Courtesy of Analisse Ríos
For many students at Connecticut College, a familiar face has greeted, taught, and challenged them to be better athletes at the College’s Ann and Lee Higdon Fitness Center during their time as Camels. Analisse Ríos ‘08, a graduate of the College and a former member of the women’s soccer and track team, has served as the College’s Director of Sports Performance and as the Fitness Center Manager for the past few years. In this role, she has created strength and conditioning programs for twelve varsity teams, led team lifts and fitness workouts, and overseen various renovations and improvements of the College’s fitness center.
Recently Ríos announced that she would be vacating her position as Director of Sports Performance and Fitness Center Manager in order to take a full-time position for the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun as Strength and Conditioning Coach.
To many, her journey from being a college athlete to strength and conditioning coach to becoming a strength and conditioning coach for a professional sports team may seem like a logical progression. However, Ríos never envisioned a career in strength and conditioning growing up and believed her true calling to be teaching.
Born and raised high in the Andes at over 11,000 feet in La Paz, Bolivia, Ríos grew up in a very active family as the middle child between two brothers. “I [grew up with] two brothers who were super active and parents who were super active,” said Ríos. As an outlet for her activeness, Ríos turned to sports. “In high school and middle school I [played] everything,” said Ríos. “I played gymnastics, soccer, volleyball, basketball, and ran track.”
In the soccer-crazy Bolivia, Ríos felt drawn to the country’s national sport and soon committed to playing it as her main sport. As a sophomore in high school, the 16 year-old Ríos experienced a life-changing experience when she was called up to play for the Bolivian senior women’s soccer national team. “We were in the equivalent of the state championship and there was a coach there who was watching and told me I would be getting a phone call later,” said Ríos. “The opportunity and experience was amazing because I was able to travel all of South America playing soccer and play against greats such as Marta.”
With her time at high school winding down, Ríos looked towards America for the next phase of her life. “I knew I wanted to play soccer in college but I also wanted to be a teacher so I made the decision to go D3 and found Connecticut College randomly,” said Ríos. “I emailed the coach [at the time], Ken Kline, and he was the nicest person even over email so I just had a good feeling [about Conn].” What appealed to Ríos the most was the possibility of joining more than just a team at Conn. “That first email with Ken Kline really sold me because he was so excited to talk to me and it felt like I would be joining a family instead of just a team,” said Ríos. “It was something that I was looking for because I was so far from home.” From a non-athletic perspective, Ríos also felt pulled to Conn. “I saw the pictures of the campus and it was beautiful and the honor code was also attractive [to me] because [it showed] there is a lot of trust and relationship building in Conn’s community and I applied early decision.”
At Conn, the women’s soccer team soon became Ríos’ family. “Coming from Bolivia I didn’t have family around here,” said Ríos. “For Thanksgiving, Christmas, or spring break different families would invite me to come over to their houses and because I couldn’t go home on weekends, sometimes I would go home with one of [my teammates] for the weekend.” Later, Ríos joined the track team and was in the cycling club for a short period of time while recovering from compartment surgery. While at Conn, Ríos continued to be called up to play for the Bolivian national team. “Even while I was here for college they would fly me out to tournaments back home to play,” said Ríos.
Academically, Ríos knew she wanted to pursue a career as an elementary school teacher. At the time, the College had a program for elementary education so she knew she would work towards completing the program and getting the certification. Though she initially planned to major in psychology, Ríos ended up changing her major in human development. “I took a class with professor [Sunil] Bhatia and it was so cool to learn about different communities and how as humans we connect with each other,” said Ríos. “So I ended up majoring in human development and minoring in psychology.” Ríos graduated as a part of the Class of 2008 with the elementary certification in education and as a human development major and psychology minor.
