TimesLeader.com

Coach brings strength to NFL

By Tom Robinson
Scranton Edition sports correspondent

Tom Kanavy could be content in his work now that the Minnesota Vikings are off to a 6-0 start with contributions from many, including Kanavy’s role in preparing the team for the season as strength and conditioning coach.

click image to enlarge

Archbald native Tom Kanavy is the strength and conditioning coach for the Minnesota Vikings.

Photo Courtesy of Minnesota Vikings

click image to enlarge

Minnesota Vikings coach Tom Kanavy leads a practice.

photo courtesy of minnesota vikings

Select images available for purchase in the
Times Leader Photo Store

Kanavy knows better.

“The truth is, although it’s not widely known outside of strength and conditioning and football, the in-season work is more important than the offseason,” said Kanavy, a Valley View graduate in his fourth season with the team. “We have to work to increase their strength and maintain their conditioning.

“We have to get stronger through the entire season and postseason.”

With the physical demands of a National Football League season, including a variety of injuries, continuing workouts without wearing out players is a delicate balance. It is one that leads Kanavy to supervising the development and adjustment of individualized workouts for every member of the team.

“Almost six weeks in, every player is in his own individual program,” Kanavy said. “We work around the injuries.

“Nobody ever stops training or gets out of lifting. That’s the way Brad Childress has it and it’s the way Andy Reid did it when I was in Philadelphia.”

That emphasis from the head coaches makes the job easier, according to Kanavy.

“As strength and conditioning coach in college or the pros, you’re nothing without the support of the head coach,” said Kanavy, who was part of the staff working in those areas at Penn State and the University of Miami. “The players pick it up. If the coach could take it or leave it or is not about the weight room, then they’ll tail off and know there will be no ramifications.”

Kanavy knows that would be a mistake, particularly for a team with potential to last deep into the playoffs.

“We’re not expected to aggravate any injuries, but we are responsible for keeping the strength,” Kanavy said. “The idea is to be at our strongest in January and hopefully be ascending when maybe some of the others are maintaining.”

Kanavy said the offseason work is important preparation for training camp, but he believes that a player’s current strength level is much more a result of what he has been able to do in the last 4 to 5 weeks.

Offseason work has other advantages.

“It goes beyond the exact specifics of what we do in weight and reps,” Kanavy said. “We have a high level of attendance at over 90 percent under coach Childress. The work transcends what we do physically.

“There’s camaraderie built and trust developed by being around each other when you’re working hard.”

Teamwork and commitment in the weight room are things that Kanavy learned while playing as an undersized lineman at Valley View. He learned the game from head coach Frank Pazzaglia and line coach Nick Rodio.

“Coach Rodio is in the same realm as other coaches I’ve worked with later in the sense of being someone who knows football and communicates with, connects with and motivates his players,” Kanavy said. “Part of my longevity in this profession goes back to the way coach Rodio worked with me as a 170-pound offensive lineman.

“He taught me that to be prepared to play, you had to get ready in the weight room. That’s when I started developing a passion for off-field work.”

Kanavy knew it was not realistic to continue in the game as a player, but he went to Penn State to study exercise and sports science. He started out as an intern with the football team and kept working there before getting his Masters in sports management from Temple in 1996.

Since arriving in the NFL, Kanavy has been on the staff of teams that have been to the playoffs six times and have won five division titles.

Although he grew up in Archbald, when he returns to the area, Kanavy spends much of his time in Dunmore. That is where both sets of his grandparents were from – his parents, Tom Sr. and the former Joan Cantarella are Dunmore graduates – as well as being the hometown of his wife, the former Kim DelVecchio.

Tom and Kim Kanavy have two daughters. Caroline, 5, was born in Philadelphia. Kristen, 2, was born in Edina, Minn.

“It’s great to get back home whenever we can,” Kanavy said. “I’m very proud of our area.”