Morgan Schoy

Strength and Conditioning Coach

“I am so excited to continue growing and gaining knowledge. I love working with people and being flexible in whatever way I can to optimize whoever it is I'm assisting. I believe I have covered a wide range of different skills in my learning process and am confident that one aspect is similar across the board- helping others optimize their health and reach their goals while mastering it myself."

Training Specialties:

Education:

  • B.S. East Stroudsberg University

    • Major: Exercise Science

    • Minor/Concentration: Pre-Professional Therapeutic Science

  • M.S. East Stroudsberg University

    • Major: Exercise Science

    • Minor/Concentration: Strength and Conditioning Internship

Introduction/Background

Hi! My name is Morgan Schoy and I am from Pittsburgh, PA. I went to Serra Catholic High School where I played volleyball for both the high school as well as travel volleyball since the age of 12. I finished my high school career at Revolution Volleyball Club and attended the USA Volleyball Girls National Championship (GJNC) 2 years in a row. I was recruited by and committed to East Stroudsburg University volleyball where we won the PSAC.

Covid hit right after my freshman season where I allowed myself to gain unhealthy weight (the evil freshman 15) and not play nearly at my full potential. Over covid, I started training every single day on my own outside and at home until I could get myself into a gym to strength train. I returned to ESU the 2nd semester of sophomore year in the best shape I had ever been in. I was in my element again and anticipated finally being back following covid AND feeling much more athletic on the court. In the summer leading up to my junior year preseason, I quit the sport that I love due to unfortunate circumstances and the program was no longer fit for me and 11 other of my teammates. It was the hardest decision of my life and I felt lost until I filled this competitive passion with strength training and was able to do more of what I wanted. Not playing volleyball anymore allowed me to explore different training techniques without it having a negative impact on my court performance.

After about a year from avoiding volleyball following my decommitment, I decided to coach a high school volleyball team here in East Stroudsburg. They were very novice in the sport and I was able to make a huge impact on them. They were my favorite population to work with because I love the mentor aspect considering I was in their shoes not too long ago. I got to find a careful balance between coaching hard corrections and being vigilant with the consideration of the population.

I was originally set on becoming a physical therapist, but after I did my early internship sophomore summer I realized that it wasn’t quite my speed so I to switched gears to try sports performance.

My first large experience in the sport performance realm was an internship at Duquesne University where I got to work hands on with nearly all of their sport teams. Duquesne sport performance also works very closely to athletic training which was exciting to merge my therapeutic background with my new world of performance. I was not a huge fan of the university setting, but I enjoyed my time 1-on-1 with the athletes.

Back in Pittsburgh, I also am a personal trainer at my local community center gym and am exposed to typically geriatric patients with the goal of making their lives so much healthier physically and mentally. We work on making activities of daily living easier for an improved quality of life.

After finishing my B.S. I went straight into my Master’s degree where I was gifted the opportunity to be a graduate assistant in the sport performance as well as the laboratory setting. ESU provided me with the opportunities to conduct research on human subjects and have access to state-of-the-art equipment in the biomechanics realm as well as the exercise physiology realm.

I am so excited to continue growing and gaining knowledge. I love working with people and being flexible in whatever way I can to optimize whoever it is I'm assisting. I believe I have covered a wide range of different skills in my learning process and am confident that one aspect is similar across the board- helping others optimize their health and reach their goals while mastering it myself.

Experience

  • ~500 hour internship at Duquesne University in sport performance

    • Worked hands on with a multitude of their sport teams

    • Exposed to updated sport performance technology such as:

      • Gymaware software

      • Velocity based training tendo units

      • Antigravity treadmills for recovery

      • High speed performance treadmills, and more.

    • Worked very closely with athletic training staff

  • Physical Therapist Internship

    • Worked with a range of patients hands on

    • Wrote a case study on a young female with a rare medical condition

  • Personal Training at a local community center gym

    • Largely worked with older clientele with goals of making their lives healthier both physically and mentally

    • Worked to make activities of daily living easier for an improved quality of life

  • Graduate Program

    • Graduate Assistant: Sport Performance

      • Created and administered strength and conditioning programs for teams

      • Assisted in training other teams

    • Graduate Assistant: Lab

      • Performance testing in a field setting,

        • Measured jump heights with vertec

        • Conducted Margaria Kalman power stair test with photocells

      • Lab Testing

        • Used a metabolic cart to assess VO2 at the max/submax levels

        • Administered cycle ergometer tests to measure lactate threshold

  • Coached High School Volleyball Team in East Stroudsberg

    • Learned how to work with and coach young athletes who were very novice in the sport

Q&A with Morgan:

  • What is your favorite food?

    • I LOVE food in general. It has to be some of the best parts of my day. About 3.5ish years ago is when I started to eat clean and was able to find healthier options that also satisfied my tastebuds. One of my top hearty meals has to be a chicken, spinach, garlic, tomato w/ mozzarella flatbread and sweet-wise, I absolutely adore anything dark chocolate or just about any fruit. (This may be the hardest question on here)

  • What is your favorite color? (she got this one wrong)

    • I love neutral colors such as black or white!

  • What is your favorite sport to play? To watch?

    • I absolutely adored playing volleyball, and still do here and there when I get the chance. I had so much fun coaching it because I got to participate in many of the drills!! My favorite sport to watch is probably volleyball or basketball, but I have really loved watching olympic weightlifting competitions. I love to watch power sports.

  • What do you do for fun? If it’s exercise related, great, but then tell me a couple other things non-exercise related.

    • For fun, I really enjoy relaxing. I used to enjoy a lot of social outings with my friends in undergrad, but now I love to have a nice wine and movie night here and there with my roommates. I also love to travel and see new places. Exploring is always so much fun as I love nature and animal life, particularly sea life and sharks! Not related, but here at school I also have enjoyed trying new healthy dessert recipes because I have a wild sweet tooth.

  • What is your favorite type of exercise, or more specifically, what is your favorite lift?

    • My journey has gone from losing weight with high repetitions and just moving to 2ish years straight of strength training and mastering form cues. Just this past school year, I have continued my strength journey, but added in power. I have absolutely loved the addition of olympic lifting and trying new progressions for variations of cleans and snatches. As of right now, I think full cleans are my favorite lift. I have also shifted from obsessing over my lower body to being obsessed with bench…haha. 

  • What is your favorite movie?

    • I love Mulan!