Coaching Management 11.3 by Momentummedia

Coaching Management VOL. XI, NO. 3

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Goal Setting ■ ■ Speed Development ■ ■

LEARNING THE RULES It’s More Than Reading

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Coaching Management Football Edition Preseason 2003

CONTENTS

Vol. XI, No. 3

p. 4 Q&A

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p. 24

p. 33

COVER STORY

Chuck Mizerski has led Lincoln (Neb.) Southeast High School to six state titles since taking over as head coach from current Nebraska coach Frank Solich in 1980.

Learning the Rules

LOCKER ROOM

Goals to Go

Bulletin Board . . . . . . . . . . . 8 NCAA approves new academic standards … Choosing captains through an interview … New law may affect what coaches can say about injuries … Making a conduct code count … Personality tests first on plate for UNLV freshmen … Indiana (Pa.) High School builds on past success. Advertiser Directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Cover Photo: Getty Images/Brian Bahr

Publisher Mark Goldberg Circulation Director Mark Shea Art Director Pamela Crawford Art Assistant Dina Stander Business Manager Pennie Small

Editor-in-Chief Eleanor Frankel Associate Editors Jim Catalano Guillermo Metz Assistant Editors Kenny Berkowitz David Hill Dennis Read Laura Smith

Production Manager Kristin Ayers Asst. Production Manager Kristi Kempf Production Assistants Jonni Campbell Hildi Gerhart IT Manager Mark Nye

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If knowledge is power, you can make your team more powerful by learning the rules of the game and instilling that knowledge in your players and staff.

CAREER BUILDING ........................................

Regularly evaluating your reasons for coaching can help make this challenging profession a rewarding one.

STRENGTH & CONDITIONING

Sowing Speed

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Increasing speed is not a fast process. But enough time, plenty of effort, and the right exercises can make your players both quicker and stronger.

Guide to Turf Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 The Football Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Uniforms & Apparel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Team Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 New Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Prepress Manager Adam Berenstain Ad Materials Coordinator Mike Townsend Special Projects Dave Wohlhueter Administrative Assistants Sharon Barbell Daniela Reis Amy Walton

Catalog Showcase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Climate Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Strength Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 More New Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Web Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Advertising Sales Associates Diedra Harkenrider, (607) 257-6970, ext. 24 Sheryl Shaffer, (607) 257-6970, ext. 21 Business and Editorial Offices 2488 N. Triphammer Rd., Ithaca, NY 14850 (607) 257-6970, Fax (607) 257-7328 info@MomentumMedia.com Mailing lists for Coaching Management Football are provided by the Clell Wade Coaches Directory.

The Coaching Management Football edition is published in November and March by MAG, Inc. and is distributed free to college and high school coaches in the United States and Canada. Copyright © 2003 by MAG, Inc. All rights reserved. Text may not be reproduced in any manner, in whole or in part, without the permission of the publisher. Unsolicited materials will not be returned unless accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Coaching Management is printed by Banta Publications Group, Kansas City, MO. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Coaching Management, P.O. Box 4806, Ithaca, N.Y. 14852. Printed in the U.S.A.

COACHING MANAGEMENT

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Q A

Chuck Mizerski Lincoln (Neb.) Southeast High School

Nebraska has long been fertile territory for powerful football programs and not just at the collegiate level. Lincoln Southeast High School has found similar success to its NCAA Division I counterpart across town, winning six Class A state titles since 1980 under Head Coach Chuck Mizerski. A graduate of Peru State College, Mizerski began coaching in his native Granite City, Ill., serving as an assistant at both of the city’s high schools. He also served as Head Coach at Plattsmouth (Neb.) High School before coming to Lincoln Southeast. Mizerski followed in the footsteps of current Cornhuskers Head Coach Frank Solich, and the two programs share a close relationship. Mizerski has sent more than 20 players to NCAA Division I schools, including the University of Nebraska. In the following interview, Mizerski talks about the key to his team’s success, his coaching mentors, and the Cornhuskers’ influence on his program. CM: What’s been the key to your sustained success at Southeast? Mizerski: There have been a number of factors. We’ve had great talent over the years. Our administration has been good about giving us the tools that we need to win. And we’ve had a lot of assistant coaches who have been here 15, 18, 20 years. All those things put together, rather than just one thing, make a difference for us.

X’s and O’s, how to treat players, organization. There are too many things to list. Has the Husker Power strength-training program influenced your approach with your players? That’s another key to our success. Our school is on an eight-hour day. Before school, our weight room is open, and every hour of the day, we offer a weight training class. After school, the weight room is open again. So we’ve been able

to have our players lift during the day throughout the year, which has made a tremendous difference for us. If we’re not strong all around, it’s our own fault. We try to get our athletes to play three sports, if they can. And each sport coach has his own philosophy on weight training. But we feel the main question is, are they lifting? We have some basic lifts that all the coaches use, and then we have some specialty lifts for each sport. How do you choose team captains? We don’t pick them, we let the players vote. After the first week of practice, everyone on the squad votes for two seniors. Through the years, they’ve done a great job. Young people know who their leaders are and who they want to follow. So we rely on their judgement, and we’ve never been disappointed. The captains do all the usual stuff, but then we ask them to do a little bit more. At the end of practice, we have them help put the equipment away, and after a road trip, we have them help clean up the bus. That’s part of leadership, doing the tasks no one else wants to do. When other people see the captains are willing to do those lousy tasks, they’re more aware of what leadership is. How do you design your practice sessions?

How much do you interact with the staff at Nebraska? Coach Solich was my predecessor here at Southeast, and Nebraska has been great to us. Anytime we have a question, want to watch film, or attend a practice, the university has been very open to us, as they are with everyone in the state. They’ve been a great resource for a long time. We’ve picked up lots of things— Nick Bahe (7) and his teammates at Lincoln (Neb.) Southeast High School won the Nebraska Class A title in 2002, the school’s second title in three years.

COACHING MANAGEMENT

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How do you divide duties among your assistants? I run the offense with a couple of other guys. We have an offensive line coach, a backfield coach, and a receiver coach. On defense, we have a defensive coordinator, a defensive line coach, defensive end coach, a linebacker coach, and a backfield coach. That’s one example of how the administration here has been good to us. They’ve given us plenty of people to coach the players.

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Q A

It’s changed over the years. We used to go out in pads every night and have lots of contact—that’s how all of us coaches learned when we were playing. But as time has gone on, we’ve gotten away from that. We only wear pads twice a week, and a lot of our drills are done as skeleton work with helmets and pads. Good players and exceptional athletes are naturally motivated and challenged to do well, so we don’t have to do anything special for them at practice. What has been the biggest change you’ve seen during your coaching career? One of the major changes is the size and the strength of the players—they’re much bigger and stronger than they used to be. Videotape has made scouting much easier and more detailed. The game has gotten more complex—like anything else, it grows and grows. You get more tape to watch, so you’re not just scouting a team from one game, you’re doing it from three or four. It’s a lot more detailed. Everyone used to play a 5-2; that was the standard defense

when I started. Now you see all kinds of different defenses, with all kinds of knockdowns and coverages. It’s a lot more complicated. Have you changed your coaching philosophy as well? There are some basic things we believe in, but we’ve tried to change with the times and not just pound the same old nail in the hole every year. We have a set of base plays that we put in every year, and then we adjust to our personnel each season. Some years, we’re more of a running team; other years, we pass more if we can protect and throw. You can’t just say “we’re a running team” and expect to be successful. If we’ve got guys who can run and catch, then we do that. Do your former players influence the current players? Our players know who the alumni are. We have a rich tradition here, and we try to keep that alive. When the students come in every year, they know there’s something they have to try to live up to, and they feel a responsibility to try to keep things

going. That’s helped a lot with our work ethic in the offseason, since they know everyone else will be gunning for us. How involved are you in the recruiting process? We try to get the players’ tapes out to colleges, and we encourage them to stay in the sport if they can. If players want to play, we try to find the right level for them to participate, whether it’s at the smallest college or for a Division I school. The fun part of coaching is seeing them go on to college, be successful, get a degree, and become a good citizen. Have you gotten involved in any recruiting services? We’ve got a local one here that we’ve started using in the past year. Before that, we just sent out tapes the old-fashioned way, but we’re having to change in that area, too. So far, the service has worked really well for our kids. How do you stress the importance of academics to your kids? Here in the Midwest, that’s still a pretty important thing. It’s easier to keep tabs

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Circle No. 5

on them here than at college—we get quarterly reports, and if one of the players is having trouble in a class, usually the teacher will come talk to us. Nine times out of 10 you can get it straightened out. What’s been your involvement with professional indoor football? First with the Lincoln Lightning in the Arena Football League, and now with the Lincoln Capitals in the National Indoor Football League. I do that in the spring, and work with the line players. It’s fun for me to be in that setting, around adults and professionals. There’s some travel involved—Roanoke, Memphis, Baton Rouge, Casper—which is fun, too. It’s a good brand of football. Two players from our league went to the NFL last season, one to the Browns and the other to the Seahawks, and our running back went up to Edmonton to play in the CFL. We’re like a minor league football team. It’s a lot of fun. It’s an extension of competition, which all of us who are in this game enjoy. Can you tell me about the Mad Dads group you’ve been involved with?

The Mad Dads is a group that works with troubled youths and tries to give them a helping hand. I worked with them for about seven years, until we dis-

high school, and I really admired my dad a lot. He was a World War II vet, and even after he came back from the war, he still kept in touch with his high school

Everyone used to play a 5-2; that was the standard defense when I started. Now you see all kinds of different defenses, with all kinds of knockdowns and coverages. It’s a lot more complicated.

banded. We just couldn’t get funding after September 11. But I found it really worthwhile to be involved with as a volunteer—it made me feel I was doing something good for the community. I probably got as much out of it as some of the kids we were trying to help. What made you want to become a coach in the first place? When I was a kid, I was a gym rat. I just liked hanging around the gym or the field. I played three sports in high school. My dad had been a football player in

football coach. That made me realize that coaching is a pretty special deal, and maybe as time goes on, I can develop some of those special relationships with my players. Have you ever considered moving to the college level? Not really. Maybe 10 or 15 years ago, I kicked it around a bit in my head. But I think I’m doing what I’m supposed to do right here, so I’ll just keep plugging along here and see how it goes. I like the coaches I work with, I still enjoy the players, and I’m still having fun.

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In an effort to place more emphasis on academics, the NCAA Division I Board of Directors recently adopted a package of academic eligibility reforms, and its effects will be felt at both the collegiate and high school levels. The new requirements increase the number of required core courses and place a greater emphasis on GPA over standardized test results in determining initial eligibility. Standards for retaining eligibility once in college have also been increased. Under the new standards, which take effect Aug. 1, incoming student-athletes will be required to have taken 14 core courses (up from 13) while maintaining a 2.0 GPA in those courses to earn initial eligibility. In addition, the sliding-scale relationship between standardized tests and GPA has been adjusted. A student with a 3.55 GPA would need an SAT score of only 400 (which is awarded for simply taking the test) to gain initial eligibility. The increased number of required courses doesn’t seem to present major difficulties for most high schools to accommodate. “I don’t have a problem with the NCAA increasing the core-course requirements,” says Wes Bergazzi, Athletic Director at Stafford High School in Falmouth, Va. “The focus always should be on academic achievement. So, if they increase those minimums, we just have to communicate them to everybody.” But increasing the number of required core courses makes it more important for studentathletes to learn about NCAA initial eligibility as early as possible in their high school careers. “We have to talk to kids in ninth grade, because they might have to make some decisions early in their high school career,” says Bob Zell,

COACHING MANAGEMENT

Athletic Director at Braddock High School in Miami, Fla. That’s why Bergazzi stresses talking with the parents of incoming student-athletes. “I feel an obligation to let parents of freshmen know early on that these requirements are out there, and they need to be watching them if they want their kid to go to the next level,” he says. “Otherwise, all of a sudden, the student-athletes could be in their junior or senior year and realize they’re missing a requirement.” Changes in the continuing eligibility requirements mean that student-athletes will be required to earn at least 24 hours of academic credit before their second year of collegiate enrollment to stay eligible. As they progress, they must earn a minimum of 18 semester hours per academic year and six hours of academic credits per term. Student-athletes also will be required to achieve 90 percent of the minimum cumulative GPA necessary for graduation by the start of their second year of enrollment, increasing to 95 percent by beginning of their third year, and 100 percent at the beginning of their fourth year and any subsequent years. To ensure continued progress toward a degree, student-athletes will only be eligible to compete if they have completed 40 percent of their degree requirements before their third year, 60 percent before the fourth year, and 80 percent before the fifth year, an increase from the previous standards of 25/50/75. For students in five-year degree programs, the percentages become 33/50/67. Transfers from twoyear colleges will be held to the same percentage degree

requirements as those who entered four-year colleges as freshmen. NCAA Division I Board of Directors Chair Robert Hemenway, Chancellor of the University of Kansas, said in an NCAA press release that the new standards are based on two main points. “One, they are informed by the best research we’ve ever had, and

on the work of NCAA Academic Consultants, a group appointed by the Board in 2000 to review NCAA eligibility standards. “We have asked for additional research on further increasing the number of high school courses, and I believe we will seriously consider increasing that number to 15 or 16,” Hemenway said in the NCAA press release. “We are also examin-

Players hoping to succeed Missouri’s Brad Smith as the Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Year will have to meet tougher academic requirements before and after enrollment in the wake of new NCAA eligibility rules. two, they fit together as a package to increase academic standards and progress towards a degree.” The bottom line, he says, is “if you continue to meet the academic profile in your first, second, third, fourth, and fifth years, you will be on track to graduate. If you don’t meet the academic profile, you won’t be participating in college sports.” And there could be more changes to come, depending

ing models that will establish a new graduation success rate as we strive to ever more accurately judge who among those who participate in our athletics programs actually graduate.” He noted the Board is looking to track annual academic progress of student-athletes, and is mulling a set of incentives and penalties that reward or punish institutions depending on that academic progress.

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NCAA Approves New Academic Standards

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bulletin board Team Captains Interview for Job Traverse City (Mich.) High School football players who want to be team captains can no longer land the job simply by pulling in more votes than their teammates. Now they have to don suits and ties and show up for interviews. Traverse City Head Football Coach Kelly Clark decided to start interviewing captains after he heard about a similar idea being used by Chuck Apap, Head Coach at Walled Lake (Mich.) High School. “I liked the idea instantly,” Clark says. “I thought this would give me captains who really wanted the job, instead of popularity-contest winners. “Many coaches underestimate the role their captains can

starters, leaving just two behind. After the split, four head coaches came and left within three years. By the time Clark took on the position, the team was beleaguered and directionless. Clark believes that this fall’s interview process has gone a long way toward getting the program back on track.

which ended up being an impressive compilation: threeyear basketball team captain, junior high football team captain, and participation in a leadership conference for student senate. “I had never done a résumé before, so I had to look at some samples to figure out the logistics of the whole thing,” he recalls.

“The first thing I did was post the opening,” Clark says. The posting included a list of requirements, including proven leadership ability and offseason commitment to the team’s strength and conditioning program.

As it turns out, that was just what Clark had in mind. “We wanted to give the kids a reallife experience that would help them down the road,” he says.

“When I first saw it, I wasn’t sure if it was for real,” says returning quarterback and captain Mattias Johnson. “Everybody was used to the old system of a vote, and

When the deadline rolled around, Clark had 12 résumés on his desk. “Each candidate interviewed for a half-hour with a panel of current and former football coaches,” he says. “We also had our girls’ volleyball coach on the panel. That was great because she didn’t know these kids very well and could provide a reaction based just on their interviews. “We didn’t ask them fluff questions,” Clark continues. “They really had to put some thought into them.” For instance, would-be captains were asked what type of leadership they’ve liked and disliked from past captains and how they would do things differently; what weaknesses they would have as captains and how they would work on them; and what community service projects they would suggest for the team.

