The foundation for college athletes' performance begins in the weight room, a place where lacrosse defender Lauren Martin is already impacting the next generation.
The Maryland native grew up surrounded by college athletes. Both of her parents competed for Washington and Lee, and her older sister played lacrosse at Robert Morris.
Martin, wanting to keep up with her siblings, decided to pursue lacrosse as well. Her high school lacrosse program placed high importance on its strength and conditioning curriculum, igniting Martin's passion for the field.
"I've always had really influential strength and conditioning coaches," Martin said. "They made me realize that the weight room is a place where it's okay to be strong, and it's encouraged to be strong, especially as a female."
Virginia Tech was the perfect place to grow in her expertise with weight training. Martin instantly felt at home with the campus, the family-oriented athletic community and the coaching staff.
Despite loving where she landed, her first year wasn't the easiest. The timing of the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with mental health struggles and injuries, all made for a difficult year. Martin received help from the sports psychology department to grow and learn from these challenges.
"I've been lucky enough to take hard times and learn something good from them," Martin said. "I've become a better person since my freshman year, in terms of being a better teammate and just loving myself more."
Although she's had limited playing time, Martin has significantly shaped the lacrosse program through her contributions in the strength and conditioning space. She consistently surpasses her personal bests in the weight room, setting the standard for her teammates.
Some of her favorite memories come from time spent training there, including the day she lifted 205 pounds during a hang clean, a personal best, in front of her clapping and screaming teammates.
"I could feel their energy and it was awesome just to know that people support me and love what I do," she smiled. "All my teammates have seen that I'm passionate about strength training, and because of my passion, some of them have become passionate about it too."
Inspired teammates started sharing their excitement with Martin over their own personal bests. During conditioning benchmarks, she's helped her struggling teammates by providing encouragement as she runs with them.
Tech's strength and conditioning coaches took note of her leadership. Over winter break of Martin's junior year, Seth Diters, director of strength and conditioning for Olympic sports, asked if she'd be interested in coaching. Martin agreed to try it out, beginning an internship with Virginia Tech strength and conditioning that summer.
She loved her time as a coach and decided to make it her career.
"I learned so much from that experience," Martin said. "I love working with college athletes, more than other age groups, because you're working with players that truly want to be there and keep getting better. I'm pretty much the same age as them, and it's been so cool to see them trust me."
Martin interned with Duke's sports performance department the following summer and earned her level 1 certification with USA Weightlifting. With just a few months remaining in her final semester, she's already lined up a coaching assistant position with Kentucky Olympic strength and conditioning.
Because of Martin, the culture in Tech's weight room has improved significantly, according to strength and conditioning staff members.
"Girls have mentioned to me that I've helped them so much," Martin said. "I'm looking forward to leaving a legacy that's not from playing on the field. Because you don't have to play to make a difference."
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