AFM Home | The Staff Report | Oct 2003

By Bill Renner
Head Coach
Springfield High School (Va.)

I had seen it in ads but I did not pay attention to what it could do. I had always liked the Rogers equipment. I had numerous pieces and was pleased with the quality and durability. When I got the videotape in the mail a few months later it finally dawned on me that here was a great tool for teaching football techniques, motivating athletes and measuring their progress in the off-season. It was the TredSled™ from Rogers Athletic Company.

We were losing three offensive line and four defensive line starters to graduation. Four of the seven were going on to play Division I-A college football so development of the line was the priority for our program. Purchasing the TredSled™, a one-man indoor blocking and tackling sled that allows the athlete to run his feet, has been ideal for our offensive line and defensive athletes.

We know that to teach blocking and tackling you have to hit a body or an object and be able to run the feet on contact. Being able to do this indoors was limited by lack of the proper equipment and space for the equipment to move in until Rogers developed this indoor training device.

Now our athletes supplement their size, agility and strength training by doing full-speed football-specific blocking and tackling drills indoors year-round. The TredSled™ allows the linemen to develop their stance, contact points, hand punch, collision position, blocking footwork and quick feet on contact. The defensive players can develop good tackling technique and explosion at contact because they can “run their feet on contact.” All the advantages that we get during the season using a sled now are indoors at your disposal.

Because the TredSled™ has a built-in computer that “beeps” or a light that “turns on,” I can also train the specific offense and defense reaction movements. The defense goes on the “light” and the offense goes on the “beep” sound. In addition, the computer reads out a number that measures how hard the athlete hit the pad and the athletes love that. They all want to know who hit it the hardest when blocking and tackling and will do extra reps to see if they can beat their teammate. We had to develop a sheet to track all their repetitions to accommodate their desire to hit the machine.

I could not be more satisfied with what the TredSled™ has done to develop football techniques, athlete motivation and measuring their progress. The off-season had been a time for our athletes to focus on size, speed and agility with minimal emphasis on football technique improvements because our state does not allow for off-season spring football.

Now my athletes can specifically do their blocking and tackling drills and become better football players, not just better athletes. The TredSled™ has made this possible. I recommend you get the promo video and see for yourself what I found out this past spring. And you would think that after coaching offensive line for 15 years and being the head coach who can spend the money I would have had the sense to see it in the first ad. Oh well, at least I finally got it right!