to a 1.13 on the season.  Cory’s Bio

Burke Badenhop (Brewers) threw 2 innings of 1-hit relief with 4 strikeouts in a win against the Reds on Saturday.  Box Score

NCAA Updates

Tyler Beede (Vanderbilt) extended his national-best win streak to start the season to 13-0 with a win over the Kentucky Wildcats.  The Commodores are now the #1 team in the country.  Box Score

Jake Cintolo (Suffolk U) was selected to the Capital One Academic All-District Team.  Jake is hitting .400 on the season and is currently in the Top-25 nationally in both the runs scored and doubles offensive categories.  Story

High School Baseball Update

LS Baseball –  The Boston Globe featured the quirky pre-game routines for Sid Warrenbrand (known as Eduardo Grande at CP) and Alex Wieland.  These two qualify as the most quirky high school clients to walk through our doors on a daily basis, so there is nothing surprising about hearing they carry the same habits on to the baseball fields.  This is definitely a well-researched story seeing as how they took the time to interview Matt Blake for this piece… Article

Cressey Performance is a strength & conditioning facility with an emphasis on individualized program design based on each athlete’s background.  We have worked with more than 2,500 different clients dating back to 2007.  Each day, we supervise the training sessions for as many as 150 athletes.

In order to support the company through its significant growth and to enhance and nurture the company reputation, we are seeking for a talented, extroverted Office Manager to join our successful team.

Overview

The Office Manager will manage scheduling/reception of arriving clients and interact with all staff members regarding customer service responsibilities and business development initiatives.

Key areas of responsibility

• Greet all clients upon arrival and make note of attendance
• Schedule future training sessions at conclusion of each visit
• Field phone calls and direct toward appropriate parties when necessary
• Process payments and communicate costs associated with products/services
• Maintain accurate records of payments received and client paperwork
• Manage company email accounts

Qualifications

• Strong sense of customer service
• Good organizational skills
• Proficient with Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint
• Passion for fitness and an interest in baseball are valuable
• Experience writing HTML, managing WordPress, and web-design work are a big plus, but not required
• College degree not required

Term of Employment

Permanent:  Full-Time Position

How to apply

Please send us a cover letter explaining why you are a good candidate for this position along with a copy of your resume and two professional references.

All materials can be emailed to –  cresseyperformancejobs@gmail.com

Another week draws to a close at CP with more and more college ballplayers returning each day.  We’ve got a really fun summer ahead of us.  Here’s a recap of the past few days for the CP community:

File this under the category of “never going to happen again” – on Sunday in Pawtucket, the Durham Bulls tossed a 4-pitcher combined no-hitter against the PawSox.  The game ended when a CP pitcher struck out a CP batter while throwing to a CP catcher. (Belliveau – Albernaz – Hazelbaker) Recap

Will Inman (Rays AAA) has put together three consecutive scoreless relief appearances, featuring 8IP, 5K, and 1BB.  Bio

Jimmy Gilheeney (Mariners AAA) has made the most of his recent call-up to Triple-A Tacoma, going 2-0 with 14 strikeouts in just 12.2 innings.  Story

Trevor Graham (Franklin Pierce) received the award for Northeast-10 Pitcher of the Year after posting an 8-1 regular season record with an 8-1 record.  Other CP athletes in the NE-10 receiving honors included Jon Massad (SNHU) and Jeff Croteau (Bentley) who each received 2^nd Team All-League honors.  Story

Intern Spotlight – The first installment of our new weekly CP Intern Spotlight feature was published on Wednesday featuring current intern Brett Kokoruda.  Blog

Ryan Pocock (Westford Academy) was 3-3 at the plate with 3 RBI in a come-from-behind win against Bedford HS on Tuesday.  Recap

Name:                Brett Kokoruda

Internship:          2013 Semester 1

Hometown:         Milton, MA

How Brett found his way to CP

Brett is currently interning at Cressey Performance as he begins the process of a career-change.  Before making the decision to pursue a career in strength & conditioning, he made his living teaching English and Creative-Writing.

Fortunately for Brett, what set his application apart from an extremely competitive applicant pool was his well written application essay.  While most of our applicants hold the academic/coaching experience we look for in an intern, it isn’t always easy to find one who can effectively answer the “why CP” question in a written format.

Some Quick Facts about Brett

-       Brett and his fiancé Jen have a 1-year old daughter named Lucy

-       His mother is a Connecticut State Representative: Noreen Kokoruda

-       He holds a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University

Most valuable learning experience since joining CP:

Brett:  I arrived at CP simply hoping to become a better coach.  At the beginning of this internship I was of the mentality that my goal upon completion of the program was to work with high-level athletes, but I soon came to realize just how much I have yet to learn.

Working with the CP staff has opened my eyes to a new perspective on this field that I didn’t even realize existed.  As a result, I have reevaluated my short-term goals following this experience to focus on helping the general population to improve their fitness and health.  Once I have fine-tuned my abilities in assessment and program design, I can start concerning myself with helping athletes on an elite level.

Most memorable CP moment:

Brett:  During my second day at CP, I had a 45-minute conversation with a client covering topics ranging from suggested pizza shops, to the finer points of maintaining a long-distance relationship.  Later that afternoon, I realized that the client I had been chatting with was named Tim, and he plays for the Kansas City Royals.

