Here it is, my second interview with a strength and conditioning professional on all aspects of speed development and personal stories of athlete successes.  Today, I’m sharing my QnA with Mark Watts, the Director of Strength and Conditioning at Denison University.

I’ve known Mark for a few years now.  I think we met at a strength and conditioning conference.  Mark basically started the Central Ohio Strength and Conditioning Clinic that he holds at Denison.  This year marks the fifth year running it.

Mark invited me to speak a few years ago and was kind enough to allow me to speak at this year’s clinic.  It’s this Friday and Saturday and he really got a nice collection of experts to speak.  So in honor of the clinic this weekend, I thought I would show Mark’s interview with me.  Enjoy!

What is your current position and how long have you held that position?

I am the Director of Strength & Conditioning, Physical Education Instructor, and Assistant Football Coach at Denison University in Granville, OH.  I have held this position from August of 2002 until February of 2005 and August of 2006 to present.

What is your educational background/certifications and what has some of your past work experience included?

I have a M.Ed in Elementary Education from Clarion University of PA and a MS in Exercise Science for California University of PA.  I am a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and Registered Strength & Conditioning Coach with the National Strength & Conditioning Association, a Sports Performance Coach with USA Weightlifting, a Performance Enhancement Specialist with The National Academy of Sports Medicine, and a Strength & Conditioning Coach Certified with the Collegiate Strength & Conditioning Coaches Association.

I have been a strength & conditioning coach at various capacities for the last 14 years at Denison University, The United States Military Academy, the Ohio State University, The University of Tulsa, Allegheny college and Clarion University.

What are the job responsibilities of your current position?

I am directly responsible for the athletic performance enhancement and the injury reduction of 17 of the 23 varsity sports at Denison.  I also teach several Physical Education Classes and currently serve as the Physical Education practicum supervisor and the Strength & Conditioning Internship coordinator.  I supervise the varsity weight room and facilitate the scheduling.  Finally, I am an assistant football coaches, coaching Defensive line, special team co-coordinator, and the director of football operations.

When it comes to improving your athlete’s speed, what is your philosophy that you try to adhere to when designing the program?

We try to work backwards up until the start of the season or testing week.  Normally, we only have about 7 or 8 weeks of training in each cycle so there are a few guidelines we try to follow.

First, we try to incorporate solid speed mechanics early in the cycle and continue to coach them throughout every session.  We implement these drills into the warm-up and keep them very simple.  We follow the basic PAL principles:  Posture, Arm Action, and Leg Action (front-side & backside mechanics).  Keep in mind, our first interaction with our athletes is their first year of college, so a lot of their habits are ingrained.  We try not to over-coach, especially when we only have 7-10 sessions to change mechanics they have been using for years.  Also, our athletes are participating in sports where they accelerate for the first few steps or they are sprinting while wearing equipment, carrying a stick, etc.  This is another reason we try to keep our speed mechanics very basic.

Secondly, we split our multi-directional speed training into linear speed, lateral speed, and plyometrics.  We try to keep the same basic philosophy when addressing all three of these components.  1.)  Address proper mechanics for all three (not just linear).  2.) Put the athlete in a competitive situation during drills for all three.

In your typical off-season program, how much emphasis is placed on developing your speed program?  Does it depend on the sport? 

NCAA Division III rules prohibits mandatory off-season training of athletes even for the strength & conditioning coach.  Because of this, we have incorporated our speed & agility training in our physical education curriculum.  Student athletes have the option of signing up for the Speed & Agility and Strength Training Classes.  With that being said, sports will have different training plans based on the time of year and the nature of the sport.  Winter Sports such as Basketball will have a 7-week long speed & agility training course the first 7 weeks of the school year before practice starts.  Spring sports such as Baseball, Softball, Men’s Lacrosse, and Women’s Lacrosse will enroll in the speed & agility training class the last 7 weeks of the semester after Fall Ball and before Finals.  Fall sports off-season training in the Spring will depend on the sport, but most simply try to play their particular sport on their own as much as possible.  Football will be an exception to this.

Are there any particular instances that you recall where an athlete made such an improvement in speed during your off-