High School “Powerhouses” lifting coaches...any accountability?

[Garnacho]

First off, I did not want to mention any kid’s names because it’s really not their fault.

I was watching a P5 high school recruit’s video of him tying to clean and he displayed atrocious technique and mobility. The kid has spent his whole high school career at a “powerhouse” that has excellent facilities. Then I watched his teammates lifts and they were equally ugly.

Two thoughts:
1. How does a 17 year old not have the mobility to perform the lift? At that age, a coach should be able to have the athlete regain the necessary ranges of motion in a couple of months at the most. But how do they even let him lose that range of motion if he has been there for multiple years? And if he does not have the mobility, why is he performing the lifts?

2. If this is a high school powerhouse, how are they not teaching these kids the most basic techniques? Literally every single segmentation of movement was pure sh*t. Arms and lower back.

There is no way those kids can step into a college program and contribute. They are an automatic redshirt just so they gain the minimum mobility to be considered an athlete. They are an injury waiting to happen. And I put the blame on the high school coaches.

There is no excuse for a P5 football prospect to not be taught how to lift weight correctly.

Pathetic. Rant over.

 

[Drewny1]

Well its probably why kids from that school dont amout to anything on the college level

 

[mirvin88]

First off, I did not want to mention any kid’s names because it’s really not their fault.

I was watching a P5 high school recruit’s video of him tying to clean and he displayed atrocious technique and mobility. The kid has spent his whole high school career at a “powerhouse” that has excellent facilities. Then I watched his teammates lifts and they were equally ugly.

Two thoughts:
1. How does a 17 year old not have the mobility to perform the lift? At that age, a coach should be able to have the athlete regain the necessary ranges of motion in a couple of months at the most. But how do they even let him lose that range of motion if he has been there for multiple years? And if he does not have the mobility, why is he performing the lifts?

2. If this is a high school powerhouse, how are they not teaching these kids the most basic techniques? Literally every single segmentation of movement was pure sh*t. Arms and lower back.

There is no way those kids can step into a college program and contribute. They are an automatic redshirt just so they gain the minimum mobility to be considered an athlete. They are an injury waiting to happen. And I put the blame on the high school coaches.

There is no excuse for a P5 football prospect to not be taught how to lift weight correctly.

Pathetic. Rant over.

I'd rather take a gifted athlete with little to no strength training over these kids that have been put through the wringer in their early developmental years.

Incredibly irresponsible, limited sample. But take Zion. I don't know for sure but based on his transformation I would guess his school didn't have much in the way of S&C. He's hit a real program with proper nutrition combined with superior genetics and made leaps and bounds in months.

 

[Garnacho]

I'd rather take a gifted athlete with little to no strength training over these kids that have been put through the wringer in their early developmental years.

Incredibly irresponsible, limited sample. But take Zion. I don't know for sure but based on his transformation I would guess his school didn't have much in the way of S&C. He's hit a real program with proper nutrition combined with superior genetics and made leaps and bounds in months.

I would rather a school not have a lifting program than have one but not teach technique and not correct form or mobility issues. They are not doing anyone any favors

 

[AUcane]

First off, I did not want to mention any kid’s names because it’s really not their fault.

I was watching a P5 high school recruit’s video of him tying to clean and he displayed atrocious technique and mobility. The kid has spent his whole high school career at a “powerhouse” that has excellent facilities. Then I watched his teammates lifts and they were equally ugly.

Two thoughts:
1. How does a 17 year old not have the mobility to perform the lift? At that age, a coach should be able to have the athlete regain the necessary ranges of motion in a couple of months at the most. But how do they even let him lose that range of motion if he has been there for multiple years? And if he does not have the mobility, why is he performing the lifts?

2. If this is a high school powerhouse, how are they not teaching these kids the most basic techniques? Literally every single segmentation of movement was pure sh*t. Arms and lower back.

There is no way those kids can step into a college program and contribute. They are an automatic redshirt just so they gain the minimum mobility to be considered an athlete. They are an injury waiting to happen. And I put the blame on the high school coaches.

There is no excuse for a P5 football prospect to not be taught how to lift weight correctly.

Pathetic. Rant over.

this is (sadly) commonplace in HS athletics. I'm just guessing but my guess is that you have glorified PE teachers or coaches not trained in any form of weight training certification which amounts to "go lift ****" types of regimens.

 

[johnnytsunami01]

It's sad but in general society all people care about when it comes to weight lifting is how much they can lift. So kids will try to lift heavier and heavier, sacrificing form to do so. Someone can perform a heavy back lift but with bad form and end up using their legs causing the number they care about to go up. Unfortunately, they are not getting stronger and are destroying their body. It is just a matter of time before they injure themselves.

The biggest problem is that many of the hs coaches either are oblivious to the proper form or, the most likely case, say that the form was good enough. They would rather sacrifice some form for weight in hopes that it makes the staff and team look better.

If you actually look at the natural strong guys at the gym, they lift less heavy weights then many that are smaller guys, because the form and what muscles they are using is much more important. That is what gets you strong, it is mostly mental making sure you are lifting and squeezing the right muscles. The weight means little.

 

[OriginalGatorHater]

Well its probably why kids from that school dont amout to anything on the college level

The opposite is true. If you can get a P5 offer having never lifted properly in your life. Once you get put on a real SC routine, you are going to turn into a beast.

 

[Drewny1]

The opposite is true. If you can get a P5 offer having never lifted properly in your life. Once you get put on a real SC routine, you are going to turn into a beast.

If he is talking about Pinder at Armwood, name the last one from that school that amounted to anything?

 

[Garnacho]

The opposite is true. If you can get a P5 offer having never lifted properly in your life. Once you get put on a real SC routine, you are going to turn into a beast.

