In my first "interview" with Toby Vallas, I was interested in what he was doing at Farmington that was creating such a high level of participation in football. In answer after answer, Toby came back to explaining their approach to strength and speed was at the center of the Farmington student-athlete enthusiasm for sports. So I had to go back to Toby and ask him to spell out the details of their strength and speed program.
Massey- In the earlier blog, you described when a player comes into your weight room, they are not coming in as a football players, or a basketball player, or baseball player- they are coming in as an "athlete." And you emphasized your goal is to make each student a better athlete- stronger and quicker. If your strength program is a “one-team” approach, what is the basic model you use? I believe Noonan said you initially decided to train them all like you would train a 200 runner? What do you train them as today, why did you choose that, and what is the benefit of training them that way?
Vallas- I think Noonan is getting old. We try to achieve the athleticism of a college triple jumper. I love the speed, explosiveness, and coordination of the event. I also think that there is a lot to be said about the strength and durability of putting so much pressure on one leg. What we realized was we didn’t have the big heavy kids that couldn’t get off the ball and if we did it was usually an attendance issue or a kid who was hesitant because they were new to the sport and overthinking, not a coordination of explosiveness problem. Plus, all the other sports (and us) wanted kids that were faster and could jump higher and even in football at least at our level speed and toughness tend to win out.
Massey- The last several years, being retired as a teacher, I went over during Galesburg's athletic PE and talked with Jim Noonan a lot. It takes time, but he is trying to get Galesburg doing a similar program to what you run. This last year, he was an assistant coach for me, and I have been so impressed with his expertise in strength and speed development. I am so excited to see what he does with athletes at Galesburg.
If I am correct, when you developed the concepts of your program that Jim Noonan was there and the two of you collaborated to develop this. What expertise did he bring that was important, and were your other resources?
Vallas- I kind of worked through the speed and ballistics part of it from my track background and with a lot of help from Roger Haynes at Monmouth College, who knows more about speed training than I know about anything.
I knew what I wanted from the program and when I wanted which phases to happen but Jim did the programming. He streamlined the whole thing giving us an index of lifts to choose from. Cassie Gauf our Volley Ball Coach does this now and she is on a similar page as Jim.
We wanted it to be geared toward all athletes peaking for their postseason. Without that we weren’t going to do any of them justice. We used the calendar to plan backwards and as Coach Haynes has always done, we planned it vertically. Jim as definitely instrumental in getting this rolling. He does such a good job in building the whole athlete and communicating the process to the students.
Massey- There is a tendency for some high school coaches to forget their basketball players is also a volleyball player and a softball player- they are an athlete. Or to forget their football players is also a baseball player and a basketball player- they are an athlete.
How would you respond to individual coaches who would say, I need a more specific program for my team? The football coach saying I need something for my lineman. The basketball coach says she needs a specific jump program. The baseball coach who wants specific program for throwing?
Vallas- Honestly, I don’t think you have a plan. The kid’s experience is what matters. 365 days, what is the culmination of what they have done? One plan for the year will get them way closer to where you want them.
I guess I’d use their own argument against them. By having them do 3-4 different programs or even worse encouraging them not to lift through a season they aren’t specializing anyway. Have them do one program where they specialize in being an athlete.
We still have some kids and parents who think they shouldn’t lift in season but those influences come from outside the building. We have some of our own kids who don’t realize how good they have it and don’t get the most out of the program. I think everyone deals with some of that. I think you do the best you can but getting everyone on the same page definitely benefits the kid.
Massey- How important is it to get your freshmen and sophomores lifting?
Vallas- I think its really important, especially for them to learn the lifts. It takes a lot longer than people realize. You are working with different levels of coordination and experience. I think as a freshman especially its more about the exposure and learning.
Massey- As schools, everyone says we want multi-sport athletes. At schools even Galesburg’s size most of our athletes play 2-3 sports. The female athlete who plays volleyball, basketball, track- if each coach says they are going to have them do an “in-season” lifting program- the athlete never really gains weight. But each coach is worried that lifting hard is going to cause the athlete to underperform and maybe we lose that non-conference basketball game on a Tuesday night by 2 points. How do you address this concern?
