Establishing a solid College Student Routine is essential for navigating the overwhelming pressures of higher education and performance. Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Marc Lehman welcomes Boston College Strength and Conditioning Coach Russell DeRosa to discuss how structure builds long-term mental and physical resilience. Russell DeRosa shares his twenty-four years of experience training elite athletes, revealing why daily habits reduce anxiety during high-stakes transitions. The conversation explores how both athletes and non-athletes can manage uncharted academic waters by taking personal ownership of their time. By replacing chaos with intentional habits, young adults learn to face adversity on campus without becoming overwhelmed. Parents and students alike will gain practical insight on shifting from passive survival to proactive growth.
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Building Athlete Resilience Through Daily Routine And Discipline With Russell DeRosa
Finding Balance Through Routine
Welcome to the show, everybody. I am super excited to welcome into the show, Russell DeRosa. Russ, how are you?
Very good. Thank you very much for having me.
Thank you for being here. I really appreciate it. Russ is in his 24th season as a strength and conditioning coach for men’s ice hockey at Boston College. In addition to his responsibilities through hockey, Russ is in his eighteenth season in charge of strength and conditioning efforts for all of BC’s Olympic sports. Prior to his promotion in 2007, he had served five seasons as an assistant strength and conditioning coach on the Heights.
DeRosa has worked with more than 50 BC players who have been selected in the NHL draft, including 22 first-round picks. Since his arrival, more than 55 players have gone on to compete in the NHL. That’s impressive, Russ. DeRosa joined the BC strength and conditioning staff after spending seven years in the mid-90s at Yale University, the last five as assistant director of sports conditioning.
In that position, he oversaw the strength and conditioning for 32 intercollegiate sports programs. DeRosa received his bachelor’s degree in health and fitness from Springfield College and earned a master’s degree in exercise science with an emphasis on exercise physiology from Southern Connecticut State University in 2001. DeRosa is currently a member of the National Strength and Conditioning Association. Russ, welcome.
Thank you. As I said, I’m really excited to be on your show and looking forward to the conversation.
As am I. I got so many questions for you about what you’ve done and where you’ve been. I guess I want to jump in and just mention that I’ve been on my own health and wellness journey, I would say, for a consistent two years now. I know that so often I talk about with patients, with students, that I work with wellness and where that fits into balance and just overall health. You’re an expert in the field. Let me ask. Strength and conditioning, where does that play into balance and happiness overall?
One of the big roles that strength and conditioning plays is not only the ability to stay healthy, but when you’re coming in, and you’re on a structured program, and you have consistency, it develops a routine. Routine with the training, and obviously what you do is, whether it’s weightlifting along with cardio, that’s going to keep you healthy. Having a routine and being consistent, I think in the long run really helps to develop you more both physically and mentally.
This gives you that opportunity now to know that you have structure in your life, and that as you go through and you progress through the program that you’re doing, not only are you building in some opportunities to get better both physically with your strength, but also mentally. Knowing that you have this routine set up can help you to develop through all the other stuff that you face and the adversity that you face through everyday challenges.
I couldn’t agree more. The word routine is such a healthy word. I guess I’m wondering, because you see a lot of athletes and I see a lot of both athletes and non-athletes, how would you say a routine looks specifically for a college kid?
The Structured Day Of A Student Athlete
A lot of them, going through the course of the day, especially here at Boston College, you do have to go to school here. You’re going to your classes, you’re meeting with professors. On top of that, a typical day will work out at six in the morning. Most of the guys and women are in at about 5:30 in the morning, going to the training room, doing whatever they need to do to prepare before the workout. They’ll come in and will work out from six to seven in the morning. They’ll have their breakfast, they’ll do whatever rehab work they need to do with the athletic trainers and whatnot.
They go to class, and then they’re back in here usually by 1:30 or 2:00, and they do their pre-practice warmup. They go to 2:30, and it will be a team meeting. They do video, and then they come back, and we’ll do another warmup before they jump on the ice. They go out, they practice, they come back in the weight room afterwards. They’ll get their supplements, they’ll work on their flexibility, work on their mobility, work on any type of issues they may have had in the past, trying to prevent that for this season coming up.
They might have class at night again, or they have to go over and go to study hall. Especially our freshmen, they have to go through that through the study hall and stuff. Their day is really planned out. Especially once you get in season, a lot of the, it’s an old reference to a movie, but Groundhog Day. Doing that same routine day in and day out. What we find, and what I found as a coach, is that they need that routine and they need that structure.
