Today’s Streaks Alumni Profile features Derek Brackett from the GHS Class of 2013.
Derek has carved out an impressive career in strength and conditioning. He worked his way up the ladder, and today is working with elite athletes. He works with young athletes as well as with top college and pro athletes. He engineers programs to meet their specific needs as athletes.
GHS Sports and Activities
I played football, was involved in the yearbook club, and participated in SSA.
Favorite Teachers/Classes
Coach Dougherty, Mr. Bennewitz, and Mrs. Achepohl definitely stood out and made a real impact on me in different ways. As for classes, I always looked forward to classes in the science wing (air conditioning). Especially Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. Those classes definitely sparked my interest in understanding how the body works and set the foundation for my future career. (Mr. Baxter, Mr. Putnam, Mr. Allison)
Favorite Memories of Galesburg and GHS
Some of my best memories are centered around sports for sure - football season with the same group of guys I met back in JFL days (2006 Vikings team, ask about us), going to watch the Legion baseball games, and the student section at our basketball games was always elite. Bonding through sports, working hard towards something, and supporting friends as they did the same were the highlights. Those relationships I built remain some of the strongest and most reliable in my life.
After GHS Graduation
After graduating from GHS, I spent a year at Carl Sandburg College before transferring to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where I earned my bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology. I then went to the University of Miami (FL), where I completed my master’s in Exercise Physiology/Strength & Conditioning. During my time at UM, I served as a graduate assistant strength & conditioning coach, working hands-on in the weight room with the football program, as well as men’s and women’s basketball, women’s soccer, women’s rowing, and swim & dive teams.
Your Career
After graduating from the University of Miami in 2019, I started my business First Team Sports Performance(www.frst.team) to bring the same quality, structure, details, and execution of high-performance training to everybody—regardless of age, background, athletic ability, or goals. My approach to working with clients is data-driven and delivers the foundational principles of strength and conditioning to help achieve meaningful results in health, function, fitness, performance, and longevity.
The clients I work with are everyday people to professional athletes and everybody in between. All who are looking for things like improvements in physical performance, overall wellness, body recomposition, injury prevention, return to play after injury, etc… I draw heavily on my education and the hands-on experience I gained as a graduate assistant with University of Miami athletics (as well as experience at UIUC, WIU, and Bradley). I meet one-on-one with many clients out of a private facility called Core Fitness Miami where I collaborate daily with other sport performance professionals, DPTs, and other sports medicine doctors. The other half of my job is managing clients remotely through an app that I had developed for people who do not have access to me in person, and consulting with various teams, groups, businesses, and athletic departments on program design, implementation, and instruction.
I’ve been incredibly fortunate to work with some of the top figures across a wide range of sports, from Olympians and USMNT members, to other professionals in the NBA, NFL, MLB, MLS, WTA, and other leagues around the world. I also have the honor of guiding youth athletes from their first initial exposure to performance training, throughout their high school development, into college athletics, and sometimes even into professional careers, witnessing them check the necessary boxes at each stage. Youth athletic development is definitely my passion when it comes to my work.
Equally rewarding is guiding clients through serious physical setbacks—whether recovering from major ligament tears, tendon ruptures, joint issues, breaks/fractures, or even neurological events—helping them rebuild strength, restore function, return to competition, or just move through life with greater confidence and capability. I’ve also had the privilege of working with people who are first responders, healthcare professionals, and work in other jobs that require intense labor by assisting to maintain their readiness, recover from high-intensity workloads, and develop endurance for the physical and mental requirements of their job.
What’s Going on Today
Currently I’m preparing for the next college basketball off-season, which is approaching soon. Athletes will be coming to me for training either to prepare for their next college season or the NBA draft. When I’m not coaching, you’ll usually find me being active, staying up to date on the current literature in my field, eating empanadas, exploring South Florida, or staying connected with my friends that live all over.
Advice to present GHS students/athletes
A few things I’ve learned along the way:
Consistency wins. It’s the boring stuff that matters the most. Things like getting to practice/class/work on time even when tired, having intent and giving effort in everything you do, sleeping 8+ hours, eating real food, and making time to recharge. Those habits build discipline and open doors later. The people who stick with them will win long-term.
Mindset over everything. Things will go wrong: bad grades, friend/family issues, feeling stuck. That’s standard and everyone goes through it at one time or another. What matters is your response. Stay positive, learn from it, ask for help, keep stacking days, and have faith. Build that resiliency now; it’ll carry you through everything down the road.
Find Community. The connections you make through sports, classes, clubs, between periods, or just hanging around on the weekends are more important than you might realize. Be the person who lifts up and shows up for others.
Also: Lift weights often, eat real food, get outside in the sun, call your friends/family, read books, limit distractions, and be open to learning something new
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