Rams’ first strength and conditioning coach customizes
individual workouts
Gilroy – Brett Nichols doesn’t have much to say.
But when he talks, his words are heeded. After all, you just look at the guy and know he understands about strength and conditioning.
A former Gavilan and California-San Luis Obispo college football player, Nichols is the Rams’ first strength and conditioning coach. At 6-3, and tipping the scales at a well chiseled 270 pounds, Nichols looks like he could be playing professional football today.
“We’ve never had a strength and conditioning coach,” Gavilan director of athletics Ron Hannon said. “That’s one piece of the puzzle we needed to put in place. As we’re rebuilding our programs, we need to have this type of resource available to our student-athletes.”
Nichols grew up in King City. After two years as a defensive lineman at Gavilan, he moved to the offensive line at SLO, where he was a preseason All-American his senior year. He returned to King City after college to coach, and moved to Gilroy when head coach John Lango, the defensive coordinator at Gavilan during Nichols’ playing years, asked if he would be interested in helping.
“Strength and conditioning is crucial to compete at a level (Gavilan) wants to in the (Coast) conference,” said the soft-spoken Nichols, 26, a kinesiology major at SLO. “It takes a little time. The players have listened and are doing as I say.”
Lango likes the discipline that Nichols brings to the program. Because he is only a few years older than the players, they can relate to him. More importantly, they can see by looking at Nichols how strength and conditioning can make a difference.
“The proof is in the pudding,” said Lango. “The kids can tell he lifts, and see his gains. He demands a lot of the kids. He’s a quiet guy who will do whatever he has to do for them to get them where they need to be. You can see our team is in shape and is not tired toward the end of games.”
Nichols shuns any extra attention unless it comes from within the college community. He learned about the benefits of strength and conditioning under Chris Holder, who is now strength and conditioning coach at San Jose State.
“He’s going to be a big part of turning that program around,” Nichols said of Holder.
And Nichols is hoping he can do the same for Gavilan, which is off to an 0-3 start as it prepares to host Contra Costa College at Garcia-Elder Complex at 7pm Saturday. The Comets, who compete in the Bay Valley Conference, are 2-1.
“They’re big and physical,” Lango said of Contra Costa. “We’ll have to play well and a more uptempo game to be successful.”
With that in mind, Lango promises a more wide-open attack on offense and more aggressiveness on defense.
“We’ve picked up the tempo at practice,” Lango said. “We’re going to be a little more aggressive as coaches with the play calling and everything we do. If we’re going to go down, we’re going to go down swinging.”
Lango doesn’t have to worry about whether his players can withstand a more frenetic pace because he believes in what Nichols is doing to keep them fit.
“He makes it so I can concentrate on other things (other than conditioning),” Lango said. “The work he’s doing is helping the kids understand how important conditioning is.”
Nichols is also working with the volleyball team and will work with baseball, softball and basketball.
“Each sport gets its own specific workout, and each athlete gets a workout catered to each of them,” Nichols said. “It helps (athletes) avoid injuries. We need strength and a program to be able to compete with other schools.”
