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AFM Magazine


Making \"Quality\" a Priority

Sioux Falls\' secrets on making every minute count in the weight room
Head Coach, University of Sioux Falls
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If you liked this article, here are three others just like it:

1. Using Video Technology to Enhance Performance, March 2002
2. Putting New Muscle in the Weight Room, May 2001
3. Building Stronger, Faster Players in the Off-season, March 2001

It is a pleasure to share with the American Football Monthly readers some areas that we have added quality to our football program at the University of Sioux Falls. The main emphasis will be given to our off-season program with some mention of other areas that I believe we have improved our quality.

I learned a valuable concept a few years back while teaching a summer course in Statistics for a local company in Sioux Falls, about managing for quality. What I found was an interesting theory for management by W. Edward Deming. His theory emphasized that managing for quality would increase productivity and more profit would be the result. He emphasized getting employees to buy into quality and to use statistical tools such as quality control charts to monitor the quality. Every employee could visually see when something was out of control and work collectively to do something to correct the situation. “Ownership” in the company and the product produced in a higher quality product. More loyalty to the company would develop, and productivity, as well as wages, would increase. The old philosophy of “parking your brain at the door when you go to work” changed to getting employees to think creatively while they work. This would not only increase productivity but also increase the quality of the product. The need for everyone to punch a time clock diminished.

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This philosophy was basically what helped Japan recover economically after World War II. Many large companies in the United States at the same time elected to manage for product and quantity at the expense of quality. Obviously, large profits were made but quality suffered. There was more loyalty to labor unions than to the company. Today, as we build quality football programs I believe that we must get our athletes to take ownership in our programs. A quick fix to win is not going to result in consistently high performing programs. Continue to work to manage for quality and the wins will come.

We have done a number of things to add better quality to our program as we have looked for ways to work more efficiently and smarter, as well as creating a better environment for our athletes:

1. We are doing a much better job of teaching from the video taping of our practices. This cuts down on the repetition in practice and improves the quality of teaching in our meetings for all three phases of the game. Making video playbooks for our offense and defense has also been very valuable.

2. Our offensive coordinator, Kalen DeBoer, and defensive coordinator, Chuck Morrell, do a great job of scripting the practices. This has really increased the tempo and efficiency of our practices and increased the number of reps as well as the quality of the reps. This also gives better organization to our practices and utilization of our part-time coaches who are not available during the day for practice preparation.

3. We have also added a community service emphasis to our program, which I believe has added a lot of quality to the lives of our athletes. I like the concept that “Success Starts With Service.” Learning about serving others gives endless results in the area of building a caring family environment and team unity. We do most of our community service in areas involving children that have physical and emotional needs. Habitat for Humanity is also an area that always seems to need our service.

4. The area that we have probably improved in quality the most is in developing our athletes in our off-season program. The rest of this article pertains to this aspect of our program.

In 1994, the Avera McKennan Acceleration program started in Sioux Falls. We had a few athletes go through the program the first year, with good results. This program definitely opened our eyes to a new level of training and has influenced our athletes tremendously since that time. At first, only a few went through the program, but gradually the numbers grew and the level of off-season training continued to grow. It is quite apparent our higher level of consistency in performance and success coincided with the introduction of the Avera McKennan program. Our record over the eight seasons since 1994 is 77 wins and 18 losses with seven conference titles, six years of national playoffs, a national championship and national championship runner-up. Recruiting good athletes is still the key, but how we develop the average and above-average players gives consistency to our program.

In smaller college programs, we have to be creative to overcome the obvious obstacles of staff sizes, smaller budgets and inadequate facilities. Recently adding a new weight room with new equipment has certainly been a big asset for our program. We do have to seek out ways to overcome obstacles, and some of these come from outside resources in our communities such as the Avera McKennan Acceleration program.

Avera McKennan Acceleration of Sioux Falls, S.D., is one of over 90 facilities in North America that belongs to the Frappier Acceleration Sports Training Network. The Frappier Acceleration program is a science-based speed and power enhancement program developed in Fargo, N.D., by Exercise Physiologist John Frappier. Program participants average improvements of .10 seconds in the 10-yard dash, .15 seconds in the Pro-Agility Run, and 3 inches in the vertical jump. A number of past and current NFL players have trained with the program while in high school or college and many continue to return to Sioux Falls during the off-season for additional training. Brian Hansen, Punter, New York Jets (University of Sioux Falls); Bryan Schwartz, Linebacker, Jacksonville Jaguars (Augustana College); Adam Timmerman, Offensive Line, St. Louis Rams (South Dakota State University); Steve Heiden, Tight End, San Diego Chargers (South Dakota State University); Kyle VandenBosch, Defensive End, Arizona Cardinals (Nebraska); LeVar Woods, Linebacker, Arizona Cardinals (Iowa); and Kevin Kaesviharn, Cornerback, Cincinnati Bengals (Augustana College) all credit the program with improving their athletic ability to allow them to compete in the NFL.

The Frappier Acceleration Program integrates include treadmill, plyometric and strength training. The area where it differs the most from traditional ground-based training is in its use of incline treadmill training to develop speed (Photo 1). A Super Treadmill with a top speed of 28 mph and include capability of 40 percent is used to provide an optimal sprint-training environment. Research has demonstrated that incline treadmill training results in neuromuscular and biomechanical improvements conducive to the development of muscular power and improved running mechanics. Speed, duration and rest intervals are all manipulated to provide sport specific training effects. A typical treadmill session lasts one hour and contains 15 to 30 sets ranging from 4 to 60 seconds per set. The majority of sets are 10 seconds or less in order to utilize the ATP-PC and Lactic Acid energy systems. Athletes perform two treadmill-training sessions per week.

