Steve Bamel is in his fourth year as Director of Sports Performance at the College of Charleston.

Using first-class facilities and equipment, Bamel has helped elevate the overall level of fitness and training education in the CofC athletics department.

He joined the Cougars in the summer of 2009, after spending two years as the strength and conditioning coordinator at the United States Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif. There, he implemented and designed sport-specific training programs, and supervised individual and group training sessions for all athletes.

In addition to teaching athletes on proper strength training and Olympic-weightlifting technique, Bamel managed the strength and conditioning coordinators at the other Olympic Training Centers.

In 2000, Bamel earned his bachelor's degree in English and education from the State University of New York at Albany, where he was a men's soccer and lacrosse student-athlete. In 2002, he earned his master's degree in exercise and sport science from FIU.

Prior to the Olympic Training Center, Bamel worked as a strength and conditioning intern in the Minnesota Twins minor league organization and then spent a year as a director at the Hardball Baseball Training Academy in Miami, Fla. There, he developed, designed and implemented strength and conditioning programs for over 165 baseball and softball players.

In 2005, Bamel served as head strength coach at Coral Shores High School in Key Largo, Fla., before becoming a senior strength and conditioning coach at James Madison in Harrisonburg, Va. At JMU, he designed and implemented comprehensive sport-specific programs for baseball, men's and women's soccer and men's and women's track and field. He also assisted with the men's and women's basketball programs.

Bamel is certified through the National Strength and Conditioning Association, the Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Association and the National Strength Professionals association.

He is married and currently resides in West Ashley. His wife, the former Kasey Greene, is a nurse at MUSC.