purpleeagles

If that's the case, he most certainly needs to take a look at them. There's nothing that can lead kids astray quicker than a youth league that has no ties to scholastic programs in the area. You get runaway coaches more worried about double reverses and defensive schemes than teaching the basics.

The facility is an amazing facility. The community and staff did a great job with it. It is something to be proud of.

Love Maddox, very strong guy and with incredible leadership in the weight room. Marshall Center is as good as any weight room in the Commonwealth, and Maddox (if you ever call him that is how he answers, Maddox). Have worked almost exclusively with him over the last few years, love what he does with the program. He gets great results. As for the weight room itself, there is some opportunity to set it up more efficiently; but again space isn't a factor for Trinity. The could put in all racks and open up a lot more room, but again his set up works perfect for his program. Maddox is a great asset for Trinity.

Cov Cath's new facility is an "Olympic Sports" facility. Basketball has their facility in the gym. They plan to set up a facility for all other sports and give the existing weight room to football only. It's based on a collegiate model for facility use. Rather smart actually.

Massillon Washington, Canton McKinley and Badin HS

Ludlow and Lexington Christian

Mercer County

There are some real nice weight rooms out there in the Commonwealth, but what you have to figure is what defines a great weight room. a weight room to train athletes needs to be simple and efficient. It needs to compliment the training protocols of the teams it supports. For instance, someone said have you need Moellers' weight room. It is a great looking facility, but it is not set up to really train it's ahtletes well. Too many Hammer Strength pieces, not enough racks. This isn't an opinion, this is a statement from many of the coaches at the school. The two best facilities I've seen in the Commonwealth are Trinity's and Mercer County. Trinity's Marshal center is an amazing facility. I wouldn't call it "State of Art", but it is perfect for their program. Personall there are too many single use stations in that facility which doesn't allow it to use it's space to it's most efficient manner, but it has lots of space so it works well. Mercer's facility is simple and efficient. 8 Rack stations w/ platforms, lots of dumbbells and glute ham raises. Enough to allow 60 athletes training at one time. The beauty of their facility is you can have one group lifting and the other doing agility work in their indoor facility. It represents the focus of speed and agility work as well as strength and fits their program next. Ludlow (yes Ludlow) probably has the most efficient weight room in the state. 3 Double sided rack stations by The Equipment Guys (http://www.equipimentguys.com). On either side of racks are dumbbell racks that allow them to use them at the station. Two glute hams, lat pull downs and a neck machine. In a 1000 square foot facility (that is tiny if you are dondering) they can train 30 or so athletes at one time and get thim in and out in 1 hour or less. As for guy saying he would rather have the academic facilities at Highlands upgraded, well these two things aren't mutually exclusive. Most facilities in the state are based on school monies. They are done through boosters or "friends of the program". The weight room at HHS could be just set up more efficiently without having to build a whole new room. Simply put in a room full of rack stations (no platforms) and you could set up a room that could train about 60 users at one time. You'd till have to go in multiple shifts, but probably in 40 minute shifts for each group reducing their time lifting and then allowing more time to study or do things outside of training which is a good thing for young kids. Be young whilst you can. And yes they still have the Hammer pieces, which are antiquated technology. If the students were using Commodore computers still the parents would be outraged, well the athletes are. As for Title IX requirements for weight rooms (a big issue in KY) the rules are very ambiguous in a weight room. Free weights are not a gender biased thing. You don't need a "fitness room" with tons of machines or the like. What you do need is plent of low weight dumbbells, plates, training bars ande bumpers so as to allow female athletes the ability to train in a safe and proper manner. Female athletes are typically better lifters than the guys. Lifts that need tecnique (Olympic lifts: cleans ans snatches) work to their favor. Once a girl is taught technique they rarely try to "muscle" the lift and will stay in control. As guys (mens) we try to muscle everthing and in certain lifts, this is not to our advantage Other great facilities: Pikeville HS, Meade County HS, Boyle County, Lincoln County, Lexington Christian, Cooper HS, Corbin, Belfry come to mind. The thing about weight rooms is this, they don't have to be huge palaces. What you have to do is look at it the way a farmer looks at each acre he has. How can I get the most yield from each acre??? You will always have small rooms, sometimes you are fully limited by a lack of space so you have to make each square foot matter. The thing about a weight room isn't that your players get stronger. That is a bonus by far, but is the "team" getting stronger. Working towards goals and bonding in the off season. A team spends more time "off-season" training than playing or practicing. This is where teams a built. Highlands agility and speed training is the place the titles are won. The weight room is important, but the time in the gym is the "acid test". The last thing a weight room needs to do is build confidence and prevent injuries. A weight room can make your back up linebackers more confident from adding muscle and getting goals, which makes the team team better. As for preventing injuries, this is the reason Hammer Strength pieces and machines are anitquated. They isolate muscles and do not train the stabiliers muscles. As athletes you use muscle groups, not insolated movements. Running, jumping, tackling are using most every muscle in the body. Free weight lifts such as squats or Olympic lifts will train these groups in less time and a more efficient way than any machine. Since they train multiple muscles groups they also force the stabilizer muscles (found at joints, the place you have major injures) to get stronger. The stronger these muscles are the less likely you are to have injures. So is it more beneficial to do walking lunges with dumbbells (working muscles outside of the body frame really strengthens the stabilizers) or try to run large groups of athletes through a single use machine??? That is the other thing about machines, some machines are nice auxiliary pieces; but the question is can I run 60 users through it in an hour??? You can't, so you bottleneck the workout. You are better doing Straight Leg Dead Lifts to train your hamstrings than get on some machine. You can do SLDL's in a group setting, train your hamstrings along with many other muscles in less time and w/ better results.

