Carmen Pata

Carmen Pata, with his uncompromising passion of sport and exercise, leads a nationally recognized career as a professional athletic performance coach. For nearly two decades, his mission is to realize athletic potential through inspiration, motivation and dedication by challenging the body and encouraging the mind to develop and maintain an athletic lifestyle. Thousands of his athletes, from high school level to professional, have proven they can be stronger, more fit, and compete at their highest potential with effective performance coaching.

Coach Pata holds a Master of Science degree in Exercise and Sport Science from the University of Central Missouri and Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. He is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist with Distinction (CSCS*D) and Registered Strength and Conditioning Coach with Distinction (RSCC*D) from the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). He is a certified Level 1 Sports Performance Coach from U.S.A. Weightlifting. Coach Pata is a two-time nominee for the NSCA’s Strength Coach of the Year award. Walking the talk, Coach Pata is an active weightlifting competitor as a Platinum Level Champion of North American Strongman competition, the 2013 Pan American Master's Weightlifting Champion and the 2013 World Master’s Games Bronze Medalist. His humorous, direct and clear explanation style makes him a sought-after public speaker.

Coach Pata has been published by the WFCA and the NSCA. Currently, he is the Director of Athletic Performance at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls where he coaches over 400 athletes across 17 sports each year, with 14 achieving NSCA All American standing and 30 who went on to play at the professional level. Over his tenure, he has mentored over 15 strength coaches who have gone to coaching careers working for NCAA Division 1, 2 and 3 institutions, Major League Baseball (MLB) organizations and started private training careers, and more.