The fact that a private Christian university with only 3398 undergraduates can compete in Division 1 athletics is quite remarkable. Yet even more impressive is that many of Pepperdine’s athletic teams are in contention for the national title each year.
There are many reasons why so many Pepperdine teams are able to sustain such a high level of success without much letup some of which are more obvious than others.
But one main “player” is Jay Zemliak head athletics trainer for the Waves. Zemliak who is entering his 13th season for the orange and blue came from Florida State University in 1997 where he served as an assistant strength coach for the Seminols for two years. Zemliak made the trek to Malibu and in some ways has single-handedly transformed the way Waves’ players condition and prepare for their respective sport.
“The first couple teams I worked with were men’s basketball and men’s water polo he said. Within a year I had all the teams. It got extremely busy and it stayed extremely busy because I was working with anywhere from around 10 to 13 teams until a couple of years ago when teams started to bring in strength and conditioning coaches of their own.”
Working tirelessly with all of Pepperdine’s athletic teams at some point or another Zemliak has become a key part in setting the workout and training regimen which keeps Wave players healthy and performing at their maximum efficiency.
When he arrived on campus Pepperdine did not have a strength and conditioning coach or anything of the sort. In fact Zemliak did not even know there was such a position at the collegiate level until an unlikely source revealed its whereabouts.
“I didn’t even realize that there was a strength and conditioning coach until I saw an NFL telecast in the mid 1970s when I heard a football commentator mention it he said. I was working as a personal trainer for a few years and it wasn’t until the 1990s that I decided I’d like to work as a strength coach at the collegiate level.”
From a young age Zemliak was fascinated with the idea of physical fitness and what it does to improve not only a person’s health but also his or her athletic performance. The exercise junky wasted no time hitting the weights and getting in shape purchasing his very own equipment at only 12 years old.
“I’m dating myself here he said. But this goes all the way back to the early 1960s when myself and the kids I hung around with all played sports and we all started getting weight sets at home. You could go to a sporting goods store and get a 110-pound weight set for not that much money and it came with instructions and programs of how to do the different exercises.
“The first big thing was who was going to be the first one to lift 100 pounds over their head. It wasn’t me. A kid a couple years older beat me out.”
Zemliak continued lifting weights and staying fit through high school and into college. It was not long before he decided he wanted to make physical fitness his profession.
As an athlete himself Zemliak understands what it takes to maintain optimum performance and compete at the highest level. He said he knows that while an athletes performance can waiver from game to game an athlete can always rely on his or her level of conditioning and preparation during games.
“It’s great to see how the athletes improve and how they gain confidence he said. One of the things I always point out to athletes is that in most sports there are things that you do that require a great amount of skill and some days you’re better than others. But the performance benefit you get from weight training is a slam-dunk. You’re going to get it for sure if you really apply yourself and put out the effort.”
Although free time is usually hard to come by for Zemliak he does have another passion he has held firm since a young age: playing the stand-up bass. Although he mostly plays with his friends in private Zemliak has performed with a number of Pepperdine bands and orchestras throughout the years. He has also been known to play at Firestone Fieldhouse but lately has not had much time.
“When I first came to Pepperdine it was something I was really enjoying because I played with some of the orchestras and ensembles he said. I usually played jazz blues and rock and roll but I enjoyed the classical stuff as well. Unfortunately the last couple of years I’ve been too busy.
“We had a band playing at some of the men’s basketball games in a couple of the upper rows. That was a professional band [with] myself and the keyboard player from another band. And we had kind of had like a show band for a few of the basketball games.”
In a world with so little certainty consistency and reliability is hard to come by – athletic institutions included. However thanks to staff members like Zemliak Pepperdine athletics will undoubtedly continue to excel in a variety of different sports something the community most certainly should not take for granted.