Not only because it allows them to continue to get better, but what they do is they get a sense of comfort, and they know that, “I need to be here at this time. This is what I’m doing. This is when I could fit in some extra work with Russ, or this is when I could fit in some extra work with our learning resource center or whatnot,” and allows them to really plan their days, their weeks, their months.
It’s great. It sounds highly structured, and it sounds like there isn’t much wiggle room to sway. I guess I’m wondering, the non-athlete, from your perspective, who’s coming to school this fall. I find that so many freshmen coming in have a vision of what school will be like, and then they get there, and it’s a little bit different. It can be overwhelming, but I like the word you use. Routine.
Consistency builds confidence. Having a daily routine creates the mental and physical structure needed to handle life's challenges. Share on XFor so many kids, not only having a routine of when they get up, what they do after they get up, having breakfast, going to class, having some time to work out or some format of fitness, having that routine can be, I think, a lifesaver for so many kids. Can I push you on the topic for a minute? We’re on the same page with this. Why do you think that is, that routine? Why is that such a big deal?
Navigating Freedom In Uncharted Waters
The reason is that they are young and they have experience. Now all of a sudden you’re in uncharted waters. I’ll use my son as an example. He’s 21 years old. He’s going into his senior year at American University. As a freshman, he went to a really structured prep school for high school, and all of a sudden you’re in college, and it’s a Monday, and you only have one class, and your first class is at 2:00. Now, no one’s telling you to get up, eat breakfast. No one’s telling you to make sure you get lunch in. No one’s telling you to prepare for your class or anything like that.
Just watching him go through that and trying to help guide him through that a little bit, he realized that and he said, “All of a sudden, I felt like to have all this time, I felt like I was less prepared for my classes, less before what was in store for me that day, because one day I’m waking up at nine in the morning, another day I’m waking up at 11.” Freshmen coming in, even though you’re not playing the sport, it’s going to be a whole different situation. We have some athletes where they only have night classes. Once again, maybe their freshman year, they had classes in the morning or whatnot.
Every year, even though it’s structured in this routine, it changes, and they have to be able to adapt to that. Once you get all that freedom, that’s where you either learn to put yourself on a routine, or you have to seek help for someone to help you build that structure and that routine. This is true for whether you’re in college, whether you go to your first job or whatnot, people who I felt that I’ve met in my life and that I’ve worked with, people that had routine, people that have structure are usually people that can handle a lot of adversity in different situations because it doesn’t become a panic situation because all of a sudden all this stuff is being thrown at them.
A lot of our male and female hockey players have open ice during the day. Once you go out there and have a plan, make your own plan, “I want to work on skating backwards. I want to work on my wrist shot and I want to work on transitioning from one end of the ice to the other end of the ice as if it was a game scenario,” tend to develop better than the ones who go out there with a bucket of pucks and just try to wing it.
Coaches can help them with the structure, but the ones who really already go out there, already have that feeling, already know about that structure, and then some of them, they’re at the point where they’ll even take notes on their own, “I felt I did this. I feel I need to work on this. I got to talk to the coach about that,” they’re at another level. In a roundabout way, just getting back to the regular student going there, the more they can have an idea of what they want to do, what they want to accomplish. That’s the other thing. I think it’s tough.
A seventeen-year-old student who, for your whole life, you’ve been going to class every single day, Monday through Friday, and class starts at whatever, 7:30, 8:00, and you leave school at 2:00, and you’ve had a person telling you, “Go to this class, go here, go there.” It’s tough because, especially depending on the campus you’re on, BC’s campus is not a huge campus, but you still have different parts of the campus you have to figure out where your class is.
Even that alone, if you’re going to a place that’s a big campus, we travel, you go to UConn, you go to UMass, those places are massive. Those campuses are vast. That could kind of lessen some of the anxiety of being a freshman. Fortunately for an athlete, that’s already put in place for you. That’s where someone who’s not playing sports anymore could really benefit themselves by creating their own structure or at least having a plan.
It’s a great idea. I hear in my field, there are trends you hear lately. In the last couple of years, I’ve heard a lot of people talking about treating school like you have a nine-to-five job. I want to point out to the kids that are tuning in, and even to the parents that are tuning in, you’ve got two individuals that are professionals in their fields talking here today with over 50 years of experience. Both of us strongly feel like that routine is a game changer for many kids.
