Brian Duncan

I grew up playing minor hockey and lacrosse in the GTA. I first got exposed to training for hockey when my dad printed off the Nike/Hockey Canada Summer Shift Program. Towards the end of high school, I started to play rugby and was able to make the Varsity Rugby squad at Queen’s University. I was fortunate to play with some great players and won four straight provincial championships while at Queen’s plus a senior provincial championship with my club team. After school, I moved to Massachusetts to pursue an internship at Cressey Sports Performance, where he worked with youth, college, and professional baseball players, that experience led me to Gary Roberts Performance.

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Coming out of university, having studied kinesiology, and completed a mini strength and conditioning internship working with varsity athletes, I was keen to work in the fitness sector. I applied to a couple of local gyms/fitness clubs and had what I thought were good calls and interviews. I was ghosted. No follow-ups; never heard from any of them again, despite reaching out. I was left very unsure of where I would go next. While working other jobs, I decided that I wanted to keep at it and get back to working in the gym setting. I was rehabbing from multiple hand surgeries (an unlucky rugby injury) and I decided that I would keep learning; and get so good at training and coaching that I couldn’t be ignored. I studied and passed my certification exams, and was fortunate to be accepted for the Cressey Sports Performance internship that following winter. That was the springboard that launched me into my current career.

Please see “Iron and the Soul” by Henry Rollins. It sums it up.