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You have to set goals every day, Tom advises.  There are a lot of people with talent, but to rise above the pack you need to be disciplined and consistent. Coach Ekmark has inspired me to be thankful and not take things for granted. I hope and pray I will make the most of life. My parents have helped me to stay humble and to handle adversity. <br>As for drugs and alcohol, Tom is totally against them for teens and athletes. It was a wonderful thing for Tom to be able to look me straight in the eye and declare in all truthfulness that he had never had one drop of alcohol or gone near an illegal drug.  Taking drugs and drinking alcohol are not good decisions, confirms Tom.  Not even a little bit. If you do something illegal long enough, you are going to get caught. I will never do it. I want to surround myself with good people and, thankfully, I have been in a good environment. <br>Whenever an athlete like Tom has extraordinary strength, the question of steroids invariably comes up.  Steroids have never been an option, says Tom.  I never even think about it. If you think you need steroids, you are thinking and training wrong. Nothing could ever make me take steroids. <br> The Be An Eleven concept is important here at Park High School . . . to be a great individual in all areas like athletics, school, family and community, says Tom.  To me, it is going the extra step to stand out. Spiritual values are also important. It also became known to me that Tom prays every day.<br>Tom tries to be an example, and he is very much aware that the younger athletes and students are entist Dr. Mel Siff, who did his Ph.D. thesis on the biomechanics of soft tissues. According to Siff, the basic activities that occur in most sports, such as running and jumping, "can impose far higher forces on the body than are encountered in weightlifting." Thus, if you tell athletes they can't do lifts such as the power clean because of ballistic loading, then you should likewise tell them not to play sports, period. And if you tell athletes never to lift weights overhead as in a push press or jerk, then you should not allow them to throw footballs or baseballs eiter.<br>Siff also emphasizesas all smiles and so was everyone else as he stood as king at the homecoming assembly. <br>Tom is a true Eleven, and we at BFS wish him well as he embarks on the next chapter of his life at the University of Iowa. Our thanks go to Tom, his parents and Coach Ekmark for this inspiring story. <br><br><br><br> factor not considered by the slow-training proponents is that Olympic lifting can help prevent injuries by properly developing the nervous system. Siff says these same people make the mistake of concentraing on how much weight is being lifted. "The most important thing in regard to injury-proofing the athlete is proper development of the central nervous and motor control systems. From my research and experience, I have fo