Traverse City (Mich.) High School football captains (l to r) Kyle Clute, Josh Snyder, Zane Zebart, and Mattias Johnson had to impress a panel of coaches through a formal interview process to earn their leadership positions. play and don’t take full advantage of them,” he continues. “That can create a leadership vacuum.” Clark is all too familiar with leadership vacuums. When Traverse City added a second high school five years ago, the newly created school across town took 17 of the team’s

COACHING MANAGEMENT

then Coach came at us asking for résumés and interviews. The guys who were serious about it started working on their résumés.” Clark required applicants to list academic, athletic, and leadership skills and experiences. Johnson took two weeks to complete his résumé,

kid who said he’d consult with his co-captains, confront the offender, and tell him if it happened again, he’d go to the coach. I was looking for captains who could take a more active role and solve some problems on their own.” Playing ability didn’t weigh heavily in the panel’s decisions, Clark says. “If we had an outstanding leader who never saw playing time, we wouldn’t have a problem selecting him as captain,” he notes. The interviews prompted some moist palms. “Some of them left sweat marks on their chairs when they got up to leave,” Clark says. Johnson admits to some butterflies, but says, “I think it was a great experience to be able to interview for the first time in front of people I was comfortable with. I knew if I messed up, I wasn’t going to lose a job or not get into college because of it.” Four captains were selected, and the other eight applicants were named lieutenant captains. Together, the 12 make up the team’s Leadership Council. Clark believes the system has resulted in a leadership structure that represents the entire team. “Between the 12 guys on the Council, everybody on the team has someone he feels he can turn to,” he says.

“One of the toughest questions was, ‘What would you do if you saw a teammate drinking at a weekend party in the off-season?’” Clark says. “Then we asked if their answer would be different if it happened during the season.”

“We meet with the Council every Wednesday to talk about any problems the team is having,” Clark adds. “We also go over our expectations for them as leaders. It wouldn’t have done us any good to name the captains and leave it at that. They can’t follow through if they don’t know what you want them to do.”

The panel discussed beforehand what they’d be looking for in the candidate’s answers. “For the drinking question, I wasn’t looking for the kid who said, ‘I’d immediately tell the coach,’” Clark says. “The best answer we heard was from a

Having well defined roles has been a big help to the captains, Johnson says. “In the past, I’ve been told, ‘Just go out there and be a leader,’” he says. “Now I have specific guidelines and I’m being taught how to do that.”

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If your players never suffer an injury, you don’t need to worry about the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Otherwise, you will probably soon encounter it, if you haven’t already. You may learn about it firsthand when you find healthcare providers less willing to talk about the medical details of athletes in their care than they once were. Adopted in 1996 primarily to help workers maintain health insurance coverage when they change jobs, HIPAA also places privacy controls on personal medical information. In a nutshell, no one but the patient— or his or her parents or guardians in the case of a minor— may disclose medical information without the patient’s consent except what’s necessary for providing treatment and for administering insurance coverage. Violators could face fines up to $250,000 as well as a prison term. Under some early interpretations of the law, it appeared that athletic trainers and team doctors would be severely limited in what they could tell coaches about their athletes’ injuries. Some feared that when a coach asked why someone can’t suit up, the athletic trainer or team doctor would be limited to saying, “Leg injury. Can’t say more.” Some teams even began to limit the injury information they released to the media. Now, however, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the federal agency responsible for enforcing the law, says that these fears were unfounded or exaggerated. Instead, HHS will view sharing details of injuries with coaches as a reasonable thing to do because they are invol-

ved in athletes’ treatment and need to know their conditions. “They seem to be more willing to give us a little bit more liberal interpretation,” says Keith Webster, Chair of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association Governmental Affairs Committee. Webster met with HHS officials in December to clarify interpretations of HIPAA’s privacy provisions and came away impressed that the earlier worries were overblown. Merely having an athletic trainer on staff does not make a school or college subject to the privacy rules—a “covered entity,” in HIPAA jargon. If an athletic trainer bills for medical coverage, however, his or her employer may be covered. That’s because the privacy rules directly apply only to organizations that conduct medical and health-insurance transactions electronically.

and she and Webster both recommend consulting school legal counsel on whether athletics is covered. Covered or not, many schools are obtaining signed releases from student-athletes that authorize healthcare personnel to release medical information to others. These releases can be similar to those many schools already use to comply with the Federal Educational Records Privacy Act (FERPA), with some modifications. HHS says it’s okay to require athletes to sign releases to be allowed to play, but failure to

A properly executed and signed release can also help deal with the issue of using outside healthcare providers. An orthopedic surgeon treating an athlete, or a clinicbased athletic trainer working at a high school, for instance, could get his or her practice or company into trouble by sharing more information than is necessary with a coach or athletic director, or by talking to members of a booster club. A proper release can authorize such providers to communicate with coaches and administrators without worrying about HIPAA.

“A team physician, or maybe even a physical therapist who works with team members, would likely be a covered entity, and their disclosure of health information about players they were treating would be restricted,” says Elizabeth Squeglia, a partner in the Columbus, Ohio, law firm of Bricker & Eckler, who has been focusing her practice on HIPAA. But a coach whose employer isn’t covered doesn’t become a covered entity by receiving protected health information from the player or some other way. “They are free under HIPAA to use or disclose that information however they want,” Squeglia says. “HIPAA simply doesn’t cover them.” Schools and colleges that operate their own student and student-athlete health operations are considered hybrid organizations and allowed to designate what parts will be subject to the privacy rules. The designation rules are highly complicated, says Squeglia,

As the result of new laws governing the release of healthcare information, coaches and medical staff may face new procedures when discussing injuries to players such as Wake Forest’s Tarence Williams. sign can’t cause denial of treatment. The releases must have an expiration date, such as the end of the sport’s season or the academic year; specify who may disclose medical information; and state who can receive the information—the coach, the athletic director, and perhaps the media; and note that if the information is disclosed to a non-covered entity, such as a coach, HIPAA may no longer apply to that information.

“My guess is that there probably has been a relatively free flow of information between the physicians and the coaching staff and the other people who have to decide if someone can be cleared to play,” Squeglia says. “The way they have conducted those discussions and transferred information may have to change, because there may need to be an authorization as a bridge to allow that to occur.”

A longer look at HIPAA may be found at www.AthleticSearch.com by typing “Matter of Privacy” into the search window.

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Complying With Privacy Law

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bulletin board Losing a Game, But Winning More

out my fall eligibility list and my marker and just started crossing off names.”

from the next 25 percent of the team’s contests. The students signed statements at the beginning of the year agreeing to abide by the rules in the handbook. Their parents signed agreements, too.

When the Marquette Catholic High School football team in Alton, Ill., won its 10th straight game this fall, the Class 3A school believed it was headed for its first state championship. Instead of sweeping the states, though, the team lost in the second round, 63-0, after 14 of the team’s 17 starters were sidelined for attending a party where minors were drinking alcohol.

The coach communicated the consequences to the players, and the job of telling their parents was left to the suspended players themselves, Montague says. The Alton community received the news via the town’s morning newspaper. Several parents called Montague in the following days, and he took the time to talk with each one.

In 1998, however, when neighboring Bethalto High School suspended nine football players for drinking at a party, outraged parents accused the school district of jeopardizing their sons’ scholarships. The parents sued and obtained a court order that put the penalized athletes back on the field.

“Our student activity code says that students will be subject to disciplinary action if they attend an event where underage consumption is taking place,” Marquette Catholic Athletic Director Jerry Montague explains. The penalty for a first offense is suspension

Montague says the 1998 case crossed his mind, but didn’t influence his decision. “The principal, the assistant principal, the coach and I met for about five minutes,” he says. “We determined what the activity code said and simply followed the procedures. I got

Montague believes having an airtight written policy and a signed statement from students and parents before the situation came up was vital. “Everyone starts out on the same page,” he says. “Our parent body knows that we have a code, and what good is a code if you don’t enforce it? I believed they would support us.”

He was right. When Friday night’s playoff game rolled around, the suspended players were there to cheer for their teammates, even though their coach had given them the chance to opt out of attending. The community came out, too. “We had twice as many people at that game as usual, and every time we picked up two yards, you would have thought we’d scored a touchdown during the Super Bowl,” Montague says. “It was a hard lesson, but it turned out to be a positive thing, because we refused to sweep the situation under the rug, even for a shot at the state championship,” Montague says. “I can’t reiterate this enough: Your policy isn’t worth the paper it’s written on unless you stand by it, even when that’s tough to do.”

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Personality Profiles at UNLV Every college coach faces it: the process of getting to know what makes his freshman student-athletes tick. At the same time, every freshman student-athlete is faced with his own quandary: What am I going to do with my career once I get out of here? At the University of NevadaLas Vegas, the athletic department is tackling both issues through extensive personality profile testing. With the help of Caliper, a human resources consulting firm based in Princeton, N.J., UNLV is offering assessments and counseling services to incoming freshman student-athletes, as well as to all its coaches. The program has two goals: identify ways to help the athletes and their coaches maximize their athletic potential, and to provide athletes with advice on career goals. “This

vate them,” UNLV Athletic Director and Head Football Coach John Robinson said. “At the same time, it enables student-athletes to take better advantage of the educational opportunity they have, and to discover another passion, which at least equals their love of their sport.” The Caliper test is designed to find out “who you are as a human being,” explains Herb Greenberg, President and CEO of Caliper. “The odds are, the test will discover two or three qualities that will place you in the top two or three percent of human ability. You’re a genius in certain things, and a bum in others.” The first part of the assessment is a 150-question test, which usually takes about two hours to complete. Questions involve word analogies, math problems, and the choice of which statements best and least reflect the test-taker’s viewpoint and personality.

“Faith in ideas should be maintained, even in the face of contradictory facts.” UNLV freshman student-athletes in fall sports took the Caliper profile early last August, and Greenberg and two coworkers flew out to Las Vegas later that month to review the results. “We sat one on one and talked to them about their sport, strengths and weaknesses, and what they need to work on from a psychological perspective,” Greenberg explains. “Then we met with the coaches from each team, who also were assessed,” he continues. “We not only talked about how each player needs to be coached—with a pat on back or boot in the butt—but we also said, ‘Given your key strengths and weaknesses, here’s what you need to do to ensure you’re coaching this person in the best way possible to maximize his or her strengths.’ “In some instances we said, ‘Given who you are and the needs of this player, maybe you’d better let another coach work more closely with this player. The chemistry would be better between those two.’”

UNLV Head Coach and Athletic Director John Robinson had the school’s freshman athletes take a personality test last fall to help them— and their coaches—learn about what makes them tick. program is designed to give coaches early feedback on their players’ personalities, so they will have better insight into how to coach and moti-

For example, test takers rank their agreement or disagreement with a variety of statements, such as, “I follow a set routine every morning” and

The other goal of the test is to see how well student-athletes meet the requirements of specific careers. “We look at the core strengths of their personality and the core strengths required for the job they’re considering to make sure they have no untrainable core weaknesses,” Greenberg says. “Most of these kids are going into a career they have no experience in. The objective is to find their raw talent and help them develop it, so 15 years later they won’t be trapped in a miserable career.” Greenberg says that the ballpark cost to a typical college athletic department would range from $20,000 to $35,000, depending on the number of athletes tested. The cost includes ongoing consultation.

“At the end of the interview each student is given our phone numbers, and over the next four years they can call us if they need us,” he says. “We’re not like a lawyer on retainer.” Robinson feels the price tag is justified. “The first year in college is pivotal in a student’s progress,” he says. “I know this program will help us get a fast start both on and off the field.”

Linking to Past Gridiron Glories Seeking to link the present with the glorious past, Indiana (Pa.) High School Athletic Director Pat Snyder has developed a successful event that has boosted the spirits of both student-athletes and the local community. Three times in five years, Snyder has invited members of past Indiana High School football teams to return for a home game, be feted at a spaghetti dinner, and speak to the current players. “I’d seen it done by some of the big college teams, so I thought we’d try it here,” Snyder says. “We’re a small school, and we’ve struggled on the field recently. I wanted to do whatever we could to try to spin some positive notes for football. Our kids might not know our school’s history. But this event shows we have some tradition and that our school can win.” In planning the event, Snyder looks back at his school’s record book to see when the football team successful seasons. He also looks for a special number, such as a 25th or 50th anniversary. “In 1997, we brought back players from our undefeated 1947 team, then in 2000, we had the 1950 team,” Snyder says. “In 2001, we invited the players from our 1976 team.”

COACHING MANAGEMENT

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Each event has worked in a similar fashion. In the spring, Snyder runs ads in the local media announcing that he’s looking for members of a specific team. “I also try to find a contact here in town for each team’s class—one for the seniors, one for the juniors, and another for the sophomores—to pass along notice of the event,” he says. “And a month before the event, we run more ads in the paper stating which people we’re still looking for.” Snyder reports that 18 players came back from the 1950 team, 14 players returned from the 1947 team, and nearly 30 players and four coaches from the 1976 team attended. “About half the members of each team still live in the area, but some

came from as far away as North Carolina and Michigan,” Snyder says. “Some of them made a big effort to get back.” Snyder usually picks a game early in the season for the event. “It’s too hectic to try to do it during the first home game, but the second home game usually works,” he says. “It’s still likely to be a nice warm evening, whereas if we did it later in the season, it might be pretty chilly.” When the special night rolls around, the returning alumni meet in the school lobby, where they’re given name tags and a bag of mementos. The principal then escorts the group around the school and shows them some of the new facilities such as the computer lab and the television production room.

“Some of the players haven’t been back in more than 20 years, so we try to show them what’s going on at our school from an education standpoint,” Snyder says. After posing for a group photo, the alumni attend a spaghetti dinner with the boosters. “The band boosters arrange the dinner, and I coordinate our event with them,” Snyder says. “We buy meal tickets for the alumni players and their families, and they usually have their own part of the cafeteria set aside.” Around 7 p.m., the alumni head down to the locker room, and one of them gives a pregame speech to the current team. “I leave it up to them what to talk about, but it’s been awesome,” Snyder says.

“I especially remember the quarterback from the 1950 team. He talked about what it was like to be undefeated, and how it was time for the current players to start a streak of their own. He really had the kids going—when he was done, they all jumped up and high-fived, then roared out of the locker room.” The program has received very positive reviews from both active and former players. “The kids love it because it teaches them about our school’s tradition,” Snyder says. “And after each event, I’ve gotten nice letters from the returning players, thanking us for reuniting them with their old teammates. It’s a simple idea, but it’s been a good influence on the team and the community.”

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If knowledge is power, you can make your team more powerful by learning the rules of the game and instilling that knowledge in your players and staff.

Learning BY KENNY BERKOWITZ

The rules are the same for everybody, but everybody does not play by the same rules. Some coaches take the time to learn the rules thoroughly, learning the intent and reasoning behind them. Others simply rely on the knowledge they’ve picked up over the years, never worrying about how accurate or complete that knowledge is. Coaches who take rulebook knowledge for granted—either their own or that of their assistants and players—risk ceding an advantage to the coach on

COACHING MANAGEMENT

the other sideline. Coaches don’t have to be able to quote section and subsection on every rule to be effective, but they do need to have a strong working knowledge of the rule book, know what and how to teach assistant coaches and players about the rules, and understand the best way to relate to officials. “There are so many coaches who never read the rule book,” says Willie Jeffries, former Head Football Coach at South Carolina State University and current member of the NCAA Football

Rules Committee. “Probably half of them know the rules and half of them don’t. But coaches need to know them better than anyone else.” Rules Matter From the NFL to high school, games are won and lost every season because of a coach’s knowledge of the rules. A game can turn on something as small as the number assigned to a player or a split-second decision to accept a penalty that should have been declined. “It pays to be well-versed in the rule book,” says Tim Murphy, Head Football Coach at Harvard University. “Knowing the rules makes you confident and prepared for any situation that may come up. When you’ve got just a second or two to make a decision, you’d better

GETTY IMAGES/BRIAN BAHR

ountless factors go into winning and losing football games. Coaches are known to obsess over the smallest detail to find even the slightest advantage to exploit against an opponent. Yet the same coaches sometimes overlook other ways to gain an upper hand.

