Christopher Bates begins his third year as the first-ever strength and conditioning coach at California Baptist University.

Bates built the department's formal strength and conditioning program from the ground floor, developing the infrastructure for the Lancers' Athletic Performance Development program, which includes the program's specific mission, philosophy, policies and procedures. He also began coaching student-athletes on the basic fundamental movements and lifts.

Since then, he has also developed off-season training programs for the Lancers' sports programs, and he has helped in the planning and development of the new Lancers' Athletic Performance Center and the purchasing of all brand new equipment for the Center, which opened in the fall of 2012. He also was instrumental and the development and hiring of the department's first-ever assistant strength and conditioning coach.

Most recently, Bates spent four years as the sports outreach director at the Lord's Gym/Salvation Army in Compton, Calif. While there, Bates was responsible for the supervision of the Lord's Gym Fitness Center and The Salvation Army's sports complex as well as member management, facility maintenance and sports league administration. He also taught National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA)-Certified Personal Training exam prep courses as well as personal and small group performance training.

Bates also spent one year (2006-07) as the lead performance coach at the Competitive Athlete Training Zone in Yorba Linda, Calif., assisting with the physical therapists and coaching athletes.

An NSCA certified strength and conditioning specialist (CSCS), Bates is also a certified athletic trainer (ATC) and is a certified CPR professional rescuer by the American Red Cross. He is also a member of the NSCA as well as the National, Far West and California Athletic Trainers' Association and is a founding committe member of both the NSCA Diversity Committee and the NSCA Sports Psychology Special Interest Group.

In 2008, Bates served as a certified athletic trainer for U.S. Soccer in Carson, Calif., and also spent the 2008-09 season as a certified athletic trainer for the Major League Baseball Urban Youth Academy in Compton.

While a student at Cal State Fullerton, Bates worked as an athletic training student with the Titans' nationally-ranked baseball program as well as men's basketball, men's and women's track and field, softball and men's soccer. In addition to that, he also worked at the Michael Jordan Flight School and the Fellowship of Christian Athlete's sports camp as well as Mt. San Antonio College and Diamond Bar High School football.

Bates earned his bachelor's in kinesiology with an emphasis in athletic training education from Cal State Fullerton in 2006. He is expected to finish his master's in sports management from CBU in 2013.

He and his wife, Chantel, have a three-year-old son, Christopher, and a one-year-old daughter, Clarity Ruth. They live in Riverside.