Christian “Rock” V.

Christian “Rock” Van Buren is a sports performance coach, strength and conditioning specialist, and owner of Rock Official LLC. His coaching experience spans youth and high school development, NCAA Division I athletics, NFL Draft preparation, and professional sports. Over the past three and a half years, Van Buren has trained 350+ professional athletes across multiple sports, while developing athletes at every stage of the performance pathway.

NFL & Professional Football Experience

* 172 NFL Draft-eligible athletes trained
* 78 athletes selected in the NFL Draft
* 11 first-round NFL Draft selections
* Extensive experience in NFL Pre-Draft preparation, professional offseason training, strength and conditioning, speed development, multidirectional movement, conditioning, mobility, and individualized performance programming
* Experience working with NFL veterans, rookies, Draft prospects, and some of the league’s most accomplished players

Notable NFL athletes trained include: Dak Prescott, Ezekiel Elliott, De’Von Achane, Ja’Marr Chase, Malik Nabers, Devon Witherspoon, Christian Gonzalez, Milton Williams, and numerous other NFL players and prospects.

Multi-Sport Performance Experience

* Softball: Trained elite collegiate and professional athletes including Jocelyn Alo, Aaliyah Andrews, Nicole Mendes, and Alicia Peters
* Basketball: Trained GG Jackson as well as professional basketball players competing internationally throughout European leagues and the Chinese Basketball Association
* Track & Field: Developed numerous collegiate track and field athletes, including multiple NCAA Division I conference champions and All-Americans
* Additional experience training athletes across baseball, soccer, and other competitive sports

Collegiate Coaching Experience

Van Buren has coached at the collegiate level at:

* Colorado State University
* Northwestern State University

His collegiate and private-sector experience has allowed him to work with athletes ranging from developing youth competitors to NCAA Division I and elite professional athletes.

Education & Professional Credentials

* Bachelor’s Degree — Northwestern State University
* Master’s Degree — Northwestern State University
* Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS)
* Technical Track & Field Coach Certification — USTFCCCA

Industry Leadership & Professional Service

* Sports Performance Coach — NFL Representative Meetings, 2023 & 2024
* Panelist — Denver Broncos Alumni Health and Wellness Panel
* Student Advisory Board Member — School of Kinesiology, Northwestern State University

Van Buren currently operates Rock Official LLC in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, providing sports performance training for professional, collegiate, high school, and youth athletes. His approach centers on developing complete athletes through strength, speed, movement efficiency, conditioning, mobility, durability, and individualized sport-specific preparation.

His experience working across multiple sports and levels allows him to tailor training to the individual athlete—whether developing foundational movement skills in a young athlete, preparing a collegiate player for the next level, guiding an NFL Draft prospect through the pre-draft process, or helping an established professional maximize performance and career longevity.

Christian “Rock” Van Buren is a former NCAA football player and multi-sport athlete whose competitive background includes football and track & field. His athletic career began at Pineville High School in Pineville, Louisiana, where he competed at the Class 5A level before earning a Division I football scholarship.

High School Football

Van Buren attended Pineville High School from 2009–2013, competing as a defensive back/safety.

His football accomplishments and opportunities included:

* Earned a Division I football scholarship to Northwestern State University
* Participated in Football University (FBU)
* Invited to the U.S. Army All-American Combine in San Antonio, Texas
* Competed at the Louisiana Class 5A level before continuing his career in NCAA football

Track & Field

In addition to football, Van Buren was an accomplished hurdler for Pineville High School, competing in both the 110-meter hurdles and 300-meter hurdles.

His track & field accomplishments included:

* District Champion — 110m Hurdles
* Regional Champion — 110m Hurdles
* Louisiana State Championship qualifier — 110m Hurdles
* Finished 5th in the state in the 110m hurdles
* All-District selection
* All-Cenla selection in both the 110m and 300m hurdles
* Set the Pineville High School record in the 110m hurdles, a record he continues to hold

Collegiate Football Career

Van Buren accepted a Division I football scholarship to Northwestern State University, where he competed from 2013–2016.

He later continued his collegiate career at Arkansas Tech University, playing defensive back during the 2016–2017 period.

Professional Football Pursuit

Following his collegiate career, Van Buren entered the 2018 professional football draft process and completed NFL Pre-Draft preparation under former NFL defensive back Ryan Clark.