COVER STORY

fumble and a dead ball. He’s seen games lost when coaches didn’t realize their team had an opportunity to try a field goal as a free kick following a fair catch. He’s seen coaches consistently fail to take advantage of the free blocking zone around the quarterback as he takes the snap from center. But lost points aren’t the only cost of not knowing the rules. “Ninety percent of all football rules are made for safety,” says Austin, who has been officiating high school football for the last 13 years. “Knowing the rules can save players’ lives and careers. They need to know how to tackle, how to block, how to keep their heads up. If they’re going to remain healthy, they need to have a constant reminder of the rules.”

the Rules have a clear idea of what the repercussions are going to be.” The level of detail that coaches need to know is illustrated by the “swinging gate” that may have cost the University of Pittsburgh a game last season. The play itself is perfectly legal, and familiar to many coaches: On an extra point attempt, eight members of the kicking team line up on one side of the center, before shifting back into a regular kicking formation. If the defense doesn’t adjust to the initial formation, the kicking team has a good shot at two points. The Panthers had a player wearing No. 45 line up in the interior of the line on the initial swinging gate formation. Teams are required to have five players numbered 50-79 on the line for a play from scrimmage, but exceptions are

allowed on kicking plays. However, after the team shifted for the kick, No. 45 was an end. Although 45 is a legal number for an end, a player who uses an exception to the numbering rule is not allowed to move into an eligible receiver position. The Panthers were twice flagged for an illegal shift, eventually missed the extra point kick, failed at a later attempt for a two-point conversion, and lost 1412. It’s a detail so small that Big East administrators were still explaining the call days later. It was a hard lesson, but proved once again that knowing the rules can make the difference between winning and losing. Jon Austin, President of the Georgia Football Officials Association (GFOA), has seen games lost when players didn’t understand the difference between a

Book Report With 226 pages of densely-packed legalese, the NCAA Football Rules and Interpretations might be the toughest book a college coach reads all year. In a typical edition, there will be five or six new rules, plus 80 changes to the existing rules, written in language that isn’t always easy to understand. The high school rule book is less than half that size, but it doesn’t make for light bedtime reading, either. It takes time and effort to read these rule books, and time is often a coach’s most precious commodity. With all the demands a coach faces, the rule book can easily go unread. “My strategy is simple: Go over the rule book every year,” says Murphy. “I make it a point to review all the new rules every summer and to go over the whole book in general, concentrating on clock management.” There are additional resources beyond the rule book as well. In an effort to make the rules easier to understand, the NFHS also publishes a case book, which uses game scenarios to explain Kenny Berkowitz is an Assistant Editor at Coaching Management.

COACHIING MANAGEMENT

COVER STORY

rules changes, and a simplified guide, which uses illustrations to diagram how the new rules will be interpreted. Although book reading is an important step to learning the rules, it doesn’t help much to keep your knowledge to yourself. After spending the summer studying the rules, Murphy meets with officials from his conference. Then he prepares a handout for his assistant coaches, highlighting the rules changes and new rules in detail. First, he makes sure his coaches understand the new rules and how they’ll be interpreted on the field. Then he makes sure they understand the reasoning behind the rules. “It’s great to know a rule, but if you don’t know the intent of the rule, you’re not going to understand it well enough to explain it to somebody else,” says Jeffries, who estimates that knowing the rules can make the difference between winning and losing about 10 percent of the time. Other coaches have information flow in the opposite direction. At St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati, 40-

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year coaching veteran Steve Rasso generally sends a younger assistant to the annual rules interpretation meeting held by his conference. “They come back with the changes, and together we try to incorporate them into our practices,” says Rasso. “The more you know about the rules, the better off you are. “If you have an assistant coach who’s very thorough with the rules, it’s a big plus for your team,” continues Rasso. “You can spend hours reading that rule book, but sometimes, you’re so involved with coaching, there’s no time left for studying the interpretations.” In North Dakota, and many other states, there’s an added incentive for understanding the rule book—it isn’t just recommended, it’s required. High school coaches are mandated to attend an annual rules workshop, followed by a mandatory state-wide exam. If the coaches haven’t mastered the rules by that point, they won’t be allowed to keep coaching—because the rules govern more than the game itself.

“Here in North Dakota, we stress sportsmanship, and we’re not going to put our players into a situation where they have to wonder whether a technique is legal or illegal,” says Marty Hochhalter, Head Coach at Carrington (N.D.) High School. “We understand that this is a game, but the things you learn from it are lessons you can carry through the rest of your life. Those are the things we really want to stress.” At Harvard, the coaching staff gauges how the changes will affect their strategy. Then they decide how they want to present that information to the rest of the team, and which changes their student-athletes have to study. “I don’t think they need to get involved in the minute details,” explains Murphy, “but they need to know what they can and can’t do.” “I’m not going to go through the entire rule book with our players,” agrees Bob Bierie, Head Football Coach at Loras College and a member of the NCAA Rules Committee. “But we do talk about the rule changes, what is and isn’t

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going to be legal. And we have a scrimmage where we bring in officials.” As a Division III program, Loras College is allowed to hold one preseason scrimmage with another school, and they use the opportunity to have conference officials explain the rules. Before the scrimmage, Bierie gathers a list of questions, and in a pre-game session the officials meet with the whole team, demonstrating any of the rules that players might be unclear about. “Some of the rules are really simple, and they don’t need a lot of interpretation,” says Bierie. “So we try to focus on the rules that are somewhat subjective. For example, we use the officials to demonstrate to the team what constitutes pass interference and what doesn’t.” “Every year, we make it a point to talk about the rules changes at one of our squad meetings,” says Bob Nielson, Head Football Coach at University of Minnesota-Duluth. Like Bierie, Nielson sets aside time during the preseason conference meeting to speak with officials, asking questions about new points of emphasis. He advises other coaches to work with conference officials to better understand the rules, underlining the differences between college rules and professional rules, and talking with their players about the importance of understanding overtime procedure. “The advantage goes to the teams that have talked about these things prior to experiencing them,” he says. Practicing by the Rules One way to gain that advantage is to set aside a practice session at the beginning of the season just to talk about rules. That’s what Rasso does, taking his team onto the field at the start of two-a-days, when he can concentrate on giving onthe-spot instructions to underclassmen, stopping the action as questions arise. At Carrington, there’s so much fundamental material that needs to be covered that Hochhalter makes sure teaching the rules is a part of each practice session. “Every day, different topics come up that we stress to our kids,” he says. “It’s important that they understand the game and rules as well as I do.” As a way to help your student-athletes better understand the rules, Jeffries suggests hiring members of your conference officiating crew to address your team in August, discussing the rules most frequently violated and demonstrating the difference between legal and illegal actions. Jeffries also suggests hiring officials (“If you can afford it”) to specifically watch line drills, helping acclimate the players to having officials on the field. Working with the officials has been a great boost to Jeffries’s teams, especially on pass interference and offside calls, overseeing legal formations, and making sure players are not lined up in the neutral zone. Discussing the rules with your players is important, but for coaches and players alike there’s no substitute for experience. “You can’t read the rule book and then know everything that’s happening out there on the field,” says Jerry Diehl, Assistant Director of the NFHS in charge of football rules. “You have to have the practical application, and that takes experience.” “The best way to learn the rules is through experience,” agrees Dave Hess, Offensive Line Coach at Ventura (Calif.) High School, who has been coaching for 18 years. “It’s important for

COVER STORY

assistants to know the rules that pertain to the position they’re coaching, but the best way for them to learn is still being out in the field and seeing the different scenarios that come up. You learn anything better when you’re actually doing it, rather than just reading about it.” In preseason practice sessions, Hess sets up game scenarios to teach his players the rules. Coaches act as officials, calling and marking off penalties on the field. Then during the season, Hess follows up those lessons with post-game videotape sessions, turning down the sound to have his student-athletes concentrate on watching the officials.

following week, they proved again the importance of knowing the finer points of football rules Official Relations As Jeffries says, the coach-official relationship does not have to be adversarial. Most officials want to work with coaches to make the game better for the players. Yet in Georgia, with more than 300 high schools competing for the state championships, only a small minority of coaches take advantage of the rules clinics that GFOA offers at the beginning of the spring. “I’m always surprised, because penalties can hurt you, especial-

“The best way for them to learn is still being out in the field and seeing the different scenarios that come up. You learn anything better when you’re actually doing it, rather than just reading about it.” “Because there’s no commentary, they end up looking at the game critically, trying to figure out what the officials called,” says Hess. “For example, they watch a defensive back who doesn’t get his head turned around, they see the official flag him for pass interference, and they don’t want to make the same mistake. We point those situations out, so they learn a lot about the rules by watching game tape. Really, I think that’s the best way.” Using videotape, Hess’s players have been able to learn from other teams’ mistakes—and anticipate strategies that upcoming opponents may be planning to use against them. On one recent tape, Hess saw a scenario he could never have imagined: Faking a pass, the punter ran up to the line of scrimmage, stopping for a few seconds behind the center before running back to his punting position to take the long snap. Since it’s illegal for him to place his hands under center without receiving the snap, the punter kept his hands on his thigh pads—a move that was subtle enough to fool the opposing team into changing its formation to guard against a pass. Captured on video, it was a great lesson for Hess’s student-athletes, who learned exactly what to watch for. Putting that knowledge into action the

ly dumb ones,” says Austin. “We offer to do a rules clinic with their teams, to talk about the rules changes and the new rules—but hardly any of them ask us to come. I’m sure any other officiating organizations worth their weight would be happy to do it, too, but coaches have to want to take advantage of it.” “I’m not lambasting coaches, but a coach needs to be a thorough individual, so he can coach accordingly,” agrees Jeffries, whose rules committee regularly asks coaches for their opinions about possible rule changes. “Before we have our preseason meeting, we send out a periodical about the rules that people would like to see changed. But most coaches don’t even send the questionnaires back, and to me that’s an indication that they aren’t up on the rules.” Building a relationship with your conference officials will make it easier to understand the rules and to play the game. Over the course of the season, you’ll need to talk to your officials, and when you do, you’ll need to talk to them in a way that helps, not hinders, your team. “If I have a question during the game, I try to approach the officials in a very professional manner,” says Hochhalter. “Because if you do, they’ll be willing to listen. I know that being an official is a

tough job. It’s important to have a clean game, and their job is to make the game run smoothly. So I’m not going to stand on the sidelines and harass them, because that’s not going to work.” Like Hochhalter, Jeffries makes the all-important distinction between rules calls, which can be questioned, and judgment calls, which can’t. All the screaming in the world isn’t going to change a judgment call—but it is going to affect whether or not an official is willing to listen to you the next time you have a question. “The coaches that we’ll pay attention to are usually the calmer ones,” says Austin. “When a coach disputes every call, you eventually turn them off. But the coaches who hardly ever say anything, the ones who are always coaching their kids, who are always calm—when they have something to say, our ears get a little bigger. Those are the ones we pay attention to, because they haven’t been harping at us every play.” Beyond the harping, the coach sets the tone for the entire game, both on and off the field. “Players, assistant coaches, and fans all emulate the head coach,” says Austin. “In Georgia, you can almost get a riot at a junior varsity game. But if the coaches are calm and professional and precise, generally the team is going to reflect that character, and the fans will, too.” Instead of having the coach yelling from the sidelines, Jeffries suggests the team captain approach the official on the field, and ask that he speak to the coach. “Most officials are generous, they’ll take time out and talk to you, explain to you what happened,” says Jeffries. “And if you really know the rule better than they do, you can quote what you know about the rule. And believe it or not, sometimes they will change the call.” Whether the officials change their call or not, in the long run, everyone in the game benefits from knowing the rules. It can save a set of torn vocal cords, or it can save a life. “By playing within the rules and understanding the rules, you increase the chances that you’ll be successful,” says Hochhalter. “That’s what we’re in business for—creating success. More than just counting wins or losses, football is a game where young people can learn lot about themselves. And hopefully, they’ll carry those lessons for the rest of their lives.” ■

COACHIING MANAGEMENT

CAREER BUILDING

GOALS TO GO oaching can be an immensely satisfying profession, particularly in today’s world. With more extracurricular options for students, increased academic demands, and a greater need to channel energy in a positive direction, the importance of coaches in shaping young people increases with each passing year. But coaching, like a lot of things, is an activity of love and, over time, the luster that drew us to it can wear off. Coaching is like a marriage: It can be the most beautiful experience in the

COACHING MANAGEMENT

world, or it can sour and create a lot of heartache and hurt. Like a marriage, coaching requires continual hard work and the desire to improve while maintaining flexibility and adaptability. This is especially true when things beyond our control build to create a negative situation and force us to ask ourselves why we do it. How do we maintain the enthusiasm and motivation to keep coaching? No matter how long you’ve been coaching, the best way to maintain your motivation is to have goals. Enjoying coaching—and being a good coach— requires constant efforts to improve. This means making a serious, critical,

BY LEM ELWAY

and introspective analysis of your objectives. What areas need improvement, and what is your plan of action to strengthen those areas? You must decide where you’re going, where you want to be, and how you are going to get there. The Big Picture At the center of this self-inventory process are your goals. Goals are like the rudder on a boat in that they keep you moving in the right direction. Even if Lem Elway is the Head Baseball Coach at Anacortes (Wash.) High School and a member of the Washington State Coaches Hall of Fame. He has coached several sports at the high school level, including football.

ROB BARBER

Regularly evaluating your reasons for coaching can help make this challenging profession a rewarding one.

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CAREER BUILDING

your athletic director does not require you to submit yearly goals, you should develop some yourself. It is imperative that the goals are written down on paper, expressed in positive terms, and defined in measurable ways. They can involve your profes-

It may seem easy at initial glance, but one of the hardest things to first establish and then revise on a regular basis is your coaching philosophy. The depth of your philosophical search can go as far as you want. But it must take you beyond coaching “in the moment” and identify those longrange benefits you expect your players to take with them into the world. sional or personal goals as a coach, or a combination of both. For example, does your coaching style need to be adjusted? Does your approach to selecting a roster need to be revised? It’s also imperative to evaluate whether you are reaching your goals. For some coaches, this means asking a mentor or administrator to sit down at specified dates to review the goals. Others do this by themselves, sometimes simply by closing the door to their office and taking the afternoon to reflect. To start the evaluation process, ask yourself the following four basic questions: Why do I coach? To keep ourselves motivated, we need to keep reminding ourselves why we are in coaching. The answer to “why do I coach?” will be a very personal one, of course, but it’s important to know what parts of the job satisfy us. Some possible reasons include: ■ Giving back to the game that gave you so much. ■ There are not too many experiences in life where you can spend time with so many people focused on a common goal. ■ Camaraderie with people you might not otherwise get to know. 26

COACHING MANAGEMENT

The emotions of competition. Getting to know kids out of class and watching them grow and mature. ■ Being able to make a difference in people’s lives—seeing your players turn into productive members of society when they leave. ■ Building a successful program through hard work. How do I define success? Success is a relative term depending on your situation and expectations. It will mean different things to different people. For some, success can mean taking a group of diverse students and teaching them how to be a team. For others, it’s winning the league championship every year. For most coaches, though, success is a blend of teaching the lessons of sport and winning on the field. The key is figuring out what is most important to you. One way to think about this is to ask yourself, “When I’m gone from the game, how do I want to be remembered?” What is my coaching philosophy? It may seem easy at initial glance, but one of the hardest things to first establish and then revise on a regular basis is your coaching philosophy. The depth of your philosophical search can go as far as you want. But it must take you beyond coaching “in the moment” and identify those long-range benefits you expect your players to take with them into the world. Start by looking at how you answered the first two questions. Your philosophy needs to be personal to you, and it must be an honest and true reflection of why you coach and how you define success. ■ ■

As an example, my philosophy goes something like this: I want to be able to take our players where they would not be able to take themselves. At the same time, I want to teach them how to develop successful attitudes, build team chemistry, establish character values, deal with adversity, and set goals. Your philosophy can, and probably should, change as you grow and change—I know mine certainly has. As I have become more experienced, my philosophy has leaned more toward teaching long-term lessons. I still love to win (and hate to lose!), but I’ve found that bigger lessons and values need to be paramount as you journey to the end goal. What is my commitment? From the outside, coaching looks like an easy thing to do. And for those who don’t do a very good job, that may be correct. But the commitment to doing this job the right way can be overwhelming at times. It’s a commitment of time, energy, and emotion. In addition, the continual development in the areas of coaching techniques and knowledge of the game is endless. In a lot of cases, coaching the “game”—teaching the sport and managing a team during competition—is the most refreshing part of the job. The peripheral issues such as logistics and players’ personal issues are time-consuming, but these aspects of coaching will help define your success and can’t be thought of as asides. When you evaluate yourself and your future, it’s critical to think about your commitment to the energy and time it takes to cover all the bases of coaching.

