The last three years, as a coach, I had an opportunity to go over a few days per week to encourage our basketball players, and to observe Coach Noonan's program in Advanced Sports Training. The organization and the energy that Coach Noonan and the others teachers had was fantastic. Every day the athletes had an opportunity to work to get stronger and faster.
Massey- My understanding is that this year you will have more periods of Advanced Sports Training. That has to be a real positive to reduce class sizes and make it more accessible to the athletes.
Noonan- Yes, you are correct. There are 3 Advanced Sports Training classes and 2 Intro to Advanced Sports Training classes being offered during each semester this year. In the past, we have only had one period during the day that was dedicated specifically to our athletes. This put us in a situation where we had over 100 student athletes in the Fieldhouse at the same time. The Fieldhouse is a very nice facility, but it’s difficult to meet that many students’ needs during the same 45 minute class period with the equipment we currently have.
Having more offerings will result in much smaller class sizes. This will enhance the student experience in a number of ways. First, crowd control will be a thing of the past. If it’s a lifting day, the entire class will be able to utilize the weight room at the same time. In terms of equipment, we will now have enough medicine balls, jump ropes and resistance bands to accommodate the students.
The thing I am looking most forward to is the opportunity to develop better relationships and to hold each student to a higher level of accountability. An unfortunate byproduct of a very large group is that some kids are able to slide by and not give their best effort. It’s easier to skip a lift in a weight room that’s at peak capacity and not be noticed by your peers or coaches. There will also be much more of an opportunity for the students to receive individualized instruction which is very important when learning complex movements and the way to properly exercise.
Noonan- We want to develop the overall athlete. Most sports are going to benefit from athletes who are faster and can jump higher, and can not only apply force but also absorb it without losing form. More importantly, I can’t think of any sport that is going to be adversely affected by an improvement in these areas.
One of the things that I am stealing from my time at Farmington is the Total Athlete Test that Coach Vallas uses. It’s a really creative way to measure an athlete’s performance in different events and uses a scoring system to rank the results. Some of the events reward strength (eg: squat, bench press), while others reward movement (eg: pro agility drill, 40 yd dash). The kids think it’s fun and it’s become a very important part of what they do and the success they have. At its core, it’s an extremely positive way to celebrate the work the kids have put in and to recognize the growth they have achieved.
"We want kids to represent the Silver Streaks in multiple sports."
Noonan- A couple of things come to mind when thinking about this question. First, if a 3 sport athlete is perpetually treated as being “in season”, and therefore avoids speed, agility and weight training at the volume and intensity levels necessary to promote growth, how are they ever going to reach their full potential in these areas? Training hard in the summer is valuable, but a good amount of the gains will be long gone by winter if the athletes have not continued to invest the necessary time and energy into their physical training.
My other thought is that if we want kids to represent the Silver Streaks in multiple sports, then we have to eliminate the mindset where a kid feels as if they should not participate in one sport because they need to get stronger and faster for a different sport. When kids know that they can play a second or even third sport, and they will be encouraged to continue to train for their favorite sport it leads to higher levels of participation. I’ve witnessed this firsthand during my time at Farmington.
Noonan- Lifting, and training in general contributes to one’s overall resiliency and durability. Once an athlete has conditioned themselves enough via vigorous exercise to develop a foundational level of strength, lifting on game days is not problematic if done right. I’ve been around plenty of athletes who have trained on game day and were still able to perform at very high levels that evening. In fact, we currently have several sport programs at Galesburg who consistently train on game days with no issues. Smart training on a game day primes the central nervous system, encourages full range of motion in the joints, and can help prepare the body for competition. Of course, elements such as movement patterns, volume, intensity and the proximity to game time should all be taken into consideration.
An interesting somewhat recent development in the strength-training community has been a movement towards actually using the weight room as part of a culture-building pregame routine where teams complete a workout together prior to taking the field of play. I absolutely see how this could be beneficial both physically and mentally for the athletes. Granted, this training session would look different than that of an athlete who is training 12 hours before their game starts.
"We want our athletes to be at their best when the post season arrives."
Noonan- This is an area where I have been lucky to know some very good track coaches over the years who have been willing to share their knowledge about tapering and preparing the body to peak at the right time. Typically in the sports setting, we want our athletes to be at their best when the post season arrives. As the end of the season approaches, adjustments will be made to the volume and frequency of the training session to increase recovery and reduce stress on the athletes.
Noonan- There has always been, and I assume will continue to be a noticeable difference between a team whose coach has made it a priority to talk to their athletes about the expectations and goals of the Sports Training classes, and the coaches who haven’t. My intention is to be in constant communication with the coaches. I absolutely love getting to send an email to a coach bragging about a kid’s effort, teamwork or leadership in my class. When concerns arise about a kid’s or a team’s focus or work ethic, I will talk to their coaches about that as well. In my experience, when a group knows that their coach is invested in their performance in a class of this nature, they become more invested in the class as well. We have several coaches at GHS who in the past hace popped in from time to time during their prep period to watch the class and interact with their athletes. I think this is a tremendous way to demonstrate that the class is important and is more or less an extension of their respective sport.
Noonan- That’s a great question. I don’t want to give the impression that we are only talking about lifting weights and getting stronger. Our goal is to develop all around athletes. We will be working on a number of things to accomplish this. While strength training is definitely important, we will also work on acceleration, max speed, deceleration, lateral movement, single and double leg jumps, multi throws, rotational power, core strength, flexibility, etc. We want our athletes to be fast, explosive and durable and we will do a variety of things to accomplish this.
Noonan- I think the only way a class like this will ever reach its full potential is by having a high level of buy-in from our older students. As with a lot of things we try to do at the high school level, seniors play a huge role in setting the tone regardless of if they are a captain of a team or not. Younger students are watching them at all times. It’s up to them to decide whether they want to influence the younger kids in a positive or negative way. In my experience, if the leaders take the class seriously and hold themselves to a high standard, the other students tend to fall in line. Unfortunately, the opposite is also the case. Nothing is more frustrating to me than a senior athlete who has lost their motivation for working hard and is ok with letting the younger students watch them cut corners, or even worse, allows the younger kids to cut corners with them.
Noonan- I hope everyone can get behind this and help get the class to where we want it to go. I will continue to communicate with the students about why this is important and am confident that a majority will try their hardest to do their best. Once they start to see measurable improvement, it will fuel their desire to continue to do things the right way.
I hope the parents will encourage the athletes to take advantage of the opportunity this class provides, and will help me to celebrate the kids’ achievements throughout the year. I will be starting a twitter handle in the very near future specific to this class as one way to keep the community informed and to recognize the gains our students have made. If we can get the coaches, athletes and parents all on the same page I truly believe great things will happen.
Massey- Over the last three years, it has been exciting to see athletes who took advantage of the opportunities in Advanced Sports Training. If an athlete is willing to work each day, they can become a stronger, quicker athlete. It is a huge opportunity for athletes.
If athletes in different sports buy-in, and commit to the Advanced Sports Training, the program has the potential to change the quality of our entire athletic program. Coach Noonan is working to create a strength and conditioning culture at GHS. If we reach a point where our school culture and our athletes are committed the year around to strength and conditioning, our teams can become championship level teams.
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