TWO MORE WINS: Peru Central H.S.We were two games away from the championship last year.... This year, those two extra games gave us the championship!By Matt Shepard Published: Spring 2002 Peru High School won the 2001 Class B New York Championship and credited it to their BFS Clinic last year and to the BFS Total Program. BFS: Coach Ewald, when did you start the BFS Total Program with your team? Head Coach Larry Ewald: We started doing parts of the BFS Total Program in ‘99. In March, however, we hit it hard - hook, line and sinker - after we had our BFS Clinic with Bob Bozied. All our coaches felt a BFS Clinic would be a great opportunity to motivate the kids. We have toyed with several different programs over the years. All had their merits, but the record keeping of the BFS program seemed to be the motivating factor that pushed the kids to the next level as they saw their progress. ____________________ BFS: Coach Godfrey, when did you first get into BFS? Strength Coach James Godfrey: Eight years ago when I was coaching at another school and I saw the BFS magazine on the head coaches desk and I just started reading it. BFS seemed like it had all the bases covered and I got a subscription. The more I read, the more I liked it. ____________________ BFS: How much of the BFS Total Program do you do? Coach Godfrey: We do it all. We do plyos, speed work, the Dot Drill, and the Set-Rep System. ____________________ BFS: Why do you like the BFS Program so much? Coach Godfrey: We have a lot of three-sport athletes. All of the programs we tried first held the stance of maintaining strength during the in-season. These multi-sport kids never gained strength because they were always in an in-season status. With BFS they get stronger all year long and with BFS I have never had an injury. Coach Ewald: Before, our players had skill, but they got knocked around on the line of scrimmage. Historically, that has been our weakness. This year, it was all different. BFS has given us the strength and speed to compete with the best. Coach Godfrey: BFS also makes things so simple. The kids automatically became coaches themselves in the weight room. I hear them say, ‘Spread the chest’ or ‘Eyes on target’ or ‘Sit tall’. It’s great! ____________________ BFS: Was your clinic last year a good investment? Coach Ewald: The returns were immeasurable. Coach Bozied said that schools average two more wins after starting the Total Program. We were two games away from the championship last year. . . . This year, those two extra games gave us the championship! ____________________ BFS: Tell me about your championship. Coach Ewald: There has never been a state championship won from our section. We have the smallest number of schools with the largest total area in the state. We are the overlooked sister teams. I can’t impress upon you enough how amazing it is for us to get the championship. ____________________ BFS: What was the general attitude of the players after the clinic? Coach Ewald: They were excited. In the summer of ‘98 we had only four to five kids show up for summer workouts. In ‘99 we averaged slightly better, at 10 kids per workout. This summer, after having the clinic, we had 80-100 percent of the varsity players in the weight room (25-30 kids) every workout. They all bought into the program and got excited about setting goals and achieving personal bests. They were enthusiastic as they left the clinic and their actions this summer proved their enthusiasm. This enthusiasm then carried on into the fall as the season began. BFS: What was your favorite part of the clinic? Coach Ewald: The most important part of the clinic was watching the technique explained by Coach Bozied. Especially with the Squat and Clean. Bozied’s attention to detail gave us all a new insight. However, the most exciting part of the clinic was when Bozied got the kids to set new PR’s on the Box Squat and everyone was cheering and yelling encouragements. Everyone got a new perspective on their own ability to break records. ____________________ BFS: Would you recommend having a clinic to other schools? Coach Ewald: Absolutely! I think you can tell that my enthusiasm for BFS is hard to hide. My athletic director allowed me to implement BFS in our classes. I had all sorts of kids signed up for the class and they all loved it. Due to remodeling, we had to move our weight room several times and for the next month we won’t have a weight room. Kids you would never expect to lift weights are itching to get back to the BFS Program. They say they are losing their edge. Some have even gone out to gyms to continue there. If schools want that kind of participation, they need to have a clinic and get the BFS Total Program going in their school. ____________________ BFS: What was involved in moving your weight room? Coach Ewald: During the summer, we had to move our weight room into the wrestling room. When the school needed the wrestling room back this fall, we moved the weights to the bus storage room. The kids said they couldn’t go without their two in-season workouts so the team went down and pulled out the squat racks, benches and bars for the power clean and we did our workouts in that cramped area. The kids wouldn’t have it any other way. ____________________ BFS: Do you have all sports doing BFS? Strength Coach Godfrey: We have girls’ gymnastics, girls’ volleyball, baseball, wrestling, boys’ basketball, football and the throwers in track doing BFS. I think that soon the remaining few will be doing it too. ____________________ BFS: How do the girls like the program? Strength Coach Godfrey: I have a lot of girls on the program. They love the program too. It is great to have them in the weight room because they have no egos when working out. The boys are learning a lot from the girls. The girls are dedicated to perfect technique and know that with perfect technique, the weight will follow. ____________________ Thank you Coach Ewald and Coach Godfrey for sharing your championship experiences with us. You are both true Elevens! |
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Peru Central High School |
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Nick Moore, all-league offensive tackle, holds the team’s best bench with 315 lbs. |
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Squat honors go to all-league linebacker Joe Smith with a team best of 465 lbs. |
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Sophomore linebacker B.J. Godfrey has a hex bar deadlift best of 555 pounds. |
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Last year Brandon Keleher averaged 6.7 yards per carry with 1,326 total yards. |