WHY SET GOALS? All successful coaches need to evaluate themselves and their programs, but sometimes that isn’t easy to do. Remember these positives if goal-setting seems overwhelming: ■

When goals are achieved, they give us personal satisfaction.

■

They give direction and purpose and help us grow.

■

They help us win at things we can control.

■

Goals give us the courage to try new things.

■

They allow us a mechanism to be open to criticism and help us see our short-comings.

■

They help us realize it is okay to fail because we can learn from the experience.

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CAREER BUILDING

After answering these four questions, take some time to determine if your answers mesh with where you are now and where you are progressing in your career. For example, if you define success differently than the student-athletes on your team, you may be heading down the wrong road. At the high school level, most boys and girls say the reasons they go out for sports are: 1) for fun; 2) to improve skills; and 3) to stay in shape. Is that something you can accept and incorporate into your objectives? If you’re working at a col-

lege or university, do your ideas about athletics mesh with the institution’s objectives for its sports programs? Another example: does your time commitment match the expectations of the athletes and parents? If you don’t have time to chat with a parent on the phone because of family commitments and grading papers, maybe you shouldn’t be a head coach. Maybe it’s best to be an assistant coach until you have more time. Or maybe coaching at a school with lesser expectations is the right choice.

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The Smaller Picture If you find that, overall, you are heading in the right direction—you can define your big-picture goals and they fit your current situation—the next step is to think about evaluating yourself more specifically. What are the small things you need to work on? Here are some areas to think about: Organizational Skills: This critical area leads to success or failure and requires maximum effort. The key to organizational success is planning and scheduling. All possible tasks involved with the program must be written down and put into a timeline. In- and out-of-season activities associated with the program must be planned

Being a leader also means being open to a changing culture. You need to realize that players come to your program with different attitudes, goals, and objectives than they did five or 10 years ago. The ability to listen, to be understanding and caring, and to change with the times is imperative when dealing with the young people of today. and those plans must be communicated to all involved. This includes practices being organized for skill development and a schedule that allows players’ improvement to occur in a logical, positive direction. The little things—bus schedules, academic concerns, equipment ordering— must also receive the necessary attention. You will develop trust and a following much more quickly if your athletes, their parents, and school administrators have the perception that all the details are being taken care of. Instructional Skills: This is a multifaceted task that requires learning the complexities of the game you coach, keeping abreast of new ideas within the game, taking a look at new and differ-

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ent teaching techniques, and perfecting your motivational skills. You need to continually analyze whether your athletes are learning the skills of the game in the most effective and efficient way possible. Leadership: In general, being a leader means having self confidence, lofty yet attainable goals, good habits, and a positive outlook. It also requires making decisions that are best for everyone rather than just a few. More thoughts on being a good leader: ■ Do whatever it takes to do things right. ■ Always strive to improve. ■ You need to give respect to get respect. ■ Stress the positive and eliminate the negative. ■ Be optimistic. ■ Understand the feelings of others. ■ Have emotional control in all situations. Being a leader also means being open to a changing culture. You need to realize that players come to your program with different attitudes, goals, and objectives than they did five or 10 years ago. The ability to listen, to be understanding and caring, and to change with the times is imperative when dealing with the young people of today. I believe that rules must be made and expectations spelled out, but each situation that arises with a student-athlete needs to be resolved on its own facts. One point to remember: being compassionate doesn’t mean lowering your expectations of players. It means the lines of communication are open and you are approachable. Gametime Skills: As simple as it sounds, the key to success in competition is planning. In sports, if anything good is going to happen, preparation must come first. It’s amazing how “lucky” a team is when it is prepared. A good coach will focus on skill and mental development during practices, then at gametime will let the athletes perform. This involves making sure your team isn’t surprised by anything the other team might do, which will allow your athletes to play relaxed and to the best of their ability. And you should prepare yourself for the game in the same way. In your mind, put each player in every possible game situation and anticipate what you are going to do—then you are mentally ready to make the best decision because you’ve anticipated that situation. Your ability to make these quick decisions will be the difference in the outcome of big games. The most important role of the coach on game day, though, is to be the leader and make sure everything stays under control. The coach reflects the team’s state of mind and must remain under control in both negative and positive conditions. A Role Model: Every day you must make difficult decisions. Many of these decisions can affect everyone on your team for years to come, so they need to be made with the utmost professionalism and delib-

CAREER BUILDING

THE BASICS

The following is my checklist of the basic duties of a good coach: Responsibilities: ■

Provide leadership, guidance, and supervision to players.

■

Attend activities to improve coaching knowledge and coaching performance.

■

Be diligent in the purchase, issue, collection, storage, and inventory of equipment and budget preparation.

■

Cooperate with others using your facilities. Understand and follow rules and regulations set forth by state, league, school board, and school agencies. Participate in and encourage parent nights, award banquets, and pep assemblies. Write letters for interested college-bound players. Set up lines of communication between parents throughout the year.

eration. Players might not figure out the importance of these decisions until five or six years later, but that doesn’t mean you should stop teaching the lessons. Communication Skills: Have you ever thought about why we were given two ears and only one mouth? We need to use the ears more than the mouth. As a coach, the ability to know when to talk and when to listen can be critical. It isn’t always easy to be a good listener, but it’s a skill that needs to be developed. Some valuable lessons to become an effective listener: ■ Give eye contact to the person who is talking. ■ Don’t interrupt. ■ Don’t change the subject. ■ Ask questions. ■ Be responsive verbally and nonverbally. People Skills: From public relations to communication with parents to fundraising activities, more and more of coaching involves interacting with people other than players. People skills can be a very big asset when trying to incorporate many different opportunities into your program. Having these skills is an important part of being seen as a leader. Thus, it is important to understand people, pos-

■

Form a partnership with the athletic director.

■

Make sure your facilities are well maintained.

Performance:

■

Improve knowledge of first aid and injury policies with medical personnel servicing the community.

■

Teach decision-making skills and the value of athletics.

■

Be accountable for your team’s performance.

■

Develop respect by example— appearance, manners and behavior, on and off the field.

■

Provide adequate supervision at all times.

■

Be cooperative with other schools and their coaches.

■

Maintain team discipline and control.

■

Exhibit enthusiasm about coaching.

■

Be knowledgeable about the sport.

■

Develop lines of communication between sports and solicit other coaches’ input.

Cooperate with groups related to athletic programs.

■

Encourage athletes to participate in other sports.

Relationships:

■

Be compassionate, patient, and understanding with players.

■

Develop good relations with other coaches, teachers, and administrators.

■

Provide leadership skills and motivation for players and the program.

■

Be receptive to suggestions.

sess program creativity, stand firm on tough decisions, and realize you need to continue to change and improve. Getting There After thinking about your organizational, instructional, leadership, gametime, communication, and people skills, you’ll need to formulate goals and develop a plan for achieving them. To start the process, sometimes it helps to get feedback from others involved in the program. Ideally, your athletic director will be giving you an annual review, but you can go further. Some coaches ask their assistant or j.v. coaches and senior athletes to fill out a questionnaire about the head coach’s performance. To formulate goals, have a game plan. Be aggressive in your thinking and never strive to stay the same, but don’t try to take on too much at once. Just as you wouldn’t ask a team to learn a new offense in one day of practice, don’t try to perfect all your people skills in one season. It often works well to have long-term goals and short-term goals. For example, you may want to develop better communication skills with parents. Because this is a leadership goal, it cannot happen overnight. Changing one’s

style is a slower process than changing an organizational skill. You might want to break down that long-term goal into smaller targets, such as: ■ Revamping your preseason parents’ meeting to make it more effective. ■ Working harder on being a patient listener to parents. ■ Taking the time to send an e-mail to all parents about the team once a week. Other ways to achieve your goals include learning about coaching and teaching techniques, becoming more knowledgeable about your sport, and developing yourself personally to be more effective during practice and games. It also helps to research what other successful people have done. Developing coaching goals is not a simple or easy process, but I believe it is critical to staying motivated and giving our students the best experience possible. Before the next season starts, take the time to think about how you define longterm success and analyze what you need to do to get there. Coaching is a time-consuming endeavor, but its rewards are matched by few other professions. ■ Similar versions of this article have appeared in other editions of Coaching Management.

COACHING MANAGEMENT

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STRENGTH & CONDITIONING

GETTY IMAGES/BRIAN BAHR

BY VERN GAMBETTA

Sowing Speed

Increasing speed is not a fast process. But enough time, plenty of effort, and the right exercises can make your players both quicker and stronger.

peed is probably the most prized of all athletic qualities. It is also the most elusive. As a strength and conditioning coach, I probably spend more time working on increasing athletesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; speed than on any other physical quality, because it is so important to success. Despite an abundance of research and practical coaching information, there are still many myths and misconceptions surrounding the development

of speed. Prime among these is the notion that speed can be improved in a few days of training. Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts or gimmicks that can produce instant results. However, speed and all of its component parts can be significantly improved through the application of a sound, systematic training methodology. This means that speed work must go hand-inhand with strength and power, overall fitness, and flexibility. A limitation in

Vern Gambetta is the President of Gambetta Sports Training Systems in Sarasota, Fla., and the former Director of Conditioning for the Chicago White Sox. He is a frequent contributor to Coaching Management and can be reached at www.gambetta.com.

COACHING MANAGEMENT

STRENGTH & CONDITIONING

any one of these areas can have a significant negative impact on the athlete’s ability to improve his speed. Strong Approach One of the biggest mistakes I see is looking at speed training in isolation. The increased awareness of the need for speed has given rise to the speed specialist who works only on speed. But if this person is not on the same page as the sport coach and the strength coach, there are sure to be problems. A careful balance of strength training, skill training, and speed training must be blended to achieve optimum results. Of these, perhaps the most oftenoverlooked is strength. Good leg strength and core strength are essential prerequisites for speed, yet so many young and developing athletes are deficient in this area. Those deficiencies should be addressed before any kind of comprehensive speed development program begins. Keep in mind that this must be functional strength development. If the deficiencies are not too

pronounced, they can be addressed concurrently with speed development. Overall, don’t plan to see any significant changes in speed until after at least six weeks of concentrated work. This time commitment is necessary because speed is a fine motor skill and the nervous system takes time to adapt to the changes. The notable exceptions are individuals so woefully deficient that a few mechanical changes can result in dramatic differences. But these will be rare. You must also know what your objective is when training speed. It will always be one of two things: to improve an athlete’s mechanics or to help the athlete break through speed barriers. Also determine whether you should train straight-ahead speed or lateral speed (see “Two Types” on page 36). With your objective known and a time frame in mind, you can choose exercises accordingly. Here are two more tips before I critique the type of exercises available: utilize speed training sparingly and use a blend of various techniques rather than focusing primarily on one.

Choosing Exercises With those guidelines in mind, let’s take a look at some strategies for increasing speed. Each of the following exercises and drills, for the most part, targets one aspect of speed. Remember that sport-specific speed is made up of many parts, each of which must be worked on proportional to the needs of each athlete. ■ Heavy resistance sled Pulling resistance sleds or other heavy objects, such as tires, emphasizes backside mechanics, which is the pushing or driving phase of acceleration. This phase, in reality, lasts only six to eight strides in most situations. Therefore, towing heavy resistance over longer distances should be avoided since it can negatively alter sprint mechanics. The biggest fault I see in most players is an inability to shift from the driving/pushing acceleration phase into a sprint position where their hips are under them. Excessive pulling of heavy resistance sleds only serves to accentuate this problem. TM

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How heavy is too heavy? The 10-percent rule holds true. Generally, the resistance should not exceed 10 percent of the athlete’s bodyweight. A corollary to the 10-percent rule is that it should slow the athlete down no more than 10 percent of his best time for the distance

he is towing. If the resistance is so heavy that drills do not resemble the dynamics of sprinting, then there is a real chance that there will not be any benefit to performance on the field. ■ Sand There is much controversy surround-

It is useful to divide speed into two types: straight-ahead speed (sometimes called linear speed) and lateral speed and agility (which are so interrelated that we’ll treat them as one). The former is most easily measured but the latter often provides more rewards in football, which requires starting, stopping, and changing direction. Those broad categories can be further broken down into component parts in order to apply them to actual football movements.

TWO TYPES

Straight-Ahead Speed Reaction Starting Acceleration Top speed Speed maintenance Deceleration/stopping

Lateral Speed and Agility Reaction Starting Acceleration Footwork Changing direction Deceleration/stopping

All of these components represent opportunities for improvement if they are approached as part of a total system of speed development.

CATCHNET

ing running on sand, but I think it can be a great tool. This is especially true for players who have poor running mechanics, particularly those who are prone to overstriding. Running on sand forces the athlete to get his feet in proper position in relation to his center of gravity. It also magnifies any fault in the stride. Sand is especially good for lateral speed and agility work. The athlete who is unwilling to “take a chance” and plant hard on land can do so confidently on sand, because there is less coefficient of friction. Therefore, there is less danger of injury. It also requires tremendous core stability and dynamic postural control to sprint or do agility work in the sand. That means it works the athlete’s core at the same time that he is working on sprint mechanics. It is important to remember sand work significantly increases ground contact time, so do not overuse it. Employ it to correct a problem, then get back to firm ground. I use it a maximum of two days a week during certain phases of training.

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HOW RELAXATION WORKS There often seems to be a fundamental dichotomy between effort and relaxation. Many athletes think that in order to run faster or move laterally more effectively, they have to try harder, when, in effect, the opposite is true. The key to moving more effectively and running faster is relaxation. This does not mean being passive. It means concentration and attention to relevant cues, such as a tightness or tension in the face or neck. As soon as athletes start to tighten up, their movements become choppy and, to some extent, restricted. Relaxation should be stressed in all drills. Cues for relaxation should be developed for each athlete so they can learn to force themselves to relax as soon as they begin to feel tense.