This proved to be a great example of the complete lack of arrogance I have found to exist within the #cpfamily of professional athletes.  The guys here pride themselves on maintaining an environment with “attitude”, but I’m not sure people realize just how much that “attitude” is one that cultivates unparalleled levels of camaraderie.

Song are you excited to never ever listen to again once you leave CP:

Brett:  Anything on Greg’s training playlist.  I’m just not a huge fan of screaming.

Today’s weekend round-up features multiple school records, no-hitters, impressive awards, and the usual collection of solid pitching performances.  Have a look!

Tyler Beede (Vanderbilt) set a new school record by starting his season with 12 consecutive wins in as many appearances by beating the South Carolina Gamecocks on Saturday afternoon in a game featured on ESPN3.  For the second time this season, Ty carried a no-hitter in to the seventh inning.  The Commodores are now the #1 team in the country.  Game Recap

Kevin Brown (Bryant U.) was rewarded for an exceptional senior campaign when he received the award for Bryant University Male Athlete of the Year.  Kevin is now the record-holder in every major offensive category at Bryant.  He came in to the weekend batting .401 with a national-best on-base percentage of .533.  Earlier in the 2013 season, Kevin put together a string of 16 consecutive plate appearances in which he reached base.  Full awards ceremony Recap

Burke Badenhop (Brewers) struck out the side in his only appearance of the weekend.   Saturday’s game marked Burke’s third consecutive scoreless relief appearance.  Check out the Box Score

Steve Cishek (Marlins) struck out a pair and closed a 2-0 shutout of the Phillies to earn his 4^th save of the season on Saturday.  Watch Steve close it out here

Ryan Flaherty (Orioles) drove in a pair of key runs with a clutch single in the 8^th inning of an 8-4 Baltimore win in Anaheim, helping the Orioles move to 19-13 on the season.  Box Score

Craig Albernaz (Durham Bulls) caught the entirety of a 4-man combined no-hitter in Pawtucket on Sunday.  Some of the CP-related highlights included Craig throwing out long-time CP client Jeremy Hazelbaker in a steal attempt, and the game ending when Jeff Beliveau struck out Hazelbaker with a pitch to Albernaz.  Recap

John Andreoli (Daytona Cubs) went 3-4 with a pair of triples, an RBI and 3 runs scored in a 11-5 win over Lakeland on Saturday.  John is now batting .340 on the season.  Box Score

While the spring time is technically “quiet” here at CP, there doesn’t appear to be a shortage of entertainment making its way on to the internet via CP blogs/Facebook/Twitter.  Here’s a quick look at some of the stories, news and antics we’ve seen this week here in Hudson:

Continuing Education:  Chris Howard and Greg Robins attended a course hosted by the folks at the Postural Restoration Institute this past weekend.  In summary, Chris and Greg are now “good at breathing”, and on a mission to make sure our staff and clients are as well.

Applied Concepts:  following the PRI event, Greg took some time to prepare a guest post for EC’s blog, featuring five great tips for postural awareness.  Read It!

More Learning:  As I type this, Eric is a featured speaker at the Fitness Summit in Kansas City.  While he should probably come home excited to teach about all the great things he learned from other presenters, he’s more likely to spend a week or two gloating about the foul ball he caught at the Royals game…

Most Popular QOTD:  Matt Blake once again secured the most “likes” on Facebook when he earned Quote of the Day status by exclaiming: “Not sure if you noticed, but I’m up 9lbs in the past 5-weeks to 191 first thing this morning. I’m basically a scoop of creatine away from 195.”

He also stole EC’s parking spot…

Men’s Health Contribution:  Tony contributed a quick blurb to the May edition of Men’s Health Magazine.  Check out the piece on page 112 featuring “The Most Dangerous Fitness Advice” where Tony gives us all a solid alternative to crunches!

#cpfamily Live on TV:  I’d like to encourage all CP friends/family to tune in to tomorrow’s Vanderbilt – South Carolina baseball game on ESPN3 at 11am.  Tyler Beede will be looking to set a new school record for most wins to start a season, and become the only D1 pitcher in the country with 12 wins.  Good luck, Ty!

Another good weekend of baseball is in the books and the CP community didn’t fail to make big contributions to their teams. Here’s a look at some notable performances:

Corey Kluber (Indians) improved his record to 2-0 in 2013 with an impressive start on Sunday night.  Corey held the Royals to just 2 runs in 7 solid innings, striking out 6.  Box Score

Steve Cishek (Marlins) earned his 3rd save of the season in a 6-4 win over the visiting Cubs.  Box Score

Tyler Beede (Vanderbilt) won his 11th consecutive start to begin the 2013 season, tying David Price’s school record.  Ty allowed 2 runs in 6 innings of work, striking out 7 Mississippi State batters.  Box Score

Mike Yastrzemski (Vanderbilt) helped lead the Commodores at the plate, going 5 for 13 with 4RBI in the weekend series.  Mike took a moment to speak with the media following the 3-1 win on Friday night.  Video

Ryan Reid (Pirates AAA) earned a win and lowered his ERA to a 0.60 through 15+ innings of work in 2013.  Ryan allowed 1 hit and no runs in 3 strong innings in a 5-2 win over the Gwinnett Braves.  He is now 4-0 on the season in relief.  Bio