Upon completion of her degree, Ríos began teaching 5th and 6th grade in New London County at the C. B. Jennings International Elementary Magnet School in New London and the Dual Language and Arts Magnet Middle School in Waterford. However, she soon realized she missed something in her life. “I was teaching 5th and 6th grade in the area and I realized I missed sports,” said Ríos. “I missed that sense of belonging in a team and a family.” Reflecting on what she missed the most, Ríos reached out to her second family. “I reached out to the women’s soccer coach, Norm Riker, and told him I wanted to be involved with the team and will do whatever you need me to do,” said Ríos. “He was really open to the idea of sharing [the coaching responsibilities] with someone for the team, so I quickly progressed from [just] setting out cones to running more drills.”
As her responsibilities on the team increased, Ríos sought to achieve more personal qualifications to help improve the women’s soccer program. “I realized that the team didn’t have summer workouts or even workouts in the offseason,” said Ríos. “So I told [Coach Riker] I was interested in getting a personal trainer certification to be able to provide workouts in the offseason and also in season for the team.” Once Ríos got her certification as a National Academy of Sports Medicine Certified Personal Trainer (NASM CPT), she began providing workouts for the women’s soccer team. Other teams quickly realized that they also wanted workouts in and out of season so Ríos started pursuing certifications as an EXOS Performance Specialist (EXOS XPS) and a National Strength and Conditioning Association Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (NSCA CSCS) to be able to help plan workouts and lifts for other teams.
Soon, what started as a part-time assistant coach role for the women’s soccer team transitioned into being much more. “I became the volunteer strength and conditioning coach for a while part-time while teaching,” said Ríos. “When the full-time possibility was offered, I realized that this is what I wanted to do…to be able to do what I loved back at the school I graduated from.” Eventually, Ríos became Director of Sports Performance at the College following the retirement of the previous weight room monitor. “After the old monitor retired, I was able to work with more teams and hire an assistant,” said Ríos. Day by day, Ríos’ responsibilities grew. “The role started off with me working with three teams and then it became me working closely with ten teams and writing programs for five other teams,” said Ríos. “The position grew with the number of programs I had to write and athletes I had to work with.”
In addition to her responsibilities as a strength and conditioning coach for the College’s varsity teams, Ríos was also in charge of running the fitness center. “I also became in charge of running the fitness center and making sure the general population was taken care of,” said Ríos. “So [for example], during COVID, I would run 6 am, 7 am, and 8 am workouts for anyone who wanted to come in addition to body weight dorm workouts for [varsity] teams to make sure everyone was remaining sane.” During the pandemic, Ríos also realized there was potential for the creation of a varsity weight room. “During that time, the current varsity weight room was a yoga space,” said Ríos. “But I realized this was a spot where we could put in bars, racks, and weights and design a varsity weight room and so Josh Edmed and I proposed it and it is a space that has really benefited [the College] a lot.”
In 2020, Ríos experienced a life changing moment when she became head strength and conditioning coach for the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun. Prior to her hiring by the Sun, Ríos herself had been a fan of the team as a season-ticket holder. “My wife and I were season ticket holders because we lived right down the street and [we] loved watching games,” said Ríos. The opportunity to work for the Sun really arose by chance. “I had a connection with someone who was interning with the Sun and through that connection one of the assistant coaches had come across my Instagram,” said Ríos. “So when the 2019 season ended, they were looking for a new strength coach and asked me if I wanted to apply which surprised me because I didn’t even know of [the role].” Due to the job being a part-time role, Ríos was able to continue in her role at the College even after the Sun hired her.
While in season for the Sun, Ríos had a variety of duties which differed from her duties with the College’s teams. “My duties [for the Sun] are daily warmups, stretching and cooling down, [helping] injured athletes return to play, working very closely with the athletic trainer, mitigating any injuries and making sure that any athletes that sustained an injury can return to play, lifting, conditioning for low minute players, and traveling with the team [for games],” said Ríos. “On the road, I do a lot of nutrition and I’m currently working on a sports nutrition certification so I can do that more carefully.” The daily aspect of her job with the Sun is the key difference between her work with the Sun and work with the College’s teams. “At Conn with so many teams, in season sports I see twice a week and out of season teams I only see every other or every three weeks,” said Ríos. “With the Connecticut Sun it’s daily…daily stretching activation because everyone [has] different minutes…some players may be lifting on certain days and playing on certain days, so during the season I would have a lift pretty much every day with one or two players.”