Barefoot running Sprinting barefoot can be very beneficial for speed development, provided the surface is firm, forgiving, and free of all hazards, and that the athlete doesn’t have any foot problems. Barefoot running helps teach the athlete to use his feet to their fullest and to contact the ground correctly. I have found it particularly effective in correcting the athlete who runs heavy and flat-footed. It is virtually impossible to run heavy when barefoot. ■ Over-speed training There are many ways to over-speed train. Some are better than others— both in terms of effectiveness and safety. The basic problem with over-speed training is when coaches try to get the athlete to run faster than he is capable of running. We need to rethink this concept. I prefer the term assistance training to over-speed training. By definition, assistance training utilizes methods that enable the athlete to run at his best, or even slightly faster, with a relaxed effort that incorporates sound sprint mechan■

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ics. The key is relaxed effort. If the athlete looks or feels like he is overstriding and hanging on in desperation, then the assistance is too great (see “How Relaxation Works,” at left). Frankly, I know very few athletes at the world-class level who use over-speed training because the risk of injury is too high. Simply put, they’ll push themselves too far and put themselves at risk of muscle pulls, at the very least. It is an activity that is more applicable for the developing athlete who already has sound sprint mechanics and is seeking refinement. Every assisted sprint provides the feeling of running fast while allowing them to remain relaxed. It also enables the athlete to increase stride length, as well as get in more repetitions of maximal speed sprinting without the fatigue factor. Here are some specific over-speed training methods: High-speed treadmills: The current fad in over-speed training is high-speed treadmill training. This results from a misinterpretation of limited scientific

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STRENGTH & CONDITIONING

research. Conclusive research has proven that over-ground running and treadmill running are different. Further, highspeed treadmill training predisposes the athlete to hamstring injuries. An athlete can get away with some level of poor mechanics on a treadmill

the ground and may result in hamstring pulls because of the athlete’s learned tendency to overstride. Stretch cord or rubber tubing: This is another method of over-speed training that has been commonly used, but it has its own limitations. Because the tubing

Also, it’s important to note that many of the popular sprint drills are not technique drills; rather, they are specific strength drills designed to strengthen various aspects of the sprint stride. because it does some of the work. For example, because the treadmill moves under the foot, it is possible to overstride. The treadmill also does not teach the athlete to use the ground properly, since ground contact is increased. If this pattern is repeated enough so that it is learned, it will transfer negatively when the athlete runs on

or stretch cord does not provide a constant pull, the athlete is jerked to start. There is also the chance that at some point the tubing will break or the athlete will trip over it. I witnessed a demonstration at a national coaching convention where two coaches were having athletes tow each other with bungee cords. The

sprint mechanics of the athletes being towed were terrible—they were breaking and overstriding in order to protect themselves from falling. The presenter was timing the athletes and telling them that they were up to half a second faster than they were when they had run solo without the bungee cord. Of course they were faster, but the mechanics they were using to achieve the time had no resemblance to correct sprint mechanics that would transfer to the field of play. Towing: I prefer towing athletes to higher speeds with a cable pulley system that is commercially available from several different manufacturers. It is much safer because the way the devices are designed, the athlete is pulled with progressively greater tension, as opposed to being jerked. Also, if the person towing lets up on the tension or the athlete becomes uncomfortable, there is a quick release hook on the towing belt. To further ensure safety and consistency in the pull, I never allow an athlete to tow another athlete.

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Circle No. 32

COACHING MANAGEMENT

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Circle No. 34

www.AthleticBid.com

www.AthleticBid.co Looking for companies and products via The INTERNET? AtleticBid.com gives you the tools to research products

thleticBid.com is a free service to help buyers at schools and athletic organizations research and contact companies in the most efficient fashion. AthleticBid.com offers the following services.

• Read a profile or description of select companies by clicking on the “About the Company” button. • Request to be contacted by a company representative. • Request catalog A sales literaand ture from comA panies. Simply S click on a button and fill in your address and an email with your request is sent directly to the supplier.

Online Buyer’s Guide

Place an RFP

Using AthleticBid.com’s on-line Buyer’s Guide, you are able to: • View the complete product line of companies. • View catalog pages or spec sheets from many of the top companies. Click on the “View Company Brochures” button for these companies, and you will find PDF files titled by product or category. print them out for easy reference.

• You can use this service to request and receive information from numerous suppliers by providing your product specs only once and letting AthleticBid.com do the rest.

Jersey Field Products Park City, NJ 08832 Phone: (800) 275-8000; (973) 222-3300 | Fax: (973) 222-3333 Contact Name: John Jame s Email address: Jersey@a ol.net Company Description: Your “One-Stop Source” for America’s Leading Spor Supplies! Special mixes t Surfaces and for infields, pitcher’s mou nds, home plate areas and by over 100 pro teams and warning tracks. Used 5000 colleges, with 200 products from more than and bulk plants across the 20 distribution centers country. Call 1-800-275-80 00 for more information. View Product Line

Dealer Locator • Locate your nearest dealer for many leading manufacturers and suppliers.

The Market Place • Purchase inventory closeouts, discontinued items and products on sale from national suppliers. The products featured in this section are being sold at significant savings.

The Product Connection • Products for your team or organization are highlighted through both descriptions and photos. You can request sales literature on products you’re interested in with just a click.

leticBid.com www.A

STRENGTH & CONDITIONING

My goal in using this device, particularly with younger athletes, is to give them the feeling of running fast while relaxed. I tell athletes to run at 90-percent effort and let them achieve the other 10 percent through the towing. That way, they are consistently able to run at their top speed while staying relaxed. There is no straining. The emphasis is always on correct sprint mechanics. Downhill running: This can be effective if you can find the correct hill. The decline should be no more than two percent. I have found it best to use a short downhill to overcome inertia and get up to speed, and then sprint a certain distance on the flat. This seems to have a positive carryover, but it is not something that I use very often, simply because it’s often hard to find a good hill. Not only should the slope be very gradual, but you need good footing that’s free of hazards, and it should ideally be 60 to 80 yards in length. ■ Contrast training This entails combining resistance and normal sprinting. Examples include an

uphill sprint finishing onto level ground, harness sprint and release, and running from sand onto level ground. Basically, the goal is to teach the athlete correct mechanics by feeling the position of the body as it makes the transition from resistance to top speed. This is best used to break through speed barriers. But be sure to keep the total volume low. It is also possible to combine resistance, assistance, and normal methods into one workout. It is probably best to use resistance first, followed by assistance, and then normal sprinting. ■ Sprint drills Are sprint drills important? Yes, but they must be done properly, and the athlete and the coach need to know where and how to fit them into a program. And keep in mind that they aren’t nearly as important for a football player as they would be for a track sprinter. Sprint drills emphasize hips tall and other postures and positions that are not often rewarded on the football field. Therefore, I like to use selected sprint drills to warm up before certain

workouts, but not many at other times. Also, it’s important to note that many of the popular sprint drills are not technique drills; rather, they are specific strength drills designed to strengthen various aspects of the sprint stride. Final Tips When putting any of these training tools to use, keep in mind the following speed-training tips: ■ Be systematic ■ Have a plan ■ Be intense ■ Less is more ■ Learn, teach, and practice sound mechanics ■ Beware of drills for drills’ sake By employing these guidelines into your athletes’ training, and allowing enough time for changes to become deep-rooted, you’ll see significant improvements in their speed. And you’ll notice it on the field, too. ■ A version of this article has appeared in our sister magazine, Training & Conditioning.

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Circle No. 35

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PERFORMANCE POINTS Pre-Season Football

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Miklos Horvath, CSCS Pre-season is the critical link that connects the off-season and the regular season. Even though the pre-season follows the off-season, the training approach is quite different. Off-season football training is a time to build a general strength and cardiovascular foundation, whereas the pre-season has a more sport-specific focus. This means that athletes must train in a way that can simulate the sport as much as possible. Instead of training simply to increase overall strength, attention should be given to the specific actions of the sport. A pre-season program should include a strength, cardiovascular and flexibility component. Here the focus is on strength. Football is a game of repeated bouts of intense activity, so players must have strength to produce powerful movements repeatedly through an entire game. To train in this way requires the use of heavy weights (70% RM or higher), low repetitions (8 or less) and longer rest times between sets and workouts. Performing fewer repetitions with a heavy weight recruits type IIB fibers (fast-twitch), that are important to develop strength and power. The longer rest periods are used to ensure adequate recovery. Full recovery will allow for maximal effort during each set and each workout. Recovery times between sets should be at least 90 seconds long to allow the body to replenish most of its ATP, or immediate energy source. All of these factors make up the pre-season exercise prescription. The exercise prescription is not the only piece to the puzzle; the types of exercises performed are just as important. Preseason strength exercises should include compound movements, unilateral movements and exercises performed in a dynamic position. These three types of movements will not be the only exercises done but should constitute a large portion of them. Compound exercises, also known as multi-joint, train entire movements as opposed to specific body parts. Multi-joint exercises are more intense due to the increase in muscle groups recruited and the higher demands placed on the nervous system. Although isolated movements need to be included in any pre-season training program, they should not be the focus. For instance, leg extension is beneficial for developing isolated strength in the quadriceps, but how often does an athlete perform a leg extension on the field? However, a compound movement such as a squat simulates a movement that is performed numerous times throughout a game.

tary press and standing dumbbell press; pull-ups, dumbbell rows and one-arm cable rows are examples of pulling exercises. The next criterion is to train with unilateral or independent movements. Almost any athlete has strength and coordination differences between the right and left sides of the body. Traditional selectorized machines with fixed movement arms do not allow the right and left limbs to operate independently, which can perpetuate imbalances because the dominant side typically moves more of the weight and continues to get stronger. To balance the two halves, each side of the body must lift the same amount. This is accomplished using free weights or machines that allow independent, or unilateral, movement. Here the dominant side cannot assist the weaker side; therefore the weaker side is overloaded and is forced to adapt and become stronger. Moving each arm and leg independently will help foster a uniform strength level between both sides. The final key is to train in a position that is dynamic or unstable. A stable environment is one in which the body is supported, like a seated exercise. In an unstable position, such as standing, the same exercise can have a much greater effect because additional muscle groups are needed to stabilize the entire body. When standing, the core musculature the abdominals and lower back - are forced to hold the torso in a rigid position, and the quadriceps, hamstrings and glutes are also required to stabilize the body. The additional muscle groups working place a greater demand on the nervous system, which translates to a higher physiological overload. The result is an exercise that is more challenging and leads to better results. Optimal benefits from this approach to training require the appropriate sequence of exercises over a period of time. The athlete must first master an exercise in a stable position before attempting the exercise in an unstable position. For example, the progression for a shoulder press would be seated shoulder press using a selectorized machine, seated military press using a barbell, standing military press with a barbell and finally standing dumbbell press. To go one step further, the standing dumbbell press can be performed on an unbalanced surface like a balance board. Each level requires more stabilization from the athlete. This progression occurs gradually over the course of weeks and months, not days.

Training using compound movements will prepare athletes using similar patterns of movement that will transfer much easier to a sports environment. In the pre-season it is more important to focus on functional strength than isolated strength. For these reasons, compound movements are superior to isolated movements.

It is important that football players enter the season at peak physical condition. To do this requires a well designed preseason training program that addresses the specific demands on each athlete. A successful pre-season program is one that incorporates all of the necessary components to have the athletes maximize their performance when the season is on the line.

Squats, deadlifts, leg presses and lunges are all compound lower body movements that need to be included. Pushing and pulling are the two general types of compound upper body movements. Pushing exercises include the bench press, mili-

Miklos Horvath, CSCS, is the director of health and fitness at the Healthplex Sports Club in Springfield, Penn., and a member of the Life Fitness Academy.

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More and more schools are considering the installation of synthetic turf systems for their football fields, as technological advancements have made turf a solid option in terms of cost efficiencies, performance, and safety. The following are areas to consider in evaluating synthetic turf products for your field: Evaluate the components of the turf itself. Are the fibers made of polyethylene or polypropylene yarn? What is the length of the fibers in the surface?

SS Y Y SS T T EE M M SS A-Turf www.aturf.com info@aturf.com 888.777.6910 See ad on page 39

Study the sub-service that is being proposed. This sub-system below the turf may be more important than the turf itself. Ask questions about the materials being used for the sub-system, and the process by which it is installed, to make sure it’s right for your situation. Understand how In-Fill Turf Systems work. The yarns are tufted through a backing system and stand up like grass; as opposed to previous synthetic turf, which was basically knitted into itself, more like carpet. Also, with In-Fill Systems, the fibers don’t sit on a pad, but rather on either sand or rubber or a mixture of the two materials. Ask whether the In-Fill material is comprised of sand, ground-up rubber, or a combination of the two. Ask about the characteristics of the specific turf products, including such factors as yarn density and weight, and how durable the product is. Also, question the company on its service policies, including optional on-site seam repair. Consider the G-max characteristics of the surface. G-max measures a surface’s resiliency or shock attenuation; in other words, how hard or soft a surface is in absorbing impact. The harder a surface, such as concrete, the higher the G-max value. The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) considers 200 G’s the maximum threshold for providing an acceptable level of protection. The ASTM recommends replacement if any part of field (and they test six locations) measures above 200. However, manufacturers mention that a field that is too soft can also increase injuries, suggesting that buyers look for ratings from 100-140.

ey A-Turf features include: the newest synthetic grass technology and highest quality fiber and manufacturing process; industry-leading Regupol® underpad using 100-percent post consumer recycled rubber; sand and rubber infill materials from select suppliers; project managers with synthetic grass experience; and the industry’s best warranty. A-Turf features three infill and two conventional synthetic grass systems ideallysuited for football, soccer, lacrosse, field hockey, baseball, and multi-sport.

Inquire about the company’s ability to "customize" the field to better meet your specific needs. Many companies can adjust the field color, thickness of the yarn, height of the fibers, width of the stitching of the fibers, and size of the rubber granules based on the field’s conditions and the school’s interests. Ask the company for background information: Evaluate its financial stability to make sure its potential lifetime is not shorter than the warranty it offers for the turf system. Ask the company about the security of its funding. And if the company is fairly new, ask if it was formed by individuals who have a strong track record in the industry. Check out references supplied by the prospective suppliers. These references should be tailored to your school’s needs, including the sports that will be played on your field and climate and soil conditions. Analyze the warranty being offered. How long is the warranty for? Is premature wear and tear specifically defined? Is there a warranty insurance policy, and if so, what does it cover?

Date Founded: A-Turf 2002, Surface America 1992 Background: A-Turf systems feature Controlled Products, manufacturers of the highest quality synthetic grass in the industry with over 300 fields worldwide. Plus, the worldrenowned resilient Regupol® underpad – with over 1,000 fields worldwide. And, a coast-to-coast network of experienced installers from Surface America – the industry leader in recreational surfacing. Principle: Jim Dobmeier, President

A-Turf, a division of Surface America Note: This information is taken from an article in the April/May 2001 issue of Athletic Management, “New Options Underfoot,” vol. XIII, No. 3.

COACHING MANAGEMENT

Circle No. 112 on Reader Inquiry Card

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Advanced Polymer Technology www.advpolytech.com 724.452.1330 See ad on page 27

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SS Y Y SS T T EE M M SS

Pro Grass LLC

XL Turf

www.TurfUSA.com 412.225.7520

www.xlturf.com 877.571.2007

See ad on page 36

See ad on page 17

P U

nparalleled safety and comfort of athletes was the motivation behind the design of Poligras NF Premier, the rugged yet forgiving synthetic turf system manufactured by Sports Technology International, a division of Advanced Polymer Technology. Poligras NF Premier utilizes 10,000 denier Thiolon Polyethylene fibers that are tufted into either a double primary backing of polypropylene or a single layer of polyester mesh. The backing is coated with Advanced Polymer Technology’s superior polyurethane, creating the industry’s premier tuft-bind and grab-tear characteristics. Injuries, in relation to American football, will never be completely eliminated, but they can be reduced. We take special care to insure proper shoe-turf interface, low slide-resistance and excellent shock absorbency.

ro Grass LLC offers proGrass, a sand and rubber infill system and proGrass AR, a system with an all rubber infill and therefore can offer an unbiased opinion on what type of artificial surface will best fit your needs and requirements.

Pro Grass LLC’s products are designed and manufactured to provide both the owner and their athletes the best, cost effective playing surface available. With years of research and development behind the products, we offer the premier playing surfaces on the market today. Pro Grass LLC is also one of only a few companies that actually own its turf tufting machinery, therefore assuring quality control of the products delivered to your project. Pro Grass LLC has installed proGrass from Buffalo, NY to San Diego, CA, and looks forward to adding you to our list of satisfied customers.

