(Boone, North Carolina) Atlantic native Derek Stork has been promoted to Assistant Director of Athletic Performance for football at Appalachian State University. Stork formerly served as the assistant strength and conditioning Coach.
Derek Stork was a four-sport athlete and 2012 Atlantic High School graduate. He was a member of a state football playoff team and a state medal winner in wrestling. After high school, he attended Iowa State University and later transferred to Luther College in Decorah to wrestle. “While at Luther, I fell in love with the weight room and appreciated what it did for me as an athlete,” said Stork.
Stork interned at the University of Iowa, worked at Auburn University, William Penn, and was hired in a full-time role at Luther, before following his mentor to Appalachian State University in a number 3 role, and now his new job. “We recently had some staff changes, and I am grateful to move up to the number two role as the assistant athletic performance coach for football, it’s a big step, and it’s exciting,” said Stork. “I’ve been fortunate to have been around a lot of great coaches, and men and women that have had a big impact on me.”
Stork’s experience has served him well. Players’ workouts are individualized and logged on a folder, something he brought along with him from a program he used as a strength coach for wrestling. “We typically program off of a three-week block,” said Stork. “The block varies from trying to put weight on certain players, sometimes strength, and of course leading up to football, the goal is to make these athletes as fast and powerful as possible. So each block has its own twist to it.”
“The most satisfying thing about my job is getting athletes to do things they never thought they could do,” said Stork when asked about the most satisfying part of his job. “We had an athlete trying for a couple of years to get to the ’40s at our vertical jump testing station. This past week he had his entire team around him cheering him on–and he did it. Or getting athletes past a point in their conditioning. That’s the fun part of my job.”
The Mountaineers open up at home on Thursday, September 2, against East Carolina. The game will be televised on ESPNU at 6:30 p.m. They travel to Miami of Florid in week 2 on Saturday, September 11 at 6:00 p.m. CST. That game will be televised on ESPN2 or ESPNU.
