Track & Football Consortium III

By Tony Holler

Montini High School, Lombard, IL June 17-18, 2016

Explosive power and speed are fundamental to football and track. Chris Korfist and I have led a campaign to merge the two sports into a year-round training program where both sports benefit. More important, merged programs fight the cancer of specialization prevalent in today’s schools.

Selfish football coaches actively promote specialization or quietly condone the concept of the one-sport athlete.

Distance coaches who lack the speed-power mindset are often head track coaches. Their volume-based run-run-run mentality fails to attract football players. The football players who do come out for the team get discouraged and defect to their safe zone, the weight room.

Too many football coaches treat their players like indentured servants. To the tyrannical football coach, the more control, the better.

Too many track coaches complain about the football staff while their program consists of distance runners and non-athletes.

Many football coaches fail to understand the incredible value of track & field.

Many track coaches fail to offer a training program that attracts running backs and wide receivers.

In Illinois, only 43% of scholarship football players run track. In Texas, 74% of scholarship football players run track. Since Illinois produces about 20% the number of football scholarships as Texas, maybe Illinois should reconsider specialization.

Bringing football and track together takes more than talk, compromise, and rational thinking.

Football has lots to learn. Training is so much more than hard work and creating mental toughness. I walk away from any coach who brags about torturous workouts.

On the other hand, track must learn to train football players as explosive sprinters. High-volume fitness sessions are not sprint workouts. Sprint programs must be based on sprinting.

Our first consortium attracted nearly 75 people. Consortium II attracted 200 people from 13 states. Some were track coaches, some were football coaches, and many coached both. We even had distance coaches, personal trainers, and chiropractors attend.

Several of our sessions will teach sports activation. “Be-Activated” is a manual therapy system developed and taught by South Africa’s Douglas Heel. We aren’t selling activation; we are teaching it. What if you could improve the performance of your athletes? What if you could prevent injury? What if you could take your athletes from fight, flight, or freeze to the parasympathetic state? If this sounds interesting, Consortium III is the place to be.

Keynote Speaker Consortium III

 

When looking for the perfect keynote speaker, I wanted a guy who was all about speed and power. I wanted to find someone who trained football players like sprinters and sprinters like football players. I wanted to find someone on the cutting edge of plyometric and agility training working at a progressive new-age program, somewhere like Oregon. How about Jimmy Radcliffe?

Jimmy Radcliffe is the best.

Jimmy Radcliffe will speak on “Bullets Over Bowling Balls” and “Efficient In-Season Speed and Strength Training to Optimize Performance and Prevent Injuries”.

Chris Korfist

Chris Korfist is the best sprint coach I know. Sometimes I wonder if Chris Korfist sleeps. The speed training of Chris Korfist is not the same as it was last week. It’s always evolving. I’ve never heard Chris give the same presentation twice.

Chris was the first American coach living in the U.S. to buy the 1080 Sprint. Exxentric’s kBox is now fundamental to his strength training. Chris was the first coach I knew who used automated timing of the fly-10 as a base for speed training.

 

Chris Korfist won two state championships while coaching at York High School. He developed a sprint culture at a distance school.

Chris Korfist introduced me to Douglas Heel of Cape Town. Korfist is the Douglas Heel of the U.S.

Chris Korfist will give four presentations:

• Weight Training For Speed
• Agility
• Video Sprint Analysis
• Sports Activation

Tony Holler

I coached sprinters all wrong until 1999. At a clinic in St. Louis I attended a presentation by Paul Souza of Wheaton College (MA). Souza owned the room and fundamentally changed my entire coaching philosophy. I transformed from old school to new school. I’ve never looked back.

The philosophy of training smarter, not harder, evolved into a religion for me. Every year I find science that supports my training methods. I ignore aerobic conditioning and my sprinters never jog. My sprint program is more than 90% alactic (max intensity, less than 10 seconds, and quality rest). We seldom visit the “Lactate War Zone”. We never train for aerobic endurance.

At the time of writing this article, my team has competed in 11 track meets, and we’ve done only seven lactate workouts in the past ten months. My 4×2 team was #1 in Illinois for the indoor season. My 4×1 presently ranks #2 in Illinois. I expect Plainfield North’s 4×1, 4×2, and 4×4 to qualify for the state meet. Our hopes are high.

