BAKER HIGH SCHOOL: Class of 2000Five years ago four of Baker High’s school coaches donated their prep period to supervise students in the weight room. Two years later they had five weight lifting classes with two coaches teaching tBy Baker High School Published: Summer 1999 In the southeast corner of Montana stands a small oil town of 2,000 people. Our high school has an enrollment of 198 students. How does a small rural community develop a sports program that can overcome the obstacles of size and isolation? Five years ago four of our local high school coaches donated their prep period to supervise students in the weight room. This effort paid off; two years later we had five weight lifting classes with two coaches teaching these classes. Our knowledge of weight training grew as fast as the kids grew, thanks to BFS. Out of 198 people in the student body, we average 95+ high school students along with 25+ middle school students enrolled in classes each year. In 1994, the class of 2000 was in the 7th grade. This was the first year Baker offered weight training. I had the privilege of spending 50 minutes a day with 23 7th graders. It is important to note that there were 25 total boys in the class of 2000. After the first week of lifting, I realized the necessity of a long-term commitment and long term goals. We were not going to create athlete's overnight. So, we kept plugging away with it. 5 years later, the class of 2000 still has 21 out of 25 boys lifting. Currently, six of these boys Bench over 250 pounds with four more of them closing in on this mark; five of them Squat over 350 pounds with five more closing in; and six of them Power Cleaning over 200 pounds with six more closing in. |
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Nick Stevenson doing a Power Clean. His max is 275 pounds. |