Poligras NF Premier has been installed on four continents (North America, Asia, Europe and Australia). Poligras has been installed at several US sites, and more fields are slated for summer 2003 construction.

housands of players have played on XL Turf since the surface debuted, and the feedback from the end-users has been the same: XL turf is the best synthetic surface they have ever played on. XL Turf is located in Montreal and has installed turf fields both in Europe and North America. Three fields have been installed recently, including one at a facility in the Chicago suburb of Lynwood, Ill., which is used for both football and soccer. XL Turf has made technological breakthroughs to create an outstanding turf system for football, soccer and baseball. The turf features a soft, two-fiber system that does not involve rubber or sand—making it a pure fiber system unlike others on the market. The sub-surface consists of an expanded polypropylene underpad system. XL Turf’s innovative portable panel system makes the turf easy to install, remove, repair or store; the turf can be installed in one day without the need for adhesives or heavy equipment, making it perfect for both permanent installations and multipurpose outdoor or indoor facilities.

Poligras is the choice for the unique combination of safety and long-term durability.

Background: Advanced Polymer Technology has long been a world leader in the production of polyurethane for sports surfacing. The same precision that produces our world-famous Rekortan tracks is now used to manufacture Poligras NF. The 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics featured our Poligras 2000 system. We’re ready to produce your Field of Dreams.

Advanced Polymer Technology Circle No. 113 on Reader Inquiry Card

Background: Pro Grass LLC brings to the infilled turf market years of design/build construction experience and "turn key" capability. Pro Grass LLC will handle all of your stadium and field design and construction requirements: artificial turf, running tracks, bleachers, lights and anything else you believe necessary.

Pro Grass LLC Circle No. 114 on Reader Inquiry Card

Background: XL Turf is located in Montreal and has installed turf fields both in Europe and North America.

XL Turf Circle No. 115 on Reader Inquiry Card

COACHING MANAGEMENT

Football Field Equipment ANTHEM SPORTS (800) 688-6709, www.anthem-sports.com Anthem Sports offers a new coach/photographer tower, which allows for a better vantage for practice and filming. The sturdy design includes all steel construction, Adjustable base jacks for leveling, a built-in ladder, a platform and safety rails. Circle No. 50 on Reader Inquiry Card

Anthem Sports also offers a new Sideline Turf Protector. The heavyduty, breathable material will protect your turf or track from expensive maintenance costs and will hold up to abuse from cleats. The light gray material will not rot or mildew. Standard sizes are 14’ wide by lengths of 50’, 75’, 100’, 125’ and 150’. Circle No. 51 on Reader Inquiry Card

COLBOND, INC. (800) 365-7391, www.colbond-usa.com The Denver Broncos needed a costeffective product to protect the sideline turf on the team’s professional football field. Ross Kurcab, Turf Manager of the Denver Broncos, put EnkamatPlus, manufactured by Colbond, Inc., to the test and declared that the decision to purchase the sideline matting was the right one. “When compared to the geoblanket, which we installed side by side with EnkamatPlus, the difference was significant, with less damage to the grass under the tarps. They honestly exceeded my expectations. After a game, when we rolled them up, we saw the grass in much better shape than the grass outside the tarped area where a lot of foot traffic occurred. We were very impressed with the condition of the grass,” said Kurcab. Circle No. 52 on Reader Inquiry Card

EVERSAN, INC. (800) 383-6060, www.eversan.com Eversan, Inc., knows everyone’s dynamic visual communication needs are differ-

COACHING MANAGEMENT

ent. This is why Eversan has professional custom design teams to achieve total customer satisfaction through uncompromised quality, service and integrity. Eversan is committed to ensuring that its customers’ requirements and specifications are exceeded each and every time. Call Eversan to discuss your ideas. The company will provide cutting edge technological solutions and bring your vision to reality. Circle No. 53 on Reader Inquiry Card Eversan, Inc., offers an array of outdoor scoreboards, timing systems, message centers and video displays. Eversan’s major emphasis is producing energy efficient products that require low voltage and little maintenance; the company’s outdoor scoreboards will run on a 12-volt battery. All outdoor scoreboards come with brilliant reflective digits, which are energy efficient and can be viewed in direct sunlight. Eversan’s wireless system with a 2.4 GHz spread spectrum frequency allows for simple installation with no cable hassles. Circle No. 54 on Reader Inquiry Card

GOAL SPORTING GOODS, INC. (800) 334-4624, www.goalsports.com The latest innovation from GOAL Sporting Goods, Inc., is sure to revolutionize recreational football. Now you can play football anywhere. The Football Power Post is a portable goal post that can be set up easily at the practice field, at home, or at the park. Perfect for place kickers, youth leagues, camps, clinics, or even those neighborhood games. Feel like the pros with your own goal post. The posts are constructed of yellow heavy-duty PVC that sleeves together and locks into place. Each post is topped with a streamer to indicate wind direction. The crossbar is a rugged bungee. All components and necessary tools fit neatly in their own nylon carrying bag. Choose between

three sizes: college, high school, and recreational. Circle No. 55 on Reader Inquiry Card

MARKERS, INC. (800) 969-5920, www.markersinc.com Cover your hazardous iron field drains and utility boxes with non-skid, recycled Rubber Caps, from Markers, Inc. Water is able to flow through and player and spectator fall risks diminish. The caps are available in standard sizes: 30-inch round guard (green) for $75.00, and 37-inch square guard for $95.00. Call Markers, Inc. for complete catalog information. Circle No. 56 on Reader Inquiry Card

M.A.S.A., INC. (800) 264-4519, www.masa.com M.A.S.A., Inc., has introduced The Original Cleat Cleaner. Used extensively by MLB and the NFL, it quickly removes mud, improving footing and mobility, which help reduce injuries. M.A.S.A. also offers the new dark green Poly Cap Fence Guard. The company also offers a wide assortment of field maintenance equipment, including rakes, drag mats, bases, and paint strippers, along with various exciting new training aides. Circle No. 57 on Reader Inquiry Card

VANTAGE PRODUCTS INTERNATIONAL (800) 244-4457, www.vpisports.com The Diamond Outfield Screen, from Vantage Products International, is a great addition to any sports field fence, showing off school colors for school spirit, or just adding color to an otherwise dull fence. Vantage Products offers the Diamond Outfield Screen in many school colors. This product is made of polyester material and blocks 70 percent of the sun and wind. This is a very inexpensive way to add color to any sports field fence. Circle No. 58 on Reader Inquiry Card

Uniforms & Apparel BASSCO SPORTING GOODS (800) 250-4923, www.bassco.com Bassco Sporting Goods offers three spirit packs delivered in 14 working days. New for 2003 is the XTREME spirit pack, which includes a heavyweight 100-percent cotton t-shirt, deluxe nylon tricot mesh football shorts, and a pair of cotton practice socks. The t-shirt and shorts include two-color custom screen printing with your school’s design, or allow Bassco’s art department to create a new image for your program. All garments are available in sizes through 3XL. Circle No. 60 on Reader Inquiry Card

Bassco Sporting Goods has added new number styles for 2003 to its game uniform program. Custom lettered game jerseys delivered in 14 working days. Jerseys feature 100 percent nylon twoply dazzle cloth cowl, eight-inch sleeve with a hemmed elastic cuff, and full-length pro bright tricot mesh body. All jersey seams are overstitched for durability. Bassco delivers quality and value in this custom jersey on time. Circle No. 61 on Reader Inquiry Card

vice than the competition. A free color catalog is available. Circle No. 62 on Reader Inquiry Card

PRO LOOK SPORTS (800) PRO-LOOK, www.prolooksports.com Pro Look Sports has become the fastest growing team sportswear

company in six years for one reason: fully custom, quality uniforms. Their uniforms are made of the finest materials available; cut and sewn to your exact specifications. There are no additional costs for embroidered logos or for soft tackle-twill names and numbers. All work is backed by a two-year guarantee. Circle No. 63 on Reader Inquiry Card

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MOYER SPORTS 800-255-5299, ext. 6, www.moyersports.com Moyer Sports, offers a full line of stock and custom team apparel, warm ups, travel suits, jackets, jerseys, and bags. Top names such as adidas, Bike, Dynamic Team Sports, and Moyer’s Custom Line are among the many brands available. The company’s in-house lettering facility enables Moyer to offer quicker serCircle No. 38 COACHING MANAGEMENT

Team Equipment Acme changed the ways of the coach and referee forever in 1882 by inventing the first sports whistle. Before then, the tradition was to shout and wave a flag. The first Acme sports whistles had no pea, but were quickly superseded by the Acme Thunderer pea whistle which has sold over 200 million, worldwide, to date. In total, Acme produce eleven sports whistles in metal and plastic. Five pealess, including the worlds most powerful whistle, Tornado 2000, and six classic Thunderer. The worlds biggest selling Football whistles, thunderers 605 and 660 are just two whistles heard every weekend in the N.F.L. For a view of the complete range see the Acme look and listen Web site at www.acmewhistles.co.uk and find out why Acme have been the beginning and the end of more top level games than any other whistle. Circle No. 65 on Reader Inquiry Card

Adams USA has introduced the ProGuard “Plus” Football Facemask. There are 10 styles available for the backs and six styles for the linemen. Adams offers three XL styles and two youth styles. There are also seven Titanium styles available. The ProGuard “Plus” features extra thick bonded Annotek® Polyethylene Powder Coating. It is offered in black, white, gray, royal, navy, scarlet, maroon, light gold, dark green, kelly green, orange, and purple. Call (800) 251-6857 or visit www.adamsusa.com for more information. Circle No. 66 on Reader Inquiry Card Adams USA has also introduced a new High-Impact Plastic Chin Strap Buckle. The buckle is stainless-steel encased in high-impact plastic. It

Call our distributor Covermaster for product information and pricing.

info@covermaster.com 1-800-387-5808 www.covermaster.com Circle No. 39

COACHING MANAGEMENT

Cutters’ 017 Original C-TACK Receiver Glove is its signature football glove, featuring C-TACK™ material for maximum grip. CTACK™’s uniqueness and effectiveness is that it is the only process where the grip is part of the material. The result is a permanent grip that will not wear away. Simply machine wash or wipe with a damp towel to continually restore its original grip. It is ideal for receivers, running backs, and defensive backs. Performs in all weather conditions. Meets NFHS/NCAA Specifications. Demand the C-TACK™ advantage. Call (800) 821-0231 for additional information or for a dealer in your area. Circle No. 68 on Reader Inquiry Card The new Reinforcer System™ is another Cutters’ exclusive. This time for the big boys. The ultimate in lineman protection and performance, the Reinforcer System prevents players from hyper-extending fingers, thus minimizing the risk of injury and enhancing blocking. It features highabrasion-resistance C-TACK™ material on the palm patch and fingers. It meets NFHS/NCAA specifications. Call (800) 821-0231 for additional information or samples. Circle No. 69 on Reader Inquiry Card

better than ® EnkamatPlus

info@colbond-usa.com 1-800-365-7391 www.colbond-usa.com

allows for better uniform wear—no snagging with buckle edges. It is available in black and white with additional colors to be available mid-2003. Patent no. 6,481,066. Call (800) 251-6857 or visit www.adamsusa.com for more information. Circle No. 67 on Reader Inquiry Card

This all leather shoe is designed for field and turf conditions. The full length EVA midsole provides extra cushioning and better shock absorbance.

Team Equipment It features RINGOR’s R.E.S.T. (Reactive Energy System Technology) insole with Ringsorb Performance Grids for extra cushioning. The upper is made of lightweight, water repellant leather. It has a mesh tongue for added comfort across the bridge of your foot. Available in the following colors: black, navy, and white. Call (800) 746-4670 or visit www.ringor.com for more information. Circle No. 70 on Reader Inquiry Card Innovation in their product line has always distinguished Schutt Sports as the leader in football protective gear. Case in point: its Faceguard Removal Tool, which easily cuts loop straps for quick faceguard removal in injury situations. In these circumstances, immediate response is critical, with fast access to airways being the priority. The Faceguard Removal Tool is reliable, no-nonsense way to ensure a player gets the attention he needs without the hassles associated with other faceguards. Call (866) 4SCHUTT or visit www.schuttsports.com for more information. Circle No. 71 on Reader Inquiry Card Schutt Sports’ commitment to cuttingedge technology not only led them to create the most innovative protective gear on the field, but also the best looking. Its ProGloss Helmet finishes, in over 200 colors (including Kandy™ colors, new for 2003) look great and require less maintenance. For even more flair, add a Metallic Flake accent in gold, silver, red, green, blue or orange. Black component parts, another Schutt innovation, further enhance the helmets and help you design a unique look for your team. Call (866) 4SCHUTT or visit www.schuttsports.com for more information. Circle No. 72 on Reader Inquiry Card Talent Sport offers WORTH ALLSPORT All-Weather Xtra-Dri® POWER SHIRTS. The long sleeve, mock turtle neck moisture management fabric

transfers all moisture away from the body preserving energy for better performance. The Xtra-Dri Power Shirts are available in style: W1515. Call (405) 360-5733 or visit www.talentsportinc.com for more information. Circle No. 73 on Reader Inquiry Card Talent Sport also offers the Xtra-Dri® RIB SHIELD®. The moisture management fabric transfers all moisture away from the body preserving energy for better performance. The Rib Shield is designed to protect the ribs, kidneys and spine. It allows for full body motion and is feather light. The style number is

1523. It is available in sizes S, M, L, XL, and XXL, and comes in either white or black. Call (405) 360-5733 or visit www.talentsportinc.com for more information. Circle No. 74 on Reader Inquiry Card Touted by players as the world’s first “fumble-free” football, the new Wilson GST Game Ball is giving top college programs a decisive edge on the gridiron. Already chosen by the University of Nebraska and the University of Tennessee, the GST combines advanced composite leather laces with a new neoprene sub-layer for unmatched grip and comfort. Like Wilson’s Official NFL Game Ball, the GST is crafted in Wilson’s Ada, Ohio football factory, the last place in America where footballs are still made. Call (800) 2545454 or visit www.wilson.com for more information. Circle No. 75 on Reader Inquiry Card

PORTABLE AND AFFORDABLE!

Patent #5951415

Football Goes Portable! These portable football goal posts– the latest innovation from Goal Sporting Goods, are sure to revolutionize recreational football. Now you can play football anywhere– PowerPosts can be set up easily at the practice field, at home or at the park. Perfect for place kickers, youth leagues, camps, clinics, or even those neighborhood games. The posts are constructed of yellow heavy-duty pvc that sleeves together and locks into place. Each post is topped with a bright orange streamer to indicate wind direction. The crossbar is a rugged 3⁄8" bungee. All components, necessary tools and instructions fit neatly in its own 75" heavy-duty nylon carry bag. Choose between the official high school, or college width specifications, or the recreational width. Weighs only 20 lb.

