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F E AT U R E
FALL 2009
Training
By Justin Quinn ’94
Champions H
e is perhaps the best kept secret in the National Football League (NFL). At Millersville, Steve Saunders ’92 was a four-year starter for the Marauder football team (for which he played nose guard) was a team captain and earned all-PSAC honors in both his junior and senior years. Around the NFL, however, Saunders is known as a trainer who can turn an athlete from an excellent one into an elite one. He is a training guru for members of the Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills and other teams. His regimens and workouts are so legendary that professional baseball players, soccer players and hockey players have sought out his services. Steeler tight end Heath Miller swears by Saunders during the off-season, having worked out regularly with him for the past few years. “I feel like Steve puts me in great shape,” Miller said. “Sometimes when you work out on your own, it’s hard to get that good workout. Obviously, Steve knows what he’s doing, and he makes every workout specific to what you need as a player.” A two-time Super Bowl champ, Miller also credits Saunders with helping him stay healthy. “When I first started seeing him, I had some little minor tweaks in my legs,” Miller said. “Whether it was a hamstring or a groin, I think working with him has made those areas stronger. He’s definitely made it a focal point of my workouts.”
Miller said Saunders helps prepare him for the grueling trials of summer training camp and the bumps and bruises that come with every season. “If you’re able to prevent the injuries before they occur, that’s always a good thing,” Miller said, “and I think a lot of what Steve does helps prevent injuries when the season comes around.” While his job may seem exciting, Saunders didn’t always dream of training professional athletes. “When I got out of college, I had some pro football tryouts, but that didn’t work out,” he said. “About two years out of
Saunders said. “I’m into the training—I really enjoy it, and I’m passionate about it —but as an ex-athlete, that was one of the biggest motivations for me. As much as I like helping the guys that are already in [the NFL] and the ‘big-school’ guys, some of the people I’m most proud of are the smaller-school guys I’ve helped. I have a running back from Shippensburg who’s still with the Green Bay Packers, and a bunch of kids from smaller schools who were signed as undrafted free agents.” Millersville Hall of Famer Scott Martin ’93, can attest to Saunders’ early frustra-
About Steelers all-pro linebacker, James Harrison, Saunders said, “He’s known as a freak around the league for strength and speed and that makes me warm and tingly inside.” school, I opened a health club in Elizabethtown (Pa.); I was 24. That sort of got me into the fitness business, and after I opened the club, the training business. It kind of went from there.” Saunders said his company, Power Train Sports (www.PowerTrainSports. com) has been around about 10 years, nearly as long as he has been training professional athletes. “One of the frustrations for me coming out of school was that there was nobody there to help me get into the NFL,”
tions. Martin, now a Lancaster County, Pa., commissioner, was an all-American defensive tackle coming out of Millersville before being signed by the New York Giants as a free agent on the day the NFL draft ended in 1994. “When you’re a kid coming out of college, you have these hopes and dreams, and you need direction,” Martin said. “For me, it just wasn’t there. You really don’t know what direction to turn, and you end up doing a lot of this stuff on your own, trying to train yourself.”