Those kids that are coming to school and they’ve got their five classes scheduled, but they do not know anything else that they’re doing, it may be helpful for parents to have that conversation. I have it in my office all the time with kids to say, “You have a nine, you have a 10. Well, what are you going to do after that 10:00? You’re done for the day.” What do you do because you’re going to have kids that are going to go back to the room, they’re going to take a four-hour nap, or they’re going to go and poop pot.
Sudden freedom without structure leads to overwhelm. Building your own routine early prevents academic burnout. Share on XThey’re going to do all sorts of things. You have got to decide what you want to do and what is part of your routine. Healthy eating, exercise, to me, is just a given. You have to consider that because you’re definitely going to feel better if you do that. I like what you said a lot about athletes. For my non-athletes that are listening, I think it’s helpful for them to understand why there’s such a structure with athletes and why coaches do that. Without that structure, athletes probably would not get done what they need to get done, right?
A hundred percent. The academics here are very demanding. If you let one thing slide, now all of a sudden that does affect. “I slept through class. I did not do this.” The problem is now you’re a couple of weeks behind academically. That affects you on the ice. I do not care what anyone says, because in your head, you’re thinking about, “I got to get off here. I should have read these chapters. I didn’t read them. I have a test coming up now.”
Staying Locked In Where Your Feet Are
Now, all of a sudden, where you should be able to focus, we want them when they come, and they walk into the locker room, or they walk into the weight room, your whole focus should be on practice, should be to be present. One of our coaches, our former coach here, Jerry York, who was a long-time coach, would kill me for saying this, but a legend in college hockey. He would have one of the players come up in front of the team and read the book, The Precious Present, and was constantly talking about being where your feet are and making sure that you’re locked into that.
You’re sitting in a classroom. You shouldn’t be thinking about what you’re going to do on the power play. You should be thinking about what’s going on. All these things that you do and that these kids go through at a young age really are lessons that they take on for the rest of their lives. You go play in the NHL, or you’re playing in the AHL or whatnot, or you’re going to work for a Fortune 500 business. These are all lessons and recipes for success that a lot of them do not understand that they’re getting while they’re here now, but as they come back, they really realize it.
Once again, that’s where I feel like it’s tough. 17 or 18 years old, you’re trying to handle all this hockey, and you’ve got your goals with hockey and then you’ve got your goals academically. It can really become tough to have those people around you to guide. Coach York retired, and Coach Brown has taken over and has done a phenomenal job in that culture and educating the young players on how to stay structured and how to really take care of the business you need to take care of that’s right in front of you.
It’s very well said, Russ. It’s funny, I feel like, to be fair, I’d probably think this as well at seventeen, but it reminds me of when a kid gets their driver’s license, and they look at the parent as though they’ve been driving for 30 years, like, “I got this, I’m good, I got it.” At my age, I’m still learning, you know what I mean? Freshmen in college get to campus, and they’re like, “I’m the exception. I do not need to do this, I do not need structure, I do not need routine, I got this.”
I guess I’m curious to ask because I deal with mental health so much, and I see the anxiety levels and the depressive levels with kids in particular in college, unfortunately, are really high. I guess I just wanted to ask from your perspective, beyond routine, what can kids do when they get to campus to avoid some of those pitfalls?
Building Resilience Through Campus Involvement
I truly feel getting to campus and then going to meet with your advisor, going to meet with professors, even if you’re not having trouble in a class or whatnot, going to their office hours and just really getting to know the professor that’s teaching you, being a part of campus, I think, plays a huge role.
Tell us more about that, because I agree.
I’ll give you an example. When I was at Yale, and I was coaching there in the ‘90s, I would speak to just as many pro scouts for whatever sport it was as I would to recruiters that were working for Goldman Sachs, working for these top 500 Fortune investment banking companies. I said to them, “How come you guys are so into our athletes?” The athletes here at BC and at Yale, they’re both very intelligent. What he would say, or she would say, is, “We can go out and get the person who’s been on campus.”
