Like many other small high schools across the country, Sioux Central High School in Iowa doesn’t just have athletes; it has multi-sport athletes. While the student-athletes bounce from sport to sport throughout the school year, one thing remains consistent: strength and conditioning. Sioux Central coaches and teachers have pushed to create a unified strength and conditioning program across physical education and athletics to support all student-athletes.
Why Sioux Central Prioritizes The Weight Room
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Despite the challenges of busy schedules, multiple sports, and other responsibilities, the weight room is a crucial component of the athletic journey for Sioux Central high school student-athletes. Head Football Coach and Assistant Track Coach Brandon Goodchild underscores the significance of this, explaining why they want all athletes to harness the power of the weight room for their athletic endeavors.
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“It doesn’t matter what sport you are in; the weight room does good for all aspects of being an athlete.”
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Although there is a rise in athletes looking for sport-specific workouts, Coach Goodchild says that emphasis on the program is that it is built specifically for high school student-athletes,
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“It isn’t just for football, track, or whatever sport or sports athletes play. Instead, it is specific to being an athlete and all the elements of improving overall performance.”
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With a unified focus, the school sets out to create opportunities for student-athletes to train throughout the year so that they can reap the benefits of the weight room.Â
Dedicating Time Throughout The Day To Train
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With most after-school time filled with different practices and competitions, Sioux Central turns to morning workouts and physical education classes as the best opportunities to get student-athletes into the weight room. Dacia Fuentes, a PE teacher at the school, explains the importance of creating opportunities for student-athletes to train, even while they are in season,
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“A lot of athletes come during a morning weights block before the school day starts, but we also offer opportunities in physical education so that we can get our athletes into the weight room on a consistent basis.”
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In addition to being a small school, Sioux Central also pulls students from multiple surrounding towns, adding another element to the importance of creating opportunities for student-athletes. But even with all of these challenges, Dacia says that the participation and turnout both during the school year and summer have been tremendous,
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“Even as a small school, we have a high percentage of student-athletes, boys and girls, participating in the strength and conditioning program throughout the entire year.”
Supporting Multi-Sport Athletes With S&C Software
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In addition to committed coaches and teachers like Brandon Goodchild, Dacia Fuentes, and many others at Sioux Central, the school also uses technology to support strength and conditioning success. Between before school lifts and physical education classes, Dacia says that the addition of PLT4M has supported the unified approach to the weight room,
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“It gets us all on the same page and promotes another level of accountability with the student-athletes. And because there are videos with each exercise, we can go from constantly explaining movements to giving much more detailed critiques and fixes for student-athletes in the weight room.”
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And while Coach Goodchild was initially hesitant about adding phones and technology to the weight room, he says that it has proven to be a nice addition to the program,
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“I did everything on spreadsheets in the past, but PLT4M is easy to use when creating and delivering programs to student-athletes. And changing it up for the student-athletes has clearly resonated with them. For example, now they can see their progress on the app every day rather than every few months. ”
Each exercise assigned to students via the PLT4M app comes loaded with instructional demo videos and notes. Check out an example below!Â
Exericse Demo Notes
We begin by placing the back foot up on a bench or soft box. Scoot the front foot forward to a point that allows for a proper knee angle at the bottom of the squat (keeping the front foot too close will make it difficult to maintain a neutral spine and full foot contact with the ground).
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Holding a dumbbell in either hand (or simply using bodyweight), drop the back knee to the floor, keeping the front knee in line with the ankle box. Mobility may be a limiting factor in the depth of this movement, and that is OK – it is part of the reason we are using it, to improve that ROM. From the bottom, drive the full front foot into the floor and rise to full extension.
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Key Takeaways On Sioux Central’s Unified Approach
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Strength and conditioning can often fall to the wayside during the busy school year at many small schools. But beyond a strong summer program, schools like Sioux Central know the importance of year-round strength and conditioning for athletic performance, injury prevention, and many other critical factors for success.
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Therefore, Sioux Central has pushed for their small school, filled with multi-sport athletes, to hit the weight room throughout the school year. With a unified approach across PE and Athletics, dedicated coaches and teachers, and technology to support it all, Sioux Central is seeing the benefits of strength and conditioning for all athletes at the school.
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