The Frappier Acceleration plyometric training utilizes a variety of footwork drills to improve quickness, proprioception and vertical jump (Photos 2 & 3). An emphasis is placed on teaching the athlete to maintain the position of the center of gravity while moving the feet rapidly in different directions. A typical plyometric session lasts 45 tgo 60 minutes and contains 25 to 40 sets ranging from 5 to 20 seconds per set. Athletes perform one plyometric session per week.

The strength training utilized with the program is very functional in nature. Equipment designed specifically for the program is used in conjunction with other selectorized machines and free weights. The Plyo Press machine is designed for both explosive power and slower speed lower strength training (Photo 4). The Pro Multi-Hip machine allows athletes to strengthen the hip extensors, flexors, abductors, and adductors in functional positions.

College football players with professional potential train with the program for approximately eight weeks during the winter to prepare for the NFL scouting combine and scout testing at their school. High school and college football players typically utilize the programs for six to eight weeks of pre-season training in the summer. Beginning in 1994, several USF football players began participation in the program each summer. In 1998-2000, approximately 20 players utilized the program each year for off-season training in February and March.

February of 2001 saw the USF football program officially begin to coordinate their off-season training to include the Acceleration training for the majority of the players. Sixty-five players were pre-tested for 10-yard dash, Pro-Agility Run and vertical jump prior to beginning the program. USF players ran treadmill workouts on Mondays and Thursdays, with plytometric training on Tuesdays. The usual off-season strength-training program was modified to fit with the Acceleration training schedule (Table 1). Proper integration of Acceleration with the traditional strength program is a vital key to success. Treadmill training places intense demands on the lower body and trunk and caution must be used to insure that over-training does not occur. In particular, major lower body exercises such as squats and cleans should be performed only one day per week and must not be done the day before a treadmill session. Players did their treadmill, plyometric and Acceleration lower body strength training sessions at the Avera McKennan Acceleration facility during the school day when they had openings in their class schedules. No USF players trained after 3:30 p.m. due to the large number of high school track and soccer athletes training with Avera McKennan Acceleration during the winter months. Capacity of the program was 10 USF players per hour. Strength training was done at the USF weight room following the Acceleration workouts or later in the day. Following completion of the six-week program, a week of rest for Spring Break occurred and players were then post-tested prior to beginning Spring Drills.

Our coaching staff at USF becomes excited at the conclusion of the off-season program. Spring practices give us the opportunity to get back on the field to review old schemes and implement new ideas. Importantly, this is the time when we see the results of our off-season workouts (and there will be results). We get the chance to see how much better past contributors are, and who we can expect our new ones to be.

When USF football players initially started training through Avera McKennan Acceleration, the sole purpose was to become quicker, faster and stronger. While gains in these areas continue to increase our athleticism on the field, we have seen benefits that go beyond physical testing results. I would like to explain what we have observed and how it has brought our football program to a higher level.

We start by testing our players in early February, just prior to beginning the six-week acceleration/strength program. When post-testing is done in late March we will see increases in the 10-yard dash, pro-agility, and vertical similar to what Dick mentioned earlier. Most first and second year players going through the program will experience even larger increases. These results are great, and are even more impressive when we see that players have usually gained some weight. (During a one-year span, almost all of our players will gain between 10 and 30 pounds and still improve their testing times, vertical jump and weight maximums.

The workouts through Avera McKennan Acceleration have pushed our athletes to a new level of training. One can witness how this happens by watching just one set of runs during a normal treadmill workout. When training on the treadmill, there is no slowing down. No matter how tired the athlete is he must keep running, with possible assistance from a spotter. We have also seen this heightened intensity brought into the weight room. In the past it generally seemed that when our athletes were active in the Acceleration program, our strength program suffered but now we feel that we have blended the programs together in a way to achieve good results in both.

Using the Acceleration staff along with the coaching staff benefits the players by giving them input from a variety of people. Our program schedule allows them to be somewhat free from coaches until spring practices begin in early April. We use this time as an opportunity to encourage and guide players with other issues concerning football, school, and their lives. We leave it up to Dick and his staff to do the motivating. As a result, I think players and coaches both look forward to spring practices and are excited to begin preparing for the next season.

During the summer most of the players stay in Sioux Falls, working and preparing for the fall. A few will do the Avera McKennan Acceleration program once again during this time, while others will do agility and conditioning drills as groups or individually. We, of course, continue to lift on a four-day a week program, designed a little different than what was used in March. Players have been shown to at least maintain their progresses made during the six-week conditioning session.

Any successful team must, of course, have great athletes. If these athletes are not on the field, though, they are of no value. We feel our lack of injuries is a direct result of our training schedule and system. This year we were fortunate enough to play 14 games and end the season with the same players we started with. It is no coincidence that, like 2001, USF’s best seasons were virtually injury-free seasons.


About the author
Bob Young

Bob Young finished his 20th season as head coach at The University of Sioux Falls with his career record standing at 149-67-3. Young is the winningest coach in the school's history with a .68 winning percentage. His 20 years of service make him the most experienced coach in the Great Plains Athletic Conference and he has the longest tenure of any coach at USF.

This season, Young led the Cougars to a 12-1 record. The Cougars finished 10-0 in the conference, to claim the conference title. The Cougars went on to win two playoff games before falling in the National Semifinals to the eventual champion Carroll College, 20-17. Young guided USF to nine South Dakota-Iowa Conference crowns before the school joined the GPAC two years ago, where they have tied for one championship and won another.





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