 

My teams are always fast, and my sprinters love track and field.

28 of my 52 sprinters are football players.

In addition, my freshmen football teams have not lost a game since 2011.

I will give four presentations:

• What Does a Sprint Practice Look Like?
• Train Smarter, Not Harder (Energy Systems)
• Feed the Cats
• Implementing Activation

Joel Smith

Sprinting improves jumping, and jumping improves sprinting.

Joel Smith is a perfect fit for our consortium. I met Joel Smith at a Douglas Heel “Be-Activated” Seminar. Smith is an assistant strength and conditioning coach at the University of California where he works with track and field, swimming, and tennis. He is the founder of Just Fly Sports and the author of Vertical Foundations, the first book to take a holistic, biomechanical approach to jump training.

Joel Smith will deliver presentations on plyometrics and jump training.

 

Dan Fichter

Like Joel Smith, Dan Fichter returns for his third consortium. A long-time partner of Chris Korfist, Fichter is presently the head football coach at Irondequoit High School in New York and the owner of Wannagetfast Power Speed Training in New York and Tampa.

 

Dan Fichter sums up his training as “a combination of Eastern European methodology and new-aged research from biomechanists from around the globe.”
“We do not train in a sport-specific, core-dominated, or general fad mantra. We utilize proven research on speed and strength training that has produced world-class results.”
Dan Fichter will speak on two topics:

• Football: The Practice Plan
• Training the Nervous System

Matt Gifford

I first learned of Matt through some of his very insightful postings on Twitter. Matt is a track guy, Level 1 USATF Certified, and an ALTIS apprentice.

Matt Gifford is also a football guy. Working at NX Level in Waukesha, WI, Matt is the Director of Speed Development for NFL Pro Day Training.

 

Matt will speak on two topics:

• Acceleration Development
• Speed & Strength Progression for Football

Check out some of Matt’s work on Freelap USA and his website CoachGiff.

Lou Sponsel

Lou Sponsel is the head football coach at Palatine Fremd high school and was the subject of my first Freelap article, Sprint-Based Football.

Lou Sponsel is a progressive out-of-the-box guy. Lou will present on “Triphasic Training” which he learned from Cal Dietz of the University of Minnesota.

Check out the book written by Chris Korfist and Cal Dietz, Triphasic Training.

 

Alec Holler

My son, Alec, is 29 years old and is already considered one of the best hurdle coaches in the state of Illinois.

 

• Craig James 14.07 & 38.10 (2014, senior season)
• Isaiah Michl 14.54 & 37.13 (2015, senior season)
• Travis Anderson 13.98 & 39.20 (2015, sophomore season)

Alec Holler’s varsity football assignment is the defensive backfield. Interception records have been set in both the last two seasons. Edwardsville’s quarterbacks have thrown only ten interceptions while Alec’s defensive backs have picked off 32. In all but one game last year, Edwardsville held their opponents to less than 100 yards passing.

Catherine Garceau

Catherine Garceau, Olympic Bronze medalist, believes that optimal performance is achieved through physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Catherine’s book, Swimming Out of Water, Garceau shares her Olympic story.

Catherine Garceu brings intuition, experiential learnings and a hybrid of best practices to coaches and athletes. Trained in Emotional Freedom Techniques (Tapping), Qigong, Be Activated, Resistance Stretching, and Regression Resolution, her combined passion and skills create rapid shifts in mindset, lifestyle, and performance.

Activation Specialists

Dr. Nate Porcher and Dr. Kerry Egan will be presenting on topics relating to activation. Stephanie Considine and Kipling Solid will also return as presenters.

Where, When, How Much?

June 17-18

Check-in: Noon, Friday, June 17th

Conclusion: 5:00, Saturday, June 18th

Place: Montini High School, Lombard, IL (about 20 miles from both O’Hare and Midway)

Hotels: I plan to stay at the Hyatt Place Lombard, but there are dozens of hotels in the area.

Schedule: Schedule of Presentations

Cost: $150

Link to sign up: Track-Football Activation Consortium III

Questions: email Tony Holler at tony.holler@yahoo.com or call/text 630-849-8294

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