All of a sudden gets that 4.0, perfect student and all that, but they showed up freshman year and basically were either in the dorm or in the library. You got the athlete, or you got a person that’s been involved with campus throughout the four years and has that academic background, is smart, but can handle adversity. That was the biggest thing that they liked about athletes. The fact that if you go and you lose a game or you have a bad play or a bad shift or something like that, you can move on. If you’re an investment banker, believe me, I do not claim to know about investment banking.
Neither do I.
You lost a lot of money or had a bad investment. That did not end you. That did not break you. You were able to figure out how to get past that, move on, and then continue, “How do I become more successful?” Whereas the other person who is very smart cannot handle that because they haven’t experienced it.
It’s a great point.
Whether you’re playing a sport on campus or you’re doing intramurals, or you’re going in, you’re just getting involved with a club, it’s going to teach you things that you’re not going to get in the classroom. I feel like the more you could be part of this campus, the more you could really get into, we are a Jesuit school. There is opportunity if you’re into religion and whatnot to really get involved with that.
The message that they have, if that’s something that you really enjoy, you can get involved that way. I truly feel that once you become part of the campus that you’re on, the comfort level becomes much higher. You do not have that situation of, “I can still go and be involved with this club or whatnot, which is also going to help you create structure.” It’s not that, “I feel like it’s me against the school.”
A great point.
Did I answer your question?
It does. It’s a great point. It’s a great suggestion for all incoming students, and a lot of schools are going to these activities fairs the first week or two of school. I always encourage students. I’m like, “Go check it out.” There are booths and clubs for everything. The involved student oftentimes has a better experience. What you just said about recruiting agencies and businesses and even athletic organizations is really accurate, and I think really important for students to hear that adversity happens. It’s part of the process, part of the journey.
My question is not, will it happen? My question is, what will you do about it when it does? As you said, I find myself saying this all the time. College teaches you a lot of things outside of the classroom. Some of those life things. Those are things that students take with them far past college itself. I will say, I think the typical student that underestimates, you were talking about the rigor at BC, underestimates the rigor of college can get behind rather quickly. I find that these things have created poor social skills for some kids. Even the commentary of going back and seeing your teacher or connecting with an advisor, all that stuff can be really challenging for kids.
Failure is part of the growth process. Getting involved on campus teaches resilience that classrooms cannot replicate. Share on XI would say that from my perspective, they have got to figure out a way to do it anyway, whether it’s connecting via email, trying to find people. Professors that maybe are not as scary to them that they can connect with, whether it’s a TA or a particular personality type. I would say that, for students, in my opinion, students get behind academically. It can be a week or two. Before they know it, they’re now experiencing symptoms of anxiety, symptoms of depression when they’ve never experienced them before. I’m curious about your thoughts on that.
A hundred percent. What happens is that thing creeps into everything. That creeps into their social life. They have become more reserved, and as I said here, not only are we competitive athletically, but academically, this is a very competitive school. You get involved in a classroom, and you’re one of those kids who normally, “Coming from my high school, I was one of the top two percent.” All of a sudden you’re here, and you’re like, “I got a C for the first time.” I’ve been in this classroom, and these kids are. Some of these other students are answering these questions, and I did not know the answer to this.
Moving Beyond Parental Fixes
It just becomes that uncharted water. I know it becomes a little controversial, but I think parents have to do a better job of saying, you can give them guidance, but you cannot go fix it for them. You cannot be the one calling the professor. You cannot be the one calling the coach, anything like that. I got to say to my son, Andrew, “You’re struggling with this class. You need to go talk to this person. You need to go see if you could set up a time to meet with them and go over there and do that.” The fact of the matter is, like we just talked about, this is one of those learning situations outside the classroom. They need to go do that. You’re right.
A lot of them are so used to, “Mom or dad handled this for me.” Now this is where you have to go do that. Just the mental aspect of this and stuff, I think it’s great that there is so much more awareness. Along with that, I feel like it’s also been used almost as a handicap for the person involved. Whereas there are situations where wholeheartedly, 100%, we need to take care of. Just like in this is how it ties back into training. You have got to know the difference between what I’m doing when I’m working out hurting me, or is that just soreness?
Can I work through this? Is this something that’s really negative that’s setting me back and whatnot? Not to jump around on you here. That’s where I feel like a lot of what needs to be done has to be done by the student themselves. Outside of something really tragic or anything like that, I do feel like going and handling those situations is going to not only make them mature mentally, but also give them the tools they need to succeed once they leave here.