You have a point, but, it is much harder for a kid to regain mobility and learn technique in a college atmosphere vs a high school atmosphere. At the college level, they have to unlearn, relearn, and regain mobility while have added responsibilities in life. High school atmosphere is a lot more relaxed and the appropriate level to learn technique.

To me, it just means that they have to redshirt just to accomplish the consideration of being a football athlete. I find it extremely hard to consider someone a P5 athlete who does not even have the mobility to perform a simple clean. That's pretty pathetic.

 

[AUcane]

I remember many years ago when Swasey was here, there was a clip of dudes doing power cleans. Technique was horrible.

 

[DTP]

If it's a public school, it's because there's no budget for a weight coach. Head coaches make peanuts, assistants make very little to nothing. Most do it because they love the game and the kids.

If it's a private "powerhouse' program, there's no excuse. They've got money to burn.

 

[Gr8.]

If it's a public school, it's because there's no budget for a weight coach. Head coaches make peanuts, assistants make very little to nothing. Most do it because they love the game and the kids.

If it's a private "powerhouse' program, there's no excuse. They've got money to burn.

this ^^

some public schools have kids that graduated a year or two as their S&C coach.

 

[sfbomber]

How many schools (the good ones too) have coaches that are even in the weight room when kids are scheduled to be working out??

 

[DTP]

this ^^

some public schools have kids that graduated a year or two as their S&C coach.

Exactly. The strength coach at my high school was one of the assistant coaches, straight out of college who's actual job was "substitute teacher". He's actually a pretty successful head coach in Broward now but at the time he was a 21 year old kid.

 

[Coach Macho]

S&C is the most neglected thing in high school football (down here).

Most programs don't have the money to hire a qualified S&C coach.

And the truth is, most P5 recruits haven't been trained how to lift properly. They're being recruited for their size/athleticism, not their lifting ability. The college scouts seldom see/watch these recruits lift. They figure that they'll teach them once they get on their campus.

One of the reasons that college coaches love Florida kids is that they're considered "un-tapped". The kids down here are ballers despite all the disadvantages they've been given. (poor facilities, poor coaching, poor S&C) A lot of them blossom when they get college S&C/nutrition/coaching.

 

[Memnon]

If it's a public school, it's because there's no budget for a weight coach. Head coaches make peanuts, assistants make very little to nothing. Most do it because they love the game and the kids.

If it's a private "powerhouse' program, there's no excuse. They've got money to burn.

This.

The majority of public schools especially in South Fla, simply don't have the budget to afford a professional certified Strength coach. They pay these coaches extremely low salaries, most of them don't have a history as a trainer or any experience in weightlifting at all, it's usually just a former player that gets the Strength coach job at his old HS.

High Schools in Texas pay salaries out of this world compared to Florida. The average salary for Texas coaches is right at 100K a year. HC of Allen TX (Kyler Murray's school) makes $126,000 a year, the HC at Cedar Hill makes 110,000K a year, the HC for DeSoto makes 114,000K a year, the HC at Lake Travis makes over 150,000K a year & literally dozens & dozens more make upwards of 100-130K a year lol smh.

 

[can4life]

If he is talking about Pinder at Armwood, name the last one from that school that amounted to anything?

He's definitely talking about Pinder at Armwood they technique scares me .

 

[HurricaneTheology]

I am saying this as a NSCA:CSCS (Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist), and I have been coaching High school strength programs for 11 years.

I believe two things are at work:
1) Very few schools have strength and conditioning professionals. Do not let fancy picturesque facilities fool you...
2) Most "strength" coaches only know how to regurgitate the programs they performed in college. Just because they performed heavy olympic movements in the 1980s obviously means they program and "teach" heavy Olympic movements in 2019.

There is such an obsession with heavier weights whether on the barbell or the body... and quality of movement is completely overlooked.

 

[Paranos]

First off, I did not want to mention any kid’s names because it’s really not their fault.

I was watching a P5 high school recruit’s video of him tying to clean and he displayed atrocious technique and mobility. The kid has spent his whole high school career at a “powerhouse” that has excellent facilities. Then I watched his teammates lifts and they were equally ugly.

Two thoughts:
1. How does a 17 year old not have the mobility to perform the lift? At that age, a coach should be able to have the athlete regain the necessary ranges of motion in a couple of months at the most. But how do they even let him lose that range of motion if he has been there for multiple years? And if he does not have the mobility, why is he performing the lifts?

2. If this is a high school powerhouse, how are they not teaching these kids the most basic techniques? Literally every single segmentation of movement was pure sh*t. Arms and lower back.

There is no way those kids can step into a college program and contribute. They are an automatic redshirt just so they gain the minimum mobility to be considered an athlete. They are an injury waiting to happen. And I put the blame on the high school coaches.

There is no excuse for a P5 football prospect to not be taught how to lift weight correctly.

Pathetic. Rant over.

Call it what it is Armwood HS ( Tampa, FL) failed to hammer home the importance of proper technique. Also the young man in question bares equal responsibility, every athlete has access to the proper traing techniques for individual exercises either on TV, in videos, internet, etc. So he should know that if your juggling the bar and stepping out several feet as you attempt a power clean, then it doesn't count, an is in fact extremely dangerous.

Go Canes

 

[wSmokin Sebastian]

We can barely afford to teach kids to read and do basic math anymore. Ain't no way you gonna tax people more to pay for a Strength and Conditioning coaches for football at a public school where budgets are already tight. If you love strength and conditioning, you probably wont want to teach social studies to 10th graders just to go lift for a couple hours after school so learn on your own or get a trainer.

Private schools can pour their money into these ventures and if they recruit, then it's in their best interest.