Cambridge, Mass. (September 16) – As part of a series that will take part throughout the 2020 fall semester, the Department of Athletics, Physical Education and Recreation (DAPER) will be featuring a number of head coaches and DAPER staff members. The fifth installment of this series features Director of Sport Performance Rob Watts, who is entering his sixth year at MIT during the 2020-21 academic year!
As part of each feature, we have included a written question and answer session, along with a video interview where recruits, alumni, fans and others can learn more about the program and MIT. If you can't currently visit MIT, we will bring MIT to you!
Can you explain a little more about your position and how it fits into the student-athlete experience at MIT?
So my job is basically to oversee all aspects of the sports performance program and lead my staff in putting out a daily, and year round service that helps improve performance of our athletes on the field, on the court or in the water. So basically anything at all strength conditioning, sports performance related, you know, studying and looking up the most cutting edge research So that we're putting out the best product possible really every day. And really my role is to continue to help grow the program year to year and keep up with the demand that the athletes and the coaches place on us. So the athletes here really buy in to doing what it takes to improve. They've kind of already bought into that. So my job really is just make sure we're operating at the highest level possible and provide as many opportunities for them to train and improve as possible.
What led you to a career in sport performance?
So my background really, as an athlete, kind of led me down the field into sport performance. My first experience, really weight training. And in that weight room experience was going into my freshman year of high school. So I knew in high school that, you know, I had to be a little bit, get a little bit bigger, get a little bit stronger, get a little bit faster to be able to compete with the competition. So really just starting to do some of my own research, you know, on weight training and very basic stuff in my basement bench press, squat and just kind of learning that, learning the basics of that. And that really helped me as an athlete through high school and that kind of transitioned into college and my passion for it started to grow. And through college, I continued to play basketball and so continue to use that to help me as an athlete. But I really didn't know at that point, what I wanted to do as a career that was still just kind of a hobby. And ultimately it means to an end of making me a better athlete and helping me to play better. But I still wasn't sure what I wanted to do. So for my first two years of college, I went to a junior college and studied criminal justice. And then really during the process of where I was looking to transfer to another school, I started to look more into, you know, what do I really want to do? Criminal justice was interesting to me but it wasn't really, wasn't really a passion. And I knew it wasn't something I really wanted to do as a career. And none of the jobs were really all that appealing to me. So, you know, I kinda thought, what's something that I could do as a career. That's feels more like a hobby rather than a job. And so then I started to look into strength and conditioning. And sport performance and maybe being a strength coach. And then, you know, what kind of athletes would I wanna work with? And college athletes seem to appeal to me the most. And so I started to look at schools that offered an exercise science program. And then ultimately, I got recruited by Lasell college in Newton, Massachusetts and they had an exercise science program. So it kinda worked out. So I ended up going there and getting into the field even more and then got, you know, got the formal education on it. And at that point I really kinda knew what I wanted to do. So, once I got my degree, I worked at a velocity sport performance for a few years and then also interned at Harvard university and then got my job here at MIT. I've been here ever since, so for about six years now. So that's really, it's really how I got into the field and kinda led me up to this point.
Can you talk a little more about your personal coaching philosophy and how that influences your work with student-athletes at MIT?
Consistency and effort in everything that you do. And I try to demonstrate that in a day to day basis for my athletes, cause my thought process is I can demonstrate that in everything I do from programming to coaching and showing that consistency, then hopefully that that kind of wears off and demonstrates that to the athletes. And they're able to execute that, cause I really believe that consistency and effort is really the most important thing, not just in athletics but in life in general. If you put that consistent effort into everything you do, you're gonna find a way to accomplish what you want to accomplish. And then the second part is kind of the phrase, knowledge is power. So like effectively being able to communicate, not just the what but the why of everything that I teach. And that's extremely important, especially for the athletes here at MIT because that's as engineers, that's what they do on a day to day basis. To understand the why. And I think that understanding the why helps build motivation and can help you more effectively accomplish again, like your goals and what you're looking to accomplish.
What is the thing that stands out the most to you about MIT student-athletes?
The number one thing that I learned to understand about MIT athletes is that they love to understand the science behind what they're doing. So they completely buy into knowing the why of everything, which is awesome for me. Cause I love explaining the why. And that's really something as myself and as a staff we focus on doing is always teaching the science behind what we do.
How do you relax when you aren't providing sports performance programming for our 33 varsity sports?
So for relaxing, when I'm not providing programming, basketball, even though it may not seem like a relaxing thing, playing basketball for me is really the most relaxing thing I do. And it's relaxing and engaging at the same time. But when, you know, when I get on the court and it's just me, basketball and a hoop, kind of everything else leaves my mind doesn't matter. Any other stresses that I'm dealing with, whatever it may be. That's kinda my place to be. And that's my go to spot. Also golfing. I just started up golfing this summer really because all my basketball leagues were shut down. So I needed something competitive to kinda keep me going. And so golf kind of served for that, but I've really enjoyed that as a hobby as well. Aside from that, drinking a cup of coffee in the morning, first thing, when the sun comes up, watching sports, mainly the NBA, watching shows and reading books.
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