SPORTS HAVE ALWAYS BEENA PART OF SECOND BAPTIST SCHOOL'S STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING COACH NICK MASCIOLI'S LIFE.
Mascioli's father played college basketball, which helped lead him to the court ,but also to the soccer field and baseball diamond in high school. Growing up in thePhiladelphia area, Mascioli decided to stay close to home going on to play college baseball at Westchester University, 30 minutes west of Philadelphia, where he was a part of a national championship-winning team.
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Along the way, Mascioli experienced a few injuries, which ended up spurring his interest in strength and conditioning and injury prevention."I had a contact injury in high school playing soccer. I rehabbed my knee, had a really good experience, and ended up being faster and stronger than ever coming off the injury," Mascioli said. "I reaggravated it in college my freshman year. At that time, I wondered if somebody who was training me in college knew what they were doing. Could this have been avoided? That spurred me on to pursue exercise science. "While at Westchester University, Mascioli interned at a semi-private baseball facility during his senior year.
After graduation, Mascioli went to massage therapy school and received his soft tissues license before going to Indianapolis to intern at Indianapolis Fitness and Sports Training from September to December in 2015. Next stop – the Pittsburgh Pirates organization as a minor league strength and conditioning coach.
"That was such a great experience. It gave me a different feel of what strength and conditioning looked like," Mascioli said. "Bigger setting, larger scale, obviously professional athletes. More of a collegiate setting rather than a semi-private or private sector."
After spending three and a half years with the Pirates, the work hours and travel started to take its toll. Mascioli went back to school to get his Masters. Attending East Stroudsburg University, Mascioli served as a graduate assistant. He worked with baseball, football, field hockey and tennis athletes.
While there, Mascioli was connected with Second Baptist School's Head of School Dr. Don Davis and Director of Athletics Mike Walker, who were in search of a strength and conditioning coach. After a few meetings, Mascioli said the fit was right, bringing him to Houston.
"What makes this school so cool and special is, from an athletics standpoint, we have a group of coaches that love what they do," Mascioli said. "Every coach, from cross country to football, baseball, basketball— we have a lot of experienced coaches and some who have coached at the collegiate and professional level. They know what they are doing, so they really take the time to coach these kids up. We have an incredible athletic director and staff who want to make us successful a tour jobs ... There are a lot of resources here and the people are amazing."
Over the years, Mascioli's perspective of what it means to be a "strength coach" has changed. Early on it was about the science and exercise. Over time it has become more about the people." Creating good people, turning young boys into men, and young girls into women are just as much of my job description if not more, than creating a program to make athletes perform better," he said.
"That's where my job at Second Baptist School truly fulfills my passion asa strength and conditioning coach. Our mission here is to help cultivate young men and women who love the Lord and to impact the world around them with Jesus being the focus. I get to instill that message and culture into my athletes every day. Although I have had opportunities to train in previous settings, Second Baptist has created this platform better than any other place I have been, and that is what drew me to this school. I am truly blessed to be here."