1-800-334-GOAL FAX: 860-767-9121 www.goalsports.com Circle No. 40

COACHING MANAGEMENT

New Technology COACHCOMM (800) 749-2761, www.coachcomm.com CoachComm has taken coaches’ remotes to another level with its Commando Control RF wireless remote. The Commando Control RF is the world’s only radio frequency (RF) bi-directional remote control. What does this mean to you? Simply this: Commando Control RF signals are never blocked so the remote always works. The deck or computer you want to control can even be in another room. This is a great improvement over other remotes that are infrared and can be blocked by virtually any obstruction. You simply plug the base station into the device you want to control, charge the remote and you’re ready. And, there is never downtime because you always have the option of plugging in to charge the remote as you use it. Circle No. 76 on Reader Inquiry Card

SportsEdit from Pinnacle Systems Team Sports and CoachComm is one of the most powerful and affordable digital video editing systems available. Powerful because it is based on Pinnacle Systems software used by most professional and NCAA teams, affordable because it is compatible with most standard computers and can be used in multisports. SportsEdit stands above the competition with features like: custom filter tool, four-way sorting, import statistics (from DigitalScout & other sources), quickie stats reporting, multiple views, post production (add voice over, text, graphics, etc. to your video), screen size control, capture DV quality video from a DV source directly to your PC and much, much more. SportsEdit—Powerful, Affordable and Easy to Use—Contact CoachComm and take your game analysis to another level. Circle No. 77 on Reader Inquiry Card

COACHING MANAGEMENT

COACH’S OFFICE SOFTWARE (513) 424-1091, www.coachsoffice.com Coach’s Office offers major enhancements to its current suite of programs. It is also now compatible with two major digital editing system. Take cutups from your games and play them back within the Playbook or Slideshow module along with the diagram of the play. Coach’s Office is the only product of it’s kind that can print play/scout cards directing from a practice script saving you hours each day. The Chalkboard drawing tool has more features to make drawing your play easier. The Playbook module offers predefined page templates, page numbering, word processing, resizing of plays to fix in a box. Paste text, tables and graphics on a page from other applications. Attach your PC or laptop to a projector and use the SlideShow module for training and presentations. Circle No. 78 on Reader Inquiry Card

COMPUSPORTS (800) 691-4555, www.compusports.com The new version of Easy-Scout XP, from CompuSports, combines offense and defense, and adds new capabilities. Easy-Scout XP is the newest and most powerful member of CompuSports Easy-Scout family of scouting software. EasyScout XP “scouts” both Offense and Defense in one product and incorporates all of the design features that have made Easy-Scout a trusted name with Football Coaches for nearly two decades. A Trial Version that provides access to all of the Play Entry and Reporting capabilities of Easy-Scout XP is available from the CompuSports Web site. A number of affordable upgrade options are available to existing Easy-Scout users. Circle No. 79 on Reader Inquiry Card

Manage the college recruiting process faster and easier with the new software Easy-Recruiter by CompuSports. Designed with the help of college coaches, it includes most of the data entry elements (fields) commonly found on recruiting cards. With single and multi-user modes and many customized options, Easy-Recruiter can import recruiting services lists and export data to many programs for further use. Call CompuSports for more information or a trial version. Circle No. 80 on Reader Inquiry Card

CUTTING EDGE VIDEO (413) 243-4518, www.ivoron.com Cutting Edge Video has created the simplest and fastest game film archiving system on the market today. The VORON Instant Archiving System has completely eliminated the editing step involved with creating digital game cutups. By interfacing a digital video camera with a laptop computer, VORON instantly creates full-featured searchable game film cut-ups as the game progresses. Immediately after the game, the user has a fully tagged and searchable database of video clips to view, separated by every play type; offense, defense, kick coverage, kick return. VORON’s playback interface provides the user with immediate game situation feedback; down, distance, field position. Don’t let your competition get a jump on you. Be the first to breakdown your game film with the Voron Instant Archiving System. Circle No. 81 on Reader Inquiry Card

LRSSPORTS (888) LRS-0001, www.LRSSports.com Ultima™, the newest digital video and game analysis system from LRSSports, offers the crucial benefit of time savings. Ultima’s multi-stream video editing workstation enables you to multitask by capturing up to four video streams or performing multiple video

New Technology tasks at once. Ultima also allows you to automatically mark ins and outs using the time code from digital and Beta cameras. Ultima’s coach/meeting room workstation delivers exactly the functionality each staff member needs, so they don’t fumble with features they don’t need. Check out all Ultima options from LRSSports. Circle No. 82 on Reader Inquiry Card Gamer™, the affordable digital video editing and game analysis system from LRSSports, is designed to fit tighter budgets. Gamer eliminates the capture card and captures video using firewire technology for outstanding video quality. Compatible with digital and analog cameras, Gamer offers software-only solutions that help you leverage your investment in computer hardware to help stretch your budget even further. Get the full Gamer story. Circle No. 83 on Reader Inquiry Card

NEW TREND MEDIA SPORTS SYSTEMS (843) 863-1065, www.newtrendmedia.com NTM Sports Systems are cost-effective and user friendly that coaches actually enjoy using them. They cut time off the entire process, from digitizing film to printing reports. Fields, filters, and reports are ready-to-go or easily created from scratch. Free training with step-by-step pictorially based training manual and an instructional DVD. Software upgrades are free during the first year or under a continued service agreement. Circle No. 84 on Reader Inquiry Card

PROSCOUT VIDEO (330) 781-1400, www.proscoutvideo.com Proscout Video, a provider of video

editing and scouting software for over four years is breaking ground once again. This time the innovation is price. Proscout Video is proud to announce the launch of their high school football video editor for under $1,000. This fully functional and upgradeable video editing system will work with your existing camera, VCRs, and televisions to breakdown game footage and create player and situational highlights. No longer is this technology limited to the big schools with big budgets. Now Proscout Video is attainable by all, yet still scalable to serve professional teams as well! Our easy to use system will enable you to digitally capture, cut, index and retrieve all of your game film at the click of a button for under $1,000. Circle No. 85 on Reader Inquiry Card

Information

from...

Nevco Scoreboard Company We’ve been keeping score for America’s games since 1934. Nevco Scoreboard Company has been manufacturing electronic scoreboards for sports events for over 68 years. Our reputation has been maintained because we build a quality product, which we stand behind. Nevco’s desire to produce equipment that meets rigid quality and safety standards is indicated by our UL Listing and CSA Certification for our indoor and outdoor scoreboards. Our 34-page full-color catalog showcases our products, which include LED (light emitting diodes) and incandescent lamp sport scoreboards. We have the right operator’s control for your facility, which includes wireless or wired. Select the universal MPC, economy MPCN or MPCH. Nevco’s factory-trained sales representatives are located across the United States and Canada as well as around the world. They are available to visit athletic facilities, to assist with selection, train in operation, and inspect the installation at no additional cost.

“Count on us.”

Call us toll-free at 800.851.4040

www.nevcoscoreboards.com

Fax us at 618.664.0398 E-mail us at nevco@nevcoscoreboards.com

COACHING MANAGEMENT

ADVERTISERS DIRECTORY CIRCLE NO.

31 19 22 23 16 2 45 24 9 39 29 21 3 43 25 1 7 28 40 36 42 20 12 26 14 17 38 18 44 37 10 11 15 5 30 27 34 4 41 32 33 8 6 13 35

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A-Turf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Acme Whistles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Adams USA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Anthem Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Aqualift/Sports Innovations . . . . . . 22 Bassco Sporting Goods . . . . . . . . 2-3 Choice Hotels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BC Coach’s Office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 CoachComm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Colbond . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 CompuSports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Cool Draft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Cutters Sport Gloves. . . . . . . . . . . . 5 eFundraising.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 ESPN The Magazine . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Eversan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IFC Gatorade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Go Flow, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Goal Sporting Goods . . . . . . . . . . 51 Hammer Strength . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Jump Stretch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 LRSSports Software . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 M.A.S.A. Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Markers, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 New Trend Media Sports. . . . . . . . 20 Panasonic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 PolarCool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Poligras (Advanced Polymer Technology) 27 Powernetics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IBC Professional Kicking Services . . . . . 49 Proscout Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Ringor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Schutt Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 TDS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 TigerVision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 TurfUSA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 U.S. Sports Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Vantage Products Int’l. . . . . . . . . . . 6 VertiMax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Voron (Cutting Edge Video) . . . . . . . . . 40 WaterBoy Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Wilson Sporting Goods . . . . . . . . . 11 Worth/Talent Sport . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 XLTurf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Xvest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

P R O D U C T S D I R E CPTRO ORDYU C T S D I R E CPTROORDYU C T S D I R E C T O R Y CIRCLE NO.

112 . 65. 67. 66. 50. 51. 100 . 61. 60. 116 . 78. 77. 76. 52. 80. 79. 97. 68. 69. 81. 53. 54. 117 . 98. 55. 103 . 104 . 105 . 83. 82. 57. 95.

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COMPANY

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A-Turf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Acme Whistles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Adams USA (Chin Strap Buckle) . . . . . 50 Adams USA (football facemask) . . . . . 50 Anthem Sports (coach/photo. tower) . . 48 Anthem Sports (Sideline Turf Protector) 48 Aqualift/Sports Innovations . . . . . . 58 Bassco (custom game jerseys) . . . . . . . 49 Bassco (spirit pack) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Choice Hotels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Coach’s Office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 CoachComm (SportsEdit) . . . . . . . . . 52 CoachComm (wireless remote) . . . . . . 52 Colbond . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 CompuSports (Easy-Recruiter) . . . . . . 52 CompuSports (Easy-Scout XP) . . . . . . 52 Cool Draft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Cutters (glove). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Cutters (Reinforcer System) . . . . . . . . . 50 Cutting Edge Video. . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Eversan (custom design) . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Eversan (outdoor scoreboards) . . . . . . . 48 Gatorade. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Go Flow, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Goal Sporting Goods . . . . . . . . . . 48 Jump Stretch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Life Fitness (Lifecycle) . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Life Fitness (Pro2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 LRSSports Software (Gamer) . . . . . . 53 LRSSports Software (Ultima) . . . . . . 52 M.A.S.A. (cleat cleaner) . . . . . . . . . . . 48 M.A.S.A. Products (catalog) . . . . . . . 56

CIRCLE NO.

56. 62. 84. 92. 99. 113 . 106 . 93. 107 . 108 . 109 . 63. 94. 85. 70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 86. 87. 114 . 88. 89. 58. 110 . 101 . 75. 118 . 115 . 111 .

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Markers, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Moyer Sports U.S.A. . . . . . . . . . . . 49 New Trend Media Sports. . . . . . . . 53 Performance Analysis (catalog). . . . . 56 PolarCool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Poligras (Advanced Polymer Technology) 47 Power Systems (bumper plates) . . . . . 59 Power Systems (catalog) . . . . . . . . . 56 Power Systems (Super Hex Dumbbell) . 59 Powernetics (Power Trainer) . . . . . . . . 59 Powernetics (The Dominator) . . . . . . . 59 Pro Look Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Professional Kicking Services . . . . . 56 Proscout Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Ringor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Schutt Sports (Faceguard Removal Tool) 51 Schutt Sports (Pro-Gloss Helmet) . . . . 51 Talent Sport (Power Shirt) . . . . . . . . . 51 Talent Sport (Rib Shield) . . . . . . . . . . 51 TDSports Videoware . . . . . . . . . . . 55 TigerVision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 TurfUSA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 U.S. Sports Video (digital editing) . . . 55 U.S. Sports Video (Skyhawk) . . . . . . . 55 Vantage Products Int’l. . . . . . . . . . 48 VertiMax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 WaterBoy Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Wilson (GST Game Ball) . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Wilson (Solution Game Ball). . . . . . . . . 60 XL Turf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Xvest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

RAW TALENT AND GREAT COACHING MAKE FOR A WINNING TEAM AND WE’LL GIVE YOU A MUCH BETTER ATHLETE TO WORK WITH! • If you really want to help your athletes, this season and in their future sports endeavors, VertiMax is the answer!

by GENETIC POTENTIAL UNLIKE ANY JUMP TRAINER YOU HAVE EVER SEEN! • NO other trainer will improve your athletes’

Vertical Jump and First-Step-Quickness like VertiMax! Three 8-min sessions per week produce amazing results!

As featured in Sports Illustrated and seen on ESPN, HBO and FOX Sports Networks

• Vertimax is presently in use at Div 1 schools

such as Penn State, Nebraska, Clemson, Notre Dame, Georgia, Miami, Iowa, Ohio State, Texas, and others.

1-800-699-5867

www.vertimax.com The trainer used by three out of four of the “Final Four” teams! 54

COACHING MANAGEMENT

Circle No. 41

C USTOMER T ESTIMONIAL

”The Flex Band® is the most innovative strength and conditioning product I’ve seen in the last 15 years. The bands are so versatile that they can be used for strength, conditioning, flexibility, and to improve running speed.” Al Johnson, Strength Coach Ohio State University ”...The concepts are simple and effective. The equipment is easily implemented and inexpensive. I highly recommend the Jump Stretch bands. I encourage strength and conditioning professionals to at least make themselves aware of the methods of Dick Hartzell and the products at Jump Stretch, Inc.” B.J. Baker Strength & Conditioning Coordinator Formerly of the Boston Red Sox ”We would recommend the Flex Band® to any coach at all levels. With the easy-tofollow stretching routines that are available with the Flex Band, it makes it a reliable source for improving flexibility and strength of the muscle tissues.” Rich Tuten Strength & Conditioning Coach Denver Broncos Football Club ”Band training is a fantastic tool for developing speed strength, speed strength endurance, starting strength, static strength, reversal strength, power, and flexibility, and serves as an excellent rehabilitation tool. The multi-purpose bands can be used independently, or in conjunction with free-weight equipment. We have found both methods to be very beneficial in the development of the athletes.” Joey Batson Director of Strength & Speed Conditioning Clemson University

Jump Stretch, Inc. 1230 N. Meridian Rd. Youngstown, OH 44509

800.344.3539 www.jumpstretch.com

New Technology TDSPORTS VIDEOWARE (866) 875-0786, www.tdsvideoware.com Playbreaker by TDSports Videoware provides affordable video editing technology for any program. The coach has the ability to “cut-up” tapes, team and individual highlight tapes, and hard copy scouting reports. Coaches can start with a basic program and build an affordable customized system over two to three seasons. Service contract guarantees two software upgrades in the following year and 24/7 support year-round. Call TDSports Videoware toll-free or visit its Web site for an on-line demo. Circle No. 86 on Reader Inquiry

TIGERVISION (877) 211-8603, www.tigerviz.com Westmoreland Technologies’ TigerVision system gives coaches a complete and easily implemented solution that ties together Microsoft EXCEL® and DVD-Video to provide a nonlinear video playback and analysis system. TigerVision is ideal for postgame viewing and analysis, for opponent scouting viewing and analysis, and for video exchange with future opponents.TigerVision is very affordable since it uses Microsoft EXCEL® and DVD-Video. TigerVision’s AutoSelect, Instant Replay, and Jump to Next/Previous Play features provide for efficient use of time both at the coach’s desk and in the meeting room as well. It’s convenient pointand-click text overlay feature can also be used to enhance instructional time. The TigerVision system includes Panasonic’s state-of-the-art DVD-R recorder, Pioneer Electronics’ Industrial DVD-Video Player, and Westmoreland Technologies’ TigerVision software. The only system requirements are a PC running Microsoft EXCEL97/2000/XP®.

U.S. SPORTS VIDEO (800) 556-8778, www.UssportsVideo.com Digital editing has become the trend for breaking down game tapes, and U.S. Sports Video has drawn upon its years of experience in sports video editing to offer unmatched technology and service in this emerging field. U.S. Sports Video can assist your athletic program if you are an existing customer considering an upgrade or someone that is considering options for a new digital editing system. The company’s digital edit systems and digital camera systems are based on the same careful research, development, and testing that has produced all the other successful products enjoyed by its sports video customers over the years. U.S. Sports Video offers 24-hour, sevendays-a-week technical support, and 100 percent of its business is sports video. Circle No. 88 on Reader Inquiry Card

U.S. Sports Video also offers the EagleCam Skyhawk, a unique and patented remote-controlled, portable, elevated video acquisition system. It includes: a custom-built, all-aluminum modular tower unit that sets up in seconds; a remote-controlled camera built into a Riddell football helmet; a robotics-controlled command center module that allows control of camera pan, tilt, zoom, focus, and iris; a hi-resolution nine-inch color action monitor; and an electronic interface system. Circle No. 89 on Reader Inquiry Card

Circle No. 87 on Reader Inquiry Card

For more information from these companies check out www.AthleticBid.com. You can search by vendor or product category. COACHING MANAGEMENT

Catalog Showcase Power Systems, Inc.