Vallas- Honestly the only time I hear that is from kids playing summer baseball. We lift on Fridays in the Fall, mainly because the other sports have to lift on their game days sometimes. The goal is the postseason. I think rest is maybe getting a little overblown by some right now. If fatigue is a problem, you are probably practicing too hard, or too long, or still conditioning. We try to remember what the goal is on the calendar and work toward that end goal.
Massey- Many sports have meets/games on multiple days a week. If you don’t lift hard day before or day of games, it is tough to be effective. How do you approach this?
Vallas- Some of our kids on game day choose to do half the reps at a lighter weight and move the bar faster. Our best athletes and the brightest kids, by the time they are sophomores or juniors, they just lift and follow the plan. Unbelievably they still end up being the best ones. But we have met some kids in the middle because it was important to them. I’m not sure you win out in the end if you try to force the program on them. They have to have that realization themselves.
Massey- How many days per week are they lifting and doing speed work? How much time do they spend? Can you breakdown what a session looks like?
Vallas- Summer- 20 minutes win the weight room, 20 minutes sprint work, 20 minutes multi-throw / multi-jump. 4 days a week
During the year- A lot depends on the weather but we are doing some form of lifting or sprint work 4 days a week for 40 minutes. We never lift when there is no school or a vacation other than summer.
Massey- During the school year- do they have opportunity to lift during school?
Vallas- Yes everyone. Athlete or non-athlete, boy or girl.
Massey- What does the weight room look like, are there volleyball players, track runners, and football lineman lifting at the same time? What does that do for the athletes that is beneficial?
Vallas- During the school year everyone is in there together throughout the day. Cassie Gauf and Kaleb Plattenberger run the class. They do a great job of keeping everyone on the clock. In the summers we separate boys and girls just to fit everyone. There is no rivalry and jealousy between sports, its literally the same kids. And the boys and girls support each other
Massey- Do you use any incentives with the program? Things like t-shirts, record boards, speed charts?
Vallas- We do have a record board that has been there for a long time. I’m not huge on t shirts and that stuff I think it has to come from inside the kid. We have a total athlete test at the end of the summer that the kids love. A past assistant stole this from someone I should give credit to but I can’t remember who it was. But it has a few lifts and a couple events and it complies a score like a decathlon. The kids get into it and it gives them something to shoot for.
Massey- In sports today, culture is probably an overused word. It is used so much that people don’t pause to grasp the words meaning. My experience in coaching is that programs/schools can have not only positive cultures, but also can have negative cultures- seldom is culture neutral.
I believe that too often if the strength/speed program is sport specific, it is easy to develop a culture where athletes can fall into the trap of feeling like when they go to weight room that they are doing something extra or something special vs a culture where they feel this what athletes do this. Clearly at Farmington that is what you have done, you have established a “strength/speed culture.” What would you say are the beliefs, behaviors, and attitudes at the core of your culture?
Vallas- Nothing here is perfect but this has been good for us. It’s benefited all our sports, there are a ton of people who have come through here and played a role in this, we are very fortunate that everyone has been willing to give a little to gain a lot. This is not a perfect culture and it isn’t exclusive to football. There are a lot of people out there that know more about this than we do. There are a lot of things we have to continue to do to better at but lifting together is definitely something we are doing right.
Sharing athletes is something we are doing right. It’s a place our kids love to come to. We have watched our school shrink and our low socioeconomic group grow and our participation has continued to rise.
One thing writing this has made me realize is we need to do a better job of explaining to our athletes why we are doing things the way we do them. At the core, I think it’s a community where everyone does their part, they still believe in getting their hands dirty, and its about 1 team, Farmington and no one thinks their program is more important than anyone else’s, no matter the sport each kid gets 4 years and they deserve our best. We have a ways to go to get to where we want all our programs to be but we are headed in the right direction.
Massey- Thanks for "talking" to me again. Your program is obviously good for school, good for your teams, and most importantly good for your athletes. Over the next decade, schools who take this approach will consistently produce better athletes.
The following link takes you to the first blog- Toby Vallas- Creative Approach to Coaching
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