Inside Cal Poly's Weight Room: Leadership & Legacy with Sara MacKenzie Ep 51
Update: 2025-09-22
Description
In this episode of the Athletic Performance Podcast, Coach Ryan Patrick sits down with Sara MacKenzie, Director of Strength & Conditioning at Cal Poly.
Sara shares her journey from a $0/hour intern at Arizona State to running a full department at Cal Poly, the challenges of coaching 500+ athletes solo, and how parenting reshaped her coaching philosophy.
We cover everything from building systems under resource constraints to balancing toughness and empathy in the weight room — and why durability, not numbers, is the ultimate metric of success.
📌 What You’ll Learn
- How Sara broke into strength & conditioning when few women had a seat at the table
- Why her Arizona State internship became the turning point in her career
- The systems she uses to manage programming for hundreds of athletes
- How COVID forced Cal Poly into a “wedding tent weight room”
- Balancing parenthood, leadership, and athlete development without burning out
- Why Sara chose legacy and community over chasing jobs across the country
🔗 Links & Resources
- Cal Poly Athletics
- Follow me: Ryan Patrick on IG
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