Chaminade Julienne welcomes one of its own back to campus as Ben Saunders ‘21 has been tapped to serve as the strength and conditioning coach for the Eagles athletic program.
“Ben brings tremendous knowledge, energy, and passion to our program, and he is eager to work with our student-athletes to help them grow both physically and mentally,” said Anthony Turner ‘04, athletic director. “Most importantly, Ben understands and embraces the CJ mission, and he lives it out each day through his work with our students.”
Saunders is eager to direct an effective training program for all CJ athletes.
“I’m enthusiastic to build something that impacts every sports program and every athlete in a real way,” he said. “Strength and conditioning is one of the few areas where all teams can share the same standards and culture, such as showing up, working hard, doing things the right way, and improving over time. I’m excited to help CJ athletes become stronger, faster, more resilient, and more confident, and to be another coach in their corner who supports what their coaching team is already doing.”
While a student at CJ, Saunders played soccer all four years and was the kicker for the football team. From this experience, he knows that there are no shortcuts to becoming a well-trained athlete.
“As a former student-athlete, I believe that I can better motivate current and future CJ student-athletes to embrace strength training. When done correctly, it offers many remarkable benefits—it helps reduce injury risk, build strength, improve speed, increase vertical jump, and enhance overall athletic performance. If student-athletes commit to the process and trust the work, the program can help them become the strongest, most confident version of themselves on and off the field.”
For Saunders, his passion for athletic development shaped his coaching approach and inspired him to apply for the role.
“I’ve always been drawn to the process of athletic development. Taking athletes where they are and helping them improve through consistent training and effective coaching is my goal. I wanted to pursue this role because I believe CJ can be a place where training is purposeful, organized, and built around long-term athletic development, not just ‘lifting to lift.’ I also love working with high school athletes because the growth is so visible physically, mentally, and in how they carry themselves.”
As a recent University of Dayton graduate with a degree in exercise science, Saunders is applying his degree to design programs that align with student-athletes’ needs.
“My background is in exercise science and performance training,” said Saunders. “I’ve spent significant time coaching athletes in the weight room while learning what translates to sport. I’ve worked with multi-sport student-athletes and have experience planning training around real schedules, including off-season development, in-season maintenance, and injury risk reduction. I’m big on combining good programming with good coaching: teaching technique, building habits, tracking progress, and making training something athletes buy into.”
Saunder’s academic background, combined with his passion for athlete development, brings a strong foundation to CJ’s program. As the assistant varsity soccer coach at CJ, he has seen how athletes committed to strength and conditioning can significantly improve their on-field performance.
“The biggest values I want to instill are consistency, effort, and accountability. I want athletes to take pride in doing the small things well, like showing up on time, being coachable, attacking the workout, and taking care of the weight room and each other. I also want to build confidence and toughness the right way by earning progress through disciplined training and learning how to respond when things get hard,” said Saunders.
Saunders explained that workouts will be organized and tracked using TrainHeroic so athletes can see exactly what they’re doing, why they’re doing it, and how they’re progressing over time.
“The program will be structured, progressive, and sport-specific. Athletes will train with a focus on movement quality, strength, speed/power development, and injury reduction, while still fitting the needs of each season and each sport. We’ll also use simple attendance and data tracking to improve accountability and ensure consistency across programs.”
Saunders believes that these adjustments and use of the tracking program will develop better athletes and reinforce a strong, unified culture in the weight room.
“We are especially excited about the new technology Ben will introduce to the weight room, along with his in-depth understanding of the ‘how’ and ‘why’ behind strength training and sports performance. His approach emphasizes education, intentional training, and long-term athlete development,” said Turner.
Saunders has already reached out to head coaches to learn more about what they have worked on as a team and discuss their goals moving forward. He is eager to collaborate and build a strength and conditioning program that supports the needs of each sport.