S&C in a High School Football Setting

This past month I have been grinding day in and day out to learn as much as I could working with a high school football team. Unfortunately it has taken me away from my blog content, until now. Fortunately, I have taken away so much more experience and knowledge that I can now share with my followers.

1. START WITH THE BASICS
Any solid S&C professionals know that the more individualized a program is for an athlete, the better you can address their needs/wants. The only problem is that as your numbers increase your coaches to athlete ratio can exceed a manageable number. The danger then becomes not being able to correct an cue every athlete appropriately.
So how do you approach large team training. You start with the basics. Choose the movements that are of highest value and start everyone at the same level. With any team I might choose to work on a neutral spine, eccentric loading, and mobility of the hips and ankles (leading to oly lifts, squat, hinge, push, pull, etc). Of course the team's past history of training could allow room for other foundational movements to take place. The point being is to start everyone equal and demand them to earn the movement. Some athletes are motor geniuses and might learn this in a week, while others may take a month.

2. LEARN YOUR ATHLETES NAMES
Some of the high school football players enjoy being on the team and only want to earn the jersey to wear every Friday night. That being said, they do not always show up motivated to train as hard as they can. That is an atmosphere that must be created over a period of time. However, by learning a few names and creating somewhat of a relationship with the players will show them you are not just a random coach trying to teach them to lift. We care about their success, safety, and experience in their sport and learning a name can show them you care.

3. BE WILLING TO COACH EVERYTHING
I am specifically talking to the coaches who are not running the training. I spent the first month with the team as an extra coach to help cue our athletes with positioning and technique. One day I could be coaching their hinge or squat station, the next day I might be working with them on their corrective or soft tissue work. Of course and olympic lift takes more coaching and cueing than an ankle mobilization drill, but they are all of importance and someone has to do it. So in everything you do, do it to the best of your abilities. Would I rather coach a higher difficulty lift, sure. But you can bet I will coach a mobility exercise to the best of my ability as well.

4. TEST YOUR ATHLETES
There must be a start and finish in your season, off season, etc. Therefore, you need to test your athletes to give them concrete evidence of the results they are getting from training. Also, coaches needs this in order to study their program and see the reasons why their athletes are or are not getting better. We want our athletes to know that every time we go into the weight room or onto the field it is with a purpose!

Also, here is an extra video of my deadlift update from 3 weeks ago. My goal is 300 by December!