I agree. I have a couple of thoughts. I just want to call out, mean, you and I are also parents, and I think for parents, it’s hard. If you’ve got a kid at school and they’re away from home and they’re struggling to be able to guide them, rather than fix it is really hard because I think there’s that instinct for a lot of parents to just say, I could make this better. I do not think you’re teaching at that point. I think you’re fixing and solving. For students, it’s interesting, Russ. I agree with you on the concept that students really need.
Pushing Past Uncomfortable Boundaries
There are things they need to be able to do to be able to make life better. For example, if students are in a pattern where they’re missing class, they have to find some solutions, like get an alarm clock to get up early, create a new structure for yourself, try something new if what you’re doing is not working. A lot of kids I talk to, it’s amazing. They do not know what to do. They do not know what to try. They’re like a blank slate. I’ll have a kid come in, I’ll do an evaluation on them, they’re having this problem and that problem, and I start brainstorming ideas. It’s pretty common that I’ll have a kid look at me and say, “I have no clue as to where to turn. I have no idea how to fix this.”
I get into the whole concept of, like, what we’re going to do is probably going to be a little uncomfortable and may feel a little out of the box. That’s where the solution lies. A lot of kids are just looking in that comfort box. They’re not looking. To your point about lifting, there’s a difference between your aching muscles because you’re getting a good workout versus “I just hurt myself. I just went too far.” For kids, a lot of it is discussion with parents, discussion with allies in terms of coaches and staff on campus that they can set up for themselves.
The one thing I’ll just say overall, and I’m guessing you’d agree with me, Russ, is students need that support. When they get to college, I think most students are like, “I’ll just do it the exact same way I did in high school.” They find out that it does not work very well. College life is so different. Even the concept of what you said before. You said it brilliantly, to the all-star kid who gets into BC. They’ve always been the smartest kid in the room. Now there’s a lot of, I’m not even going to use me, because I was not that kid, but there’s a lot of Johns.
You’re sitting in a classroom with like 13 or 20 or 30 other kids that are just as smart as you. Now what? Now what do you do, right? There’s a lot to it. Quite frankly, the transition should not be underestimated. I love what you guys are doing at BC. I have to say, I mean, the one word that kept popping out to me as I heard you describing it is that there’s so much support. There’s so much support and structure.
Growth begins outside your comfort zone. Embrace the discomfort to unlock your true potential. Share on XThe funny thing is that our guys and women that go on to play pro hockey, they come back. They realized how much they had here that even at that level at the NHL or the PWHL, they got a lot of great stuff there, but they do not have that person. When practice is over, usually at those levels, everyone goes on. It’s a job. Here, they have access to whether you’re having trouble with academics. You have trainers here all the time. Something with that, myself, strength coaches, they come in.
We’re pretty much here from six in the morning to seven at night, plus on the weekends and whatnot. Those are things that they did not realize. Their whole support system here, both physically, mentally, and spiritually here at Boston College, played such a huge role in supporting them for their success, whether it be on the ice or in the classroom. That’s something that I give credit to our coaches here at Boston College. They do a phenomenal job of not only recruiting talented athletes, but also great character kids.
That’s great.
They’ve already had that foundation. Most of our athletes are just good people. You can build off of that and try to get them to understand, “This is the next step.” I do not work with a lot of non-athletes. I do not work with them at all, I should say. I see them around campus, and I see what they do in the community and all that. They already have that foundation. I think, as you talked about, they need to then find out who I continue to seek out and then lead me down that path to develop more and more, both as a student and as a person. They’re definitely here at Boston College, whether you’re an athlete or not an athlete.
There are opportunities everywhere for you. That’s where, as you said, they have got to take that leap of faith and “I’ve never done this before, get out of my comfort zone.” We always talk about that with our athletes, even just when we’re playing, “We were out running before this, had a dry land training session for our men’s and women’s ice hockey team there.” We’re always talking about it. You have got to be able to work outside your comfort zone here.
You have got to make sure that you’re continuing to accelerate, decelerate, and whatnot. That just carries over into everyday life. This is uncomfortable for me. It’s something I definitely have to do. Much like you said that you were not one of the top academics, neither was I. I know when I was transitioning from my undergrad to my grad, and our mutual friend there, Matt, can attest to this because I was going to grad school at night while he was there.
