Kelsey Ackerman | Sports Co-Editor
Lane Gries began his duties as Buena Vista University’s (BVU) Head Strength and Conditioning Coach in October of 2012.
Gries brought several impressive experiences with him to BVU. First came as an intern at the University of Iowa in the Olympic Sports Strength and Conditioning department. He then went on to be a graduate assistant at Baylor University where he worked with several of their athletic teams.
Gries also brings a unique perspective to BVU, having been deployed multiple times to Iraq as a Rifleman in the United States Marine Corps.
Upon leaving BVU, Gries will take a job as an armed Nuclear Security member at the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Generating Station in Fort Calhoun, NE. He will also pursue his own personal business in firearm and defensive training.
There are several things that Gries will miss when it comes to his job at BVU.
“BVU was a good place that let me ply my trade in pretty much any way I saw fit. I had good coach and athlete relationships that gave me a large degree of command, control, and personal freedom to train and make adjustments to team training and to interact with student athletes on a daily basis,” Gries said.
One thing Gries is known by the BVU student athletes for is caring about all the sports team in equal amounts.
“What I will miss most about Coach Gries is how accepting of the lesser known sports he was. Being on the tennis team, we are a lot smaller than the other teams on campus but I never felt we were treated different or paid less attention to by him,” junior tennis player Chris Habermann said.
Many student athletes admire Gries for the ethics and morals he puts into his workouts, and some even see these applying to their future line of work.
“He really holds each athlete accountable for themselves. For example, you have to start and finish every rep before and through the line. The work ethic that he creates in his workouts is something I will take with me. Being a student of Exercise Science, I have admired and hope to implement some of these strategies that I have become familiar with over the past three years,” senior football player Kyle Arnold said.
While Gries does demand a certain standard of hard work in each workout, he also knows how to have fun with the student athletes who see him on a daily basis, and this will be missed by several athletes.
“I will miss hearing the countless nicknames he has for me being yelled across the weight room when he knows I should be adding weight to the bar or when I need to drive my knees up when sprinting,” junior softball player Haley Stevens said.
Gries works not only with the sports teams in season, but even more with the teams out of season, developing and strengthening their skills.
“I think a big part of our success can be attributed to Coach Gries. You look at our players compared to last year; we’re all noticeably stronger and quicker. He really knows how to change his workouts from sport to sport so the athletes benefit as much as possible,” junior volleyball player Maddie Bardole said.
While BVU may make up a small portion of Gries’ professional career, he will take a lot from the time that he did spend as the Strength and Conditioning coach.
“I have gotten better at my approach to leading, planning, and addressing problems and solutions in everything I encounter. I hope the BVU athletes take from me that life is a process, and that physical preparation is a weapon to be trained and used,” Gries said.
Athletes who have seen Gries on a daily basis over the past three years, will struggle with a transition to having someone new fill that position. One of those athletes is senior basketball player, Rebecca Pennington.
“I think I speak for every student athlete when I say, we will miss Coach Gries, but we wish him nothing but the best of luck and happiness in his future,” Pennington said.
Photo by Taylor Staab
