Trainers|Coaches
The USSTA Difference – our trainers and coaches!
* Our coaches are diversified giving us the ability to meet the needs of every athlete.
* Our coaches have played Olympic sports, professional sports, coached professional teams, and trained professional and Olympic athletes.
We have certified personal trainers that can design workouts that will enhance every athletes program. All of our trainers are committed to the success and safety of every athlete and continue to work towards continuing education to improve themselves as well as our athletes.
Derek Stingley
Before training at the USSTA, Derek Stingley spent the 2008 year coaching for the AF2 with the Bossier City-Shreveport Battlewings after a brief stint as Defensive Coordinator for the now defunct New Orleans Voodoo of the AFL.
Stingley was awarded the af2 Coach of the Year after he led the South Georgia Wildcats to a 12-4 regular season record and the South Division title, marking the second straight year that Stingley has led the Wildcats to 10 win seasons coupled with playoff berths. Stingley begins his fifth season as a coach in af2 and has a 37-25 (.597) overall record including the postseason as a head coach.
Prior to joining the Wildcats, Stingley began his career as defensive coordinator for the Macon Knights in 2005. Stingley was elevated to head coach of the Knights midway through the 2005 season, where he and Coach Randy Leindecker led them to an 8-8 record after the team started 2-6.
In 2006, the Knights finished 8-8 again, barely missing the playoffs. Stingley starred as a Defensive Specialist in the AFL for eight seasons and was a member of the 1999 Albany Firebird ArenaBowl Championship Season, earning All-AFL honors in the same season. Stingley ranks ninth All-Time in AFL in tackles (443.5) and fifth in passes defended (110). During that same year Stingley sign with the New York Jets. Stingley also played professional baseball in the Philadelphia Phillies organization for 3 years. Stingley coached locally ‘97-’99 at Capitol Middle, ‘00 Lee H.S, 01-05 Tara H.S.
Stingley is married to wife Natasha they have 4 children… Isis 18, Nahjha 18, Derek Jr.8 and Sanaa 5.If you have a setback don’t step back. Keep the faith…
Johnny Long
Long’s innovative and demanding conditioning regimen pushes the Vols to meet the lofty goals he sets to compete and succeed in the Southeastern Conference.
The former Olympic-caliber weightlifter began as a graduate assistant for the UT conditioning staff in 1994, and then advanced to the position of Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach two years later. He was named associate coach in 1999 before taking his current post.
He now holds the title of “Certified Collegiate Mentor” for strength and conditioning coaches across the country. In January 2004, Long served as strength coach for the Las Vegas All-American Classic all-star game.
Tennessee’s emphasis on a strong fitness program is epitomized in Long, whose background in weight training underpinned his belief in the link between conditioning and athletics success. He is credited by head coach Phillip Fulmer with making physical fitness a basic component of Volunteers football.
Long also has continued the Tennessee tradition of training young coaches to advance in his profession. Roderick Moore’s recent hiring at Florida International makes it 36 former Tennessee strength and conditioning coaches that have accepted head positions since Long and John Stucky took over at UT 13 years ago.
As an Olympic-caliber lifter, Long competed for 16 years before an injury halted his career at age 24. The Baton Rouge, La., native was a legend in his native state, competing in numerous Junior Olympics and national weightlifting events before coaching and instruction became his top priority.
Long was inducted in 2005 to the Louisiana Strength and Conditioning Hall of Fame.
Long, who graduated from Southeastern Louisiana University in 1994, is a member of the National Strength and Conditioning Association, the College Strength and Conditioning Coaches Association, the U.S. Weightlifting Federation and the American Football Coaches Association. He recently became the youngest coach ever voted into the Louisiana Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
Long is married to the former Misty Bumgartner of Sylva, N.C.
Gayle Hatch
Gayle Hatch’s contributions to Olympic-style weightlifting and strength training are quite considerable. He has been active as a weightlifting and strength & conditioning coach for more than forty years. Among Hatch’s many accomplishments are memberships in both the USA Weightlifting and USA Strength and Conditioning Coaches Halls of Fame and served as Head Coach of the men’s 2004 USA Olympic Weightlifting Team that competed in Athens, Greece, the home of the modern Olympics. His club, the Gayle Hatch Weightlifting Team, has won more than fifty men’s Junior, Senior, and Masters National Championships. Coach Hatch has also had athletes make three United States Olympic Teams, and he has had more than fifty athletes selected to other U.S. international teams. Some of the outstanding lifters coming out of the Gayle Hatch program include Olympians and World Team Members, Bret Brian and Tommy Calandro, and Olympic Squad and World Team Members, Blair Lobrano and Matt Bruce, as well as World Masters Champions, Walt Imahara and Chuck Meole. Hatch has also had 20 athletes selected to Junior World Teams including junior American record holders, Buster Bourgois and Brandon Baker.
The contributions that Coach Hatch has made extend beyond the reach of the athletes he has coached. Many of the current top U.S. Weightlifting coaches say they have patterned much of what they have done after the Gayle Hatch Program. Coach Hatch is considered one of the pioneers of Olympic-style strength training in this country. In his career, through direct contact and the ripple effect, he has helped countless strength coaches on the professional, collegiate and high-school levels reach a better understanding of explosive strength training for all athletes. His philosophies were utilized in recent years by strength coaches at LSU, Miami, Tennessee and Appalachian State. All those football teams won national championships. LSU and Miami baseball teams also won national championships using the Hatch System. LSU’s mens and womens final four basketball teams used the Hatch System as well. Outstanding athletes coming out of Hatch’s strength training program include Heisman Trophy candidates Warrick Dunn, Bucky Richardson, N. F. L. first round draft pick, Anthony McFarland as well as NBA players, Brandon Bass, Glen”Big Baby” Davis, and Tyrus Thomas…
Randy Leindecker
Randy Leindecker is living out a life long dream of teaching and developing kids and young adults to become better athletes. Randy graduated from Southeastern Louisiana University with a teaching certificate in Kinesiology.
He began his career right out of college as an assistant coach at Denham Springs high, coaching defensive line. In 2001, he became the defensive coordinator to Tara High School. During his fiver year stay at Tara, they made playoffs 4 years, received defensive MVP for 4 years, coached in the Great 8 All Star Game, and chosen to coach in the Louisiana/Texas All Star Game.
In 2005, Leindecker, left high school sports to coach in the Arena Football 2 league in Macon, GA. He was hired as offensive/defensive line coach, fullback and linebackers coach, and special teams coordinator. The next year, in addition to his coaching assignments, Leindecker was promoted to assistant head coach and head of player personnel.
In 2006, after the Macon Knights ceased operations, Leindecker, took over his same job assignments with the South Georgia Wildcats. He led South Georgia to its first playoff season in franchise history.
In 2007, after an accident caused Leindecker son to lose his leg, Randy took a break from coaching. After months of surgeries and medical treatments, Leindecker decided to stay in Baton Rouge. He and a business partner decided that Baton Rouge lacked the training facility that kids needed to make it to the next level.