That was really uncomfortable for me, and trying to get that next level of academic success. You’re right. I fell into it myself. I was not sure who I should talk to about this. Who do I make sure I can continue to get this success and whatnot? It took me a little while, because I went back for my master’s degree two years after I finished my undergrad. You get back into that routine, plus coaching all day plus classes at night.
It’s exhausting.
Trying to get back in there. I remember taking it now with the kids. They laughed at me, but we had a notebook and everything. Everything here now is off of iPads and laptops and all that. I remember taking notes, and I was writing down everything the professor said. I was not in that routine anymore of being able to pick out what’s important, what’s not important, and all that.
Routine’s huge. I would just summarize because I want the kids tuning in to hear this. Getting involved is huge. I believe there’s support on every campus. You guys are doing a fantastic job with your athletes and your hockey program in particular. I hear these stories often from campus to campus. The fruit is there for picking for kids. They just have to reach out and get involved. As you said, even if it’s a little uncomfortable, I think there’s growth there in trying something new. Look, I really appreciate you spending time with us, Russ.
I know you’re super busy. I have to say you are a super dedicated individual. You’re spending long hours with these kids and obviously having lots of success, and most importantly, helping kids really enjoy a sport that I’m sure you really enjoy quite a bit as well. That’s fantastic. I appreciate you spending time with us. One last question for you, as I mentioned before. Normalize It Forward, I set up a couple of years ago, more along the lines of getting kids and parents to understand how important it is to talk about mental health and wellness.
Really, that concept of, even if you’re that kid who’s never experienced it, you may experience it in ways that surprise you a little bit, especially in college for all the reasons we’ve talked about. In order to keep the conversation moving forward, I typically will ask my guest. Do you have a friend? Do you have a coworker? Do you have a relative? Do you have somebody that you know that you think would be good for me to maybe interview next? Any thoughts, Russ?
I do have to say, we have a team priest, Father Tony Penna. What Father Penna does, Father Penna and I, when we’re on the road, we travel together, so we usually drive to the games. Not only is he a good friend, but he’s really become a part of my family. He does a phenomenal job. It doesn’t matter what religion you are. He’s able to bring everyone together, bring them in. I also feel like he does a great job for the campus because he does his role. He does work with non-athletes also. He is definitely one of those people that I always talk to about seeking out and being able to look for guidance and whatnot.
He plays a huge role with our team and really makes it a comfortable situation, whether the athletes have to talk to and meet with him. They set up meeting times on their own. It’s not mandatory. The whole team does it. They could talk about anything and everything under the sun, whether it’s religion, whether it’s hockey, whether it’s, “How do I handle this? What you’re feeling on that.” He’s very down to earth, and I think he would be a great guest.
Thank you so much for nominating him. I’ll get the contact info from you offline if it’s okay. I appreciate you bringing his name up. Honestly, as you were talking, I was thinking, “I talk about mentors all the time,” and I feel like kids are lucky in high school and college to get a couple. You’ve had a couple of people that you and Father Tony are definitely two, I think, that stand out to me as kids would be lucky to have in their world. Russ, I appreciate all you do and really do. Again, your dedication is admirable. Thank you so much for your time, your energy, your thoughts. Have a fantastic rest of your day.
Marc, thank you very much. I really appreciate it. It was great speaking with you.
It’s great talking to you too. Take care, Russ. All the best.
Bye.
Bye-bye.
Important Links
About Russell DeRosa
Russ DeRosa is in his 24th season as the strength and conditioning coach for Men’s Ice Hockey at BC. In addition to his hockey responsibilities, DeRosa is in his 18th season in charge of strength and conditioning efforts for all of BC’s Olympic sports.
Prior to his promotion in 2007, he had served five seasons as an assistant strength and conditioning coach on the Heights.
DeRosa has worked with more than 50 BC players who have been selected in the NHL Draft, including 22 first round picks. Since his arrival, more than 55 players have gone on to compete in the NHL.
DeRosa joined the Boston College strength and conditioning staff after spending seven years (1996-2002) at Yale University, the last five as Associate Director of Sports Conditioning. In that position, he oversaw the strength and conditioning for 32 intercollegiate sports programs.
DeRosa received his bachelor’s degree in health and fitness from Springfield College in 1995. He earned a master’s degree in exercise science with an emphasis on exercise physiology from Southern Connecticut State University in 2001.
DeRosa is a member of the National Strength & Conditioning Association.
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