Are the heights and weights listed correct?? Was on Scout and they had Austin from a combine last year as 6'0 (which young men do grow), 175 and timed at a 4.65. From what I've seen he is much taller, bigger and faster than those figures. I think those others (Roller, Grubbs, Welz and Bardo) will definitely garner some attention from D-1 Schools. Roller is real athletic and and knows the game. Should be an interesting year for the 2010 recruiting class at HHS. Bardo is the one that piques my interest. With his speed and frame, put a RS on him and show him the weight room (HHS's off-season program is amazing, but not really geared to putting meat on the bones) and you have a Strong Safety or WLB.

Any of those games would be great. Reno at Steubenville is having some real problems setting up non-league games. Had the opportunity to speak with him about two months ago about a Highlands match-up and he was all for it, but they need home games non-league. For those who don't know about The Big Red, their stadium is probably one of the greatest in Ohio. Not the same size as others, but just about perfect for a high school game. Coach Ginn is in the same boat, they have problems scheduling games and would truly consider offers. They are much more apt to travel based on the business deal in scheduling the games. Two games not mentioned, Canton McKinley or Massillon Washington. That would pit two of the top 8 all time winningest football programs. Neither program is in it's best shape, but boy the history both schools bring is hard to beat.

Here's the thing, if you are an exceptional talent you will be found. There are large amounts of money available to the BCS level schools. Now there is over 350 other schools w/ athletic scholarships available at the I-AA/II level. These schools don't have the budgets to find talent like the BCS level schools, not even close. The biggest void for players in the Commonwealth is Division II scholarships offered. Lacking a traditional D-II program in the Commonwealth really hurts the awareness of what D-II is about (granted KY Weslalyn [non-scholarship] and Kentucky State [scholarships available, but it's positioning as a traditional black school may limit the attention it receives to the public at large, which is a shame]). Bordering states are littered w/ D-II Programs (WV, OH, IN). Being an ex-D-II player and now doing business w/ the full spectrum of collegiate athletic programs (from large D-I schools to the smallest of D-III schools), these schools do welcome the help and need it. Every dollar these schools have is at a premium and the reason they aren't contacting players in KY is that they don't have strong networks for recruiting here, and establishing those networks in expensive to establish on their budgets. As for D-III programs and NAIA, the same applies. KY has more of these schools that actively recruit here due to geography and established networks. That being said, they still lack monies needed to find players and all the help they can get isn't wasted at all.

NCF that avatar looks an awful lot like Grove City's helmets. How is Denison going to be this year?? One of my college teammates is a coach there and hope they do well.

Remove all the emotions and realize that if those kids go to other schools their parents tax money still contributed to the field and it's maintenance.

Marty's speed would have been better now than it was at the time of his draft. With the new emphasis on speed training w/ Strength and Conditioning Coaches that would have been available to him I would guess that he would have done a bit better (though I don't know what his 40 yd. time was then). There is a whole cottage industry of programs that only focus on combine prep that he could have used to ready himself for the combine. 40 yd dash times across the board have dropped and that is not because the human speed genome has evolved but due to the science of speed and strength training.

Marty would have still been Mr. Irrelevant if he was drafted today, NFL draft has had seven rounds since the year Marty was drafted (1994). Never heard if this was true or not, but rumor has it that the University of Florida used to show video highlights of Marty's open field tackling as a "how-to" lesson. The best thing about Marty wasn't talent, but the type of guy he is. You will not find a more humble and class person than Marty.