Performance Analysis Polymer Shoulder Pad Inserts fit into most football shoulder pads on the market today. These pads utilize Impact Dissipating Visco-Elastic Polymer Padding and Memory Foam. This combination of superior products provides increased shoulder protection while still maintaining the importance of a lightweight product. The pads are strategically scalloped for AC protection and isolation. They are designed to protect both injured and healthy players. Velcro provisions are included for easy installation into most any pad system. The Shoulder Pad Inserts are available through Sports Health at (800) 323-1305 or (800) 367-8319. Circle No. 92 on Reader Inquiry Card

(800) 321-6975, www.power-systems.com Since 1986 Power Systems has made it a number one priority to become a leading supplier of sport training, health and fitness products. Its new 2003 catalog is re-worked to provide the best possible resource for all your training needs. Included areas are core strength, medicine balls, speed, plyometrics, agility, strength equipment, strength accessories and flooring. You’ll find the catalog full of new products as well as some products that we've improved upon. Not only will you find these changes, but you will also find that the company has lowered some of its prices enabling the customer to get premium products at great pricing. Circle No. 93 on Reader Inquiry Card

Professional Kicking Services

M.A.S.A., Inc.

www.perf-analysis.com

(775) 626-5425, www.pelfreykickingcamps.com Professional Kicking Services, Inc., is football’s largest and only full-time kicking educational program. Order all your kicking needs from this catalog or online at www.pelfreykickingcamps.com. Professional Kicking Services has 51 summer kicking camps, including 19 pvt. sites, three college-only sites, and in December, “Off the Ground Certification” for graduating high school seniors. Professional Kicking Services is football’s leading pro training and placement program. Schedule and registration information is available online.

(800) 264-4519, www.masa.com Check out the 2003 M.A.S.A. catalog for all your athletic field maintenance equipment and training device needs. M.A.S.A.’s new catalog is better than ever, with 72 color pages, more than 100 new items, and some of the lowest published prices in the country. M.A.S.A. carries a wide assortment of baseball, softball, soccer, and football equipment.

Circle No. 95 on Reader Inquiry Card

Circle No. 94 on Reader Inquiry Card

Information

from...

OPTP—The Conservative Care Specialists

OPTP, Orthopedic Physical Therapy Products, was founded more than 25 years ago to research and provide conservative care products direct to the health care professional. Since then, OPTP has established relationships with leading thinkers and educators in conservative care. The result is products and publications that address both major joint complexes and specific injuries, with proven conservative treatment and rehabilitation approaches. Athletes can self-treat and prevent re-injury with methods described in “Treat Your Own Back”, “Treat Your Own Neck”, and “Treat Your Own Strains, Sprains, and Bruises”. Coaches can learn about plyometrics, neuromuscular facilitation, swiss balls, stretching, strengthening, and rehabilitation with OPTP’s conservative care clinical and reference library. Functional products include: Stretch Out® Strap, Thera-Band®, Gymnic™ balls, ROCK™ Ankle Platform, Slant™, foam rollers, the B.O.I.N.G.™, and more. Contact OPTP for a free professional catalog or for the OPTP Health Care catalog.

Our user-friendly Web site,

Call us toll-free at 800.367.7393

www.optp.com features

Fax us at 763.553.9355

keyword searches, secure online

E-mail us at customerservice@optp.com

COACHING MANAGEMENT

ordering, and free catalog requests.

Climate Control

COOL DRAFT 866.676.1636, www.cooldraft.com OProduct Categories Self Contained Misting Fans OCompany Profile Our self-contained Cool Draft® portable misting fans are based on a patented concept that allows the unit to operate unattended for up to five hours, and deliver 5,800 cubic feet per minute of fan-propelled cool mist. Cool Draft® offers a portable and affordable way to cool up to a 1,000 square foot area, and is virtually maintenance free and designed to last for years. Trainers, coaches, safety officers, and firefighters around the world rely on the Cool Draft® to reduce the risk and liability of heat stress. The Cool Draft® has quickly become an essential safeguard for many sidelines, practice fields.

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GO FLOW www.goflow.net OProduct Categories Cooling Fans, Misting Fans, Portable Drinking Systems, and Sideline Heating Systems OCompany Profile Hydration is serious business. Quality matched with affordability is the Patented FLOW drinking device. FLOW is steadily becoming the top choice of sports teams and emergency industries nationwide. Cooling devices are a nice addition in preventing heat problems, but can’t cool the body inside. Delivering water quickly in a sanitary way is paramount. Give your athletes what they need and deserve. Visit the company’s Web site for more information on the FLOW and other useful products. OSpecial Services The company also provides Frogg Toggs rain gear, X-Bands, elastic bands, safety glasses, Yak Trax shoe traction device, SaniVex Disinfencting Chemistry, and misting and heating systems rentals and sales. Circle No. 98 on Reader Inquiry Card

What can you really DO with giant rubber bands?! Run Faster Reduce Injuries

Jump Higher

Play Lower

Add Resistance to Machine Lifts

Improve Endurance

Increase Flexibility

Stay Ahead of Your Competition with Flex Bands! The Best-Kept Secret in Pro Sports Used by the Patriots, Cowboys, Yankees, Indians, Red Sox, Mariners, Hornets, Heat and many more! Flex Bands have been improving athletic performance since 1980.

Jump Stretch, Inc. 1230 N. Meridian Rd. Youngstown, OH 44509 www.jumpstretch.com 1-800-344-3539 Fax: 1-330-793-8719 Circle No. 42 COACHING MANAGEMENT

Climate Control

POLARCOOL™ 888.765.5732 OProduct Categories Cooling Fans OCompany Profile On the practice field or during the game, when extreme heat conditions zap the performance and stamina of your athletes, turn on relief with PolarCool and “Defeat the Heat.” Manufactured with sports teams in mind, PolarCool is simple to operate, easy to maintain and is built to last. Major football programs everywhere depend on PolarCool for their portable cooling requirements. With sizes to fit every need, PolarCool should be a part of your game plan.

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SPORTS INNOVATIONS 800.288.3954, www.sportsltd.com OProduct Categories Portable Drinking Systems OCompany Profile Every sports team needs WATER and Aqualift Portable Drinking Systems DELIVER—from children on the playing field to the professionals of the NFL, everyone who needs water needs the Aqualift. The finest hydration system on the market, made from the highest quality materials, Aqualift continues to be the choice of professional, college, and high school athletic teams throughout the world. 10 gallons, 4 drinking hoses, stacking, complete with battery and charger. OSpecial Services Bid specifications are available at www.sportsltd.com or by calling (800) 288-3954.

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WATERBOY SPORTS, INC. 888.442.6269, www.waterboysports.com OProduct Categories Misting Fans and Portable Drinking Systems OCompany Profile Waterboy Sports’ dedication to design and fabrication of only hydration and misting equipment has led to many innovative concepts. The latest breakthrough in design includes the 20 gallon tank, which offers twice the capacity and the quick fill bottle, which allows you to fill the bottles without removing the lid. These products along with our extensive product line will satisfy all your hydration and misting requirements with guaranteed success. OSpecial Program With the purchase of any WBS unit, Waterboy Sports is offering 6 quick-fill bottles free.

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COACHING MANAGEMENT

Strength Training JUMP STRETCH, INC. (800) 344-3539, www.jumpstretch.com Jump Stretch, Inc., offers four sizes of heavy-duty continuous-loop rubberbands (Flex Bands®) for strength training, flexibility work, rehab, and even powerlifting. By combining the bands with the company’s customized pipe arrangements (for resisted walking/running and weighted abdominal exercises) and patented tubular steel bases (for squats and squat thrusts), Jump Stretch can help you make the most of any available space in your workout area.

POWER SYSTEMS, INC. (800) 321-6975, www.power-systems.com Power Systems, Inc., in Knoxville, Tenn., offers quality bumper plates in the sizes you need. The bumper plates feature 11/4” thick rubber bumper bounded to the edge of the plate and a solid metal center. The bumper plates are color coded by size and are offered in 10 lb. (aluminum), 25 lb., 35 lb., and 45 lb. weights. All plates are the same diameter as regular 45 lb. Olympic plates. For more information on this product and related products, contact Power Systems or visit its Web site.

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LIFE FITNESS (800) 634-8637, www.lifefitness.com Life Fitness’ 9500XXL Lifecycle exercise bike is ideal for amateur athletes and athletic fitness facilities. The new bike, which is the first Lifecycle exercise bike designed for taller athletes, accommodates athletes ranging in height from 5 feet 6 inches to 7 feet tall, which is 7 inches more than the current Lifecycle upright exercise bikes. It is equipped with 25 levels of resistance and a wide variety of programming options to challenge even the fittest athletes.

The Super Hex Dumbbell, also from Power Systems, is one of the best dumbbells on the market. It has an ergonomic handle that fits very comfortably in the hand. All handles are solid steel with zinc plating. Dumbbells’ ends are molded cast iron with gray baked enamel. They have raised numbers for easy identification. For more information on this product and other related products, contact Power Systems or visit its Web site. Circle No. 107 on Reader Inquiry Card

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Life Fitness’ new Pro2 line of selectorized strength equipment has exceptional durability, biomechanics and ease of use. Each unit in the line will come in either a standard (Pro2) or a fully featured (Pro2 SE) version. Facilities that prefer more features can upgrade to Pro2 SE, which has spring-assisted roller seats, an integrated incremental weight system, full rear weight stack shrouds, and a wider range of contemporary frame and upholstery color options. Circle No. 105 on Reader Inquiry Card

POWERNETICS (800) 829-2928, www.powernetics.com Powernetics offers the Power Trainer, which for more than 10 years has made the power clean a safe exercise for athletes from junior high to the collegiate level. The Power Trainer enables an athlete to not only safely clean, but also to reverse the clean. The unit performs seven different exercises: the clean, reverse clean, dead lift, lift jumps, high rows, bench press, and shoulder press. The Power Trainer has proven over the years to be the safest and most effective way to perform the power clean. Circle No. 108 on Reader Inquiry Card

Powernetics also offers a line of strength training machines that develop power by providing a consistent ratio of speed, resistance, and intensity. The

Dominator builds strength in one unbroken line from the feet to the hands. The machine’s groundbased torquing motion works both sides of the body, as well as providing an explosive chest punch. The unit will more than double strength in the 90degree torso rotation. Circle No. 109 on Reader Inquiry Card

VERTIMAX (800) 699-5867, www.vertimax.com If you want to see game-winning moves and playoff intensity, VertiMax is the answer. No other trainer will increase your athletes’ vertical jump and firststep-quickness like VertiMax. Topranked NFL teams, such as the Patriots, Dolphins, and Steelers, and Div1 colleges such as Florida, Miami, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Ohio State, and Penn State, all own and use VertiMax. The colleges represented in this year’s 16 BCS Bowl Games, own and use 27 VertiMax. We know that superior athleticism and great coaching make for a winning team, and Vertimax will give you a much better athlete to work with. Fifteen skill positions can do the whole eight-set routine in 40 minutes, and you will be able to see the difference where it counts - on the field of play. Circle No. 110 on Reader Inquiry Card

X VEST (800) 697-5658, www.THExVest.com “I have found the X Vest to be an excellent tool for providing overloads in both plyometric and strength training, conditioning and rehabilitation programs. The fit and adaptability are excellent. The X Vest allows for freedom of movement and doesn’t interfere with any of the agility, bounding or running programs that I write for a wide variety of athletes, both collegiate and professional. The X Vest has proven itself in my programs! Thank you for all your efforts and help in improving my capability as a strength & conditioning specialist.”— Donald A. Chu Ph.D., PT, ATC, CSCS and author of Jumping into Plyometrics. Circle No. 111 on Reader Inquiry Card COACHING MANAGEMENT

More New Products

Worldwide lodging franchiser Choice Hotels International® has made booking rooms for high school and college athletic departments a little easier with the launch of choicesportstravel.com. Designed exclusively to accommodate the lodging needs of sports travelers, this site allows secure online booking for guestrooms at more than 3,500 Comfort Inn®, Comfort Suites®, Quality®, Sleep Inn®, Clarion®, MainStay Suites®, Econo Lodge® and Rodeway Inn® brand hotels in a fast and streamlined manner. Through this easy-to-navigate site, Choice HotelsSM provides athletic departments an online travel solution that meets their specific booking needs along with realtime sporting news from youth, collegiate and professional levels. For more information, visit choicesportstravel.com. Circle No. 116 on Reader Inquiry Card

Sweat is more than just water—it is a combination of water, sodium, and other electrolytes lost through sweat. That’s why drinking water is simply not enough to replace what you lose in hot and sweaty occasions. For more than 35 years, the hydration experts at The Gatorade Company have been researching, studying, and analyzing the benefits of Gatorade for active people. Science shows that no other beverage—including water—is formulated to rehydrate an athlete’s body better than Gatorade and helps athletes perform at their best. Gatorade contains the right combinaton of carbohydrates, soduim, and potassium to help put back in the body what is lost in sweat, help fight fatigue, and enhance performance. Visit www.gatorade.com or www.gssiweb.com for more information. Circle No. 117 on Reader Inquiry Card

The Wilson NCAA Solution Game Ball is the only moisture absorbing composite leather basketball on the market. While leather basketballs become slippery when wet, the Wilson NCAA Solution’s cover absorbs moisture and grows tackier. Gripability is further improved with Aqua-Grip laid in channels. Made of pebbled composite leather, the new channels absorb moisture and are 50-percent deeper than conventional channels. Together, cover and channels make this game ball three times more palmable when wet than traditional leather basketballs. The Wilson NCAA Solution Game Ball is available at select sporting goods dealers nationwide. Visit www.wilsonsports.com or call (800) 245-5454 for more information. Circle No. 118 on Reader Inquiry Card

Web Connections CHOICE HOTELS WWW.CHOICESPORTSTRAVEL.COM

NZ MANUFACTURING WWW.NZMFG.COM

SOUTHERN BLEACHER WWW.SOUTHERNBLEACHER.COM

With over 4,600 hotels around the world, Choice Hotels’SM brands— Comfort Inn®, Comfort Suites®, Quality®, Sleep Inn®, Clarion®, MainStay Suites®, Econo Lodge® and Rodeway Inn®—have a great deal to offer.

Check out this recently updated Web site, which offers the latest in high-quality resistance exercise products designed to fulfill any sports training, fitness, and rehabilitation application. The site is filled with an extensive line of tarining and rehabilitation products including: TurfCordz™ products for strength training, MediCordz® products for rehabilitation and conditioning, and StrechCordz® products for swim training needs.

Look to Southern Bleacher for the hghest caliber in galvanized steel stadiums and our new duplex coating system for your collegiate and secondary school playing fields.

COACH’S OFFICE WWW.COACHSOFFICE.COM Coach’s Office is revolutionizing the way football coaches organize and prepare for games and practice. It is the software choice of winners. Download an evaluation copy today and see for yourself.

EFUNDRAISING WWW.EFUNDRAISING.COM Earn up to 90-percent profit on scratchcards, magazines, chocolates, and gift brochures. Visit the Web site for a free fundraising information kit.

PERMALINE SPORTS WWW.PERMALINESPORTS.COM Visit this site today for a free cost analysis for lining your athletic fields. PermaLine is a permanent synthetic field lining system for natural grass fields. No more painting or chalking field-marking lines-even hash marks! Time to turf the paint…

SPORTS ATTACK WWW.SPORTSATTACK.COM Sports Attack offers volleyball machines that can serve, spike, set, and pass with any speed and angle, to any location on the court.

SWIMEX WWW.SWIMEX.COM How can an athlete give 110% if they can’t even give 100% due to an injury? With that thought as our inspiration, SwimEx pools and equipment continue to set new standards in aquatic conditioning and therapy with innovative breakthroughs. Visit this site for information.

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COACHING MANAGEMENT

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Introducing a new web site totally dedicated to sports travel. Whether you’re a coach, athlete or fan, it’s the easiest way to get out on the road.

choicesportstravel.com Team discounts Entire season bookings Single-game bookings Real-time sports news Online community chats

Over 3,500 hotels. One address. choicesportstravel.com

PHONE 877.240.AWAY FAX 877.249.AWAY DISCOUNT CODE: 00058815 Circle No. 45