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High School Strength and ConditioningTHE NECESSARY INGREDIENT FOR SUCCESSby: Matt Fulks © More from this issue “But if I knew then what I know now, we might have won a few more championships.” - Mike Nitka In Indiana, basketball is king. Except at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis. Sure, the basketball teams have enjoyed modest success recently. But since 1984, the football program has won seven state championships, been nationally ranked three times, including a national championship in 1991. Strength coach Kevin Vanderbush is largely responsible for that. Before Vanderbush arrived in ‘84, the football team had only 11 winning seasons in the school’s previous 47 years of football. “I was very fortunate in that when I started as a strength coach, our school’s football coach (Dick Dullagham) had just come back to high school coaching from the college level, so he had an understanding of the importance of strength training,” said Vanderbush. “Our strength training program was credited as one of the important factors that allowed our football team to win.” Vanderbush, who was selected as the 2001-02 National High School Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year by the Professional Football Strength and Conditioning Coaches Society, is proving the point that an increasing number of high schools are learning: a good strength and conditioning program is necessary for teams that want to be successful. Until a little more than a quarter-century ago, strength training was taboo. Many coaches at all levels felt that strength work would hurt performance. It was assumed that athletes would bulk up to Hulkian proportions, lose speed or damage their hearts. Then, in the early 1980s, the coaching world as a whole started to see the benefits of strength and conditioning programs. Athletes became faster. Nagging injuries, such as muscle pulls and strains, started decreasing. Even when athletes did sustain an injury, they recovered faster when they were well conditioned. Athletes had the building blocks they needed to succeed. That’s even truer today. “I think that (strength and conditioning) has gone from something that was optional to where it’s absolutely mandatory to compete,” says Ken Cass, the strength coach at McQueen High School in Reno, Nev. “If you’re not doing it at your school, you’re falling behind the eight ball.” The Base of Your Program Whether in spite or because of its importance, there really is no sure thing when it comes to setting up a strength and conditioning program. The general standard today encompasses year-round resistance training, cardio work and proper nutrition. After that, the possibilities for the actual program are seemingly limitless. “The biggest hurdle for high school strength coaches today is setting up programs,” says Patrick McHenry, the strength coach at Ponderosa High School in Parker, Colo. “We encourage our athletes to go out for more than one sport because research shows it will help them in the long run. However, this will cause the athlete to not have an off season because they go from one sport to another. “I have to modify my programs so I do not burn the athlete out or over train them.” During the early years of conditioning programs, when coaches were still learning how muscles work, athletes in all sports were on one workout. Now, with advancements in exercise physiology, even athletes within the same sport are on different programs. “We must know WHO we are training, WHAT we are training for and have a PLAN,” Doug Fairchild, the strength and conditioning coach at Caprock High School in Amarillo, Texas, wrote in an e-mail interview. “In football, the requirements for speed, absolute strength and endurance may be quite different for an offensive lineman as compared to a free safety... To really match up a good program, each individual athlete needs their own, individualized workout.” Bruce Harbach, the head football coach and strength coach at Lancaster Catholic High School and the strength and conditioning coordinator at Wilson High School in Pennsylvania, added: “The strength coach needs to communicate with the other coaches to see what their teams’ needs are and then design programs around those needs.” “Every High School Should Have Free Weights” Although fitness machines found favor in many weight rooms around the country, coaches still prefer good old-fashion free weights. “Every high school should have free weights!” wrote Fairchild. “We can replicate with barbells and dumbbells, literally, every exercise any machine can do. We can do myriad variations of these exercises, take up less space, get more people trained and have much greater proprioception and neural adaptation with free weights.” “I think free weights are the way to go,” said Mike Nitka, strength coach at Muskego (Wisc.) High School. “You can get a ton of free weights for the same amount of money that you’d spend on a machine.” It’s common to find high school weight rooms also outfitted with jump ropes, plyometric boxes, medicine balls, kettle bells, stability balls and some type of cardio machine – treadmill or stationary bike. Oh, and a radio. “You can have a quiet weight room,” said Nitka, “but when the kids put on their favorite music, the attitude in the room completely changes, as long as the music’s not offensive and they don’t fight over it.” Bigger Bang for Your Buck Mike Burgener’s weight room has changed a little since he started at Rancho Buena Vista (Calif.) High School in 1985. At one time, the room was about 2,000 square feet with three free weight platforms. Now, a decade after switching with the art room, the weight room is 4,000 square feet, and it has nine platforms. “It blows me away that things like kettle bells are coming back,” said Burgener, who has trained everyone from high school students to Olympic athletes. “In my weight room it’s all free weights. I had to stay ‘old school’ because I didn’t have any money.”
“I have had over 160 schools throughout the Midwest visit my program,” said Kevin Vanderbush. “I would highly encourage all coaches to take the time to visit established programs, and learn from each other.” |
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