While working with both the Sun and at the College, Ríos began the chaotic struggle of trying to balance her work. With the Sun, Ríos worked with the team in-season from around April through October. At the College, Ríos had to work teams beginning with fall sports in August to spring sports which finished in April and May. This created a very busy time period for Ríos during late spring and early fall. “It definitely got really hectic every April and May when I was trying to wrap up with [the College’s] teams and start with the Connecticut Sun and on the back-end of September and October when I was wrapping up my work with the Sun,” said Ríos. “Mo [White] was really supportive because there were times I was on the road [with the Sun] and still working with Conn teams.” Though she was able to focus more on working with the College’s teams when the Sun’s season ended, Ríos still had off-season work for the Sun. “Even in the off-season, I [would] have Facetimes at random times because some of my athletes would be in [countries such as] China and Spain,” said Ríos. “So I had to make sure my twelve-ish athletes scattered across the globe were taken care of along with my 10 teams [at Conn].” Additionally, Ríos had to work to have a balance between work and her own personal life. “My wife and I are also foster parents and I had [a few] long days sometimes which made it difficult for me as a parent,” said Ríos.
This summer, the opportunity to become a full-time strength and conditioning coach for the Sun arose for Ríos. “It was a conversation that started in summer and became more of a reality [over time,” said Ríos. The decision to accept the Sun’s offer to become their full-time strength and conditioning coach was a difficult decision for Ríos, as it meant she would have to leave her role at the College. “It was tough because the connections and relationships that I’ve built with the people and Connecticut College was something I valued,” said Ríos. “Knowing that I won’t [be able to] have the athlete’s I get to see for their four years is tough because I have enjoyed that part too.”
Ultimately, Ríos’ decision came down to the opportunity of achieving better work life balance. “I think a lot of it came down to talking to my wife and figuring out what was the best for our family because having a work life balance was huge in that decision,” said Ríos. “We’re ready to open up our home to a baby and [this] would be a lot easier if I was home more.”
Ríos also views the opportunity to be a full-time strength and conditioning coach for the Sun as a step in the right direction for the WNBA and the strength and conditioning world. “All WNBA teams now have full-time strength and conditioning coaches,” said Ríos. “Four seasons ago, many WNBA teams had coaches like me or coaches who doubled in roles…but just the fact that all WNBA teams now want full time strength and conditioning coaches shows that the strength and conditioning industry has evolved and is [viewed] as important.”
Reflecting back on her time at the College, Ríos will truly miss it all – the experience of working with collegiate athletes, the lifelong friends she has made, and the community she has found. “I think you can hear how much I love the place…it was like a family when I came here from Bolivia, and a family when I transitioned into a coach,” said Ríos. “Luckily it’s right down the street [from where I live] so I can still be in touch with coaches and do part time [work] with some in-season teams as they finish.”
While Ríos may be leaving the College as she departs for her full-time role with the Sun, she leaves behind a lasting legacy at the College. From developing and instituting the strength and conditioning program for varsity teams from scratch to creating and running early morning workouts for the College’s student body during the dark times of the pandemic her presence will be missed.
As a parting word of advice for all students interested in seeking a career in sports and sports performance, Ríos emphasizes the importance of making connections. “I think connections are huge,” said Ríos. “Don’t be scared to do the odd jobs…I started off with women’s soccer [by] setting cones out for practice, so don’t be scared to do the little things and make sure if it’s something you want to do and are passionate about, pursue it, get involved do internships, ask to shadow people, and really be involved.”
Congrats on your new endeavor! I know the CC community will miss you