During the pre-draft process:

* Recorded a 4.48-second 40-yard dash
* Participated in professional football evaluation and workout opportunities
* Worked out for multiple Canadian Football League (CFL) organizations

Following his professional workout opportunities, Van Buren ultimately chose to step away from pursuing a professional playing career, return to school, and transition his athletic experience into sports performance coaching and athlete development.

His background as a Division I scholarship athlete, collegiate defensive back, state-level hurdler, and professional football prospect now provides the foundation for his work developing athletes at the youth, collegiate, and professional levels.

Every session I coach is built around the individual athlete. While there is a structure to my training system, I do not believe every athlete should receive the exact same workout simply because they play the same sport. Training is adjusted according to the athlete’s age, position, training history, time of year, injury history, current workload, and specific performance needs.

A session generally progresses through the following phases:

1. Movement Preparation & Mobility

We begin by preparing the athlete for the specific demands of that day’s session. This may include:

* Dynamic mobility and range-of-motion work
* Activation and corrective exercises
* Hip, ankle, and thoracic mobility
* Trunk/core preparation
* Movement patterning
* Preparation of areas specific to the athlete’s individual needs

I want athletes to feel and move better as the warm-up progresses rather than simply getting warm for the sake of getting warm.

2. Neural Activation & Plyometrics

From there, we begin increasing the speed and intensity of movement. Depending on the athlete and training day, this may include:

* Pogo and extensive plyometric variations
* Jump and landing mechanics
* Hops and bounds
* Reactive movements
* Acceleration-based activation
* Low-to-high intensity plyometric progressions

The emphasis is on developing stiffness, elasticity, force production, body control, and the ability to produce and absorb force efficiently.

3. Speed, Agility & Movement Development

A significant portion of my coaching centers on teaching athletes how to move efficiently and explosively.

Depending on the athlete’s sport and position, we may address:

* Acceleration and first-step quickness
* Linear sprint mechanics
* Maximum-velocity mechanics
* Deceleration
* Change of direction
* Multidirectional movement
* Lateral acceleration
* Hip transitions
* Reactive agility
* Position-specific movement patterns

I place a major emphasis on deceleration and force absorption, because an athlete’s ability to stop, redirect, and control their body is just as important as their ability to accelerate.

For football players specifically, movement work may become highly positional. A defensive back, defensive lineman, linebacker, running back, or wide receiver should not necessarily be asked to solve the same movement problems.

4. Strength & Power Development

The strength portion of the session is programmed around what will transfer to the athlete rather than simply chasing numbers in the weight room.

Training may include:

* Squat, hinge, push, pull, and carry variations
* Unilateral strength development
* Olympic lifting derivatives
* Trap-bar and deadlift variations
* Upper- and lower-body power development
* Isometric and eccentric strength
* Rotational and anti-rotational training
* Accessory work addressing individual weaknesses

The objective is to develop usable strength and power without unnecessarily compromising movement quality or athleticism.

5. Conditioning & Work Capacity

Conditioning is specific to the demands of the athlete’s sport, position, and current phase of training.

Rather than conditioning athletes simply to make them tired, I look at the actual energy-system and repeat-effort demands of their sport. Sessions may incorporate sprint intervals, repeat-sprint work, sleds, tempo running, bikes, rowers, circuits, or position-specific conditioning.

For professional and in-season athletes especially, training load is carefully managed. More work is not automatically better work.

6. Individualization & Coaching

The most important part of my sessions is that I am actively coaching, not simply supervising a workout.

I pay attention to how an athlete moves, how quickly they learn, how they respond to cues, and how they are performing that particular day. Exercises, volume, intensity, and even the original session plan can be modified when necessary.

I also believe athletes should understand why they are doing something. My goal is to create athletes who become more knowledgeable about their own bodies and performance rather than athletes who are completely dependent on a coach.

My Overall Training Philosophy

My philosophy is to develop the complete athlete.

Speed without strength has limitations. Strength without movement has limitations. Conditioning without purpose becomes fatigue. Mobility without the ability to control new ranges of motion has limited transfer.

For that reason, my programming integrates speed, strength, power, mobility, movement efficiency, conditioning, durability, and sport-specific preparation into one system.

Whether I am working with a developing youth athlete, a Division I athlete, an NFL Draft prospect, or an established professional, the goal remains the same: identify what that individual athlete needs to perform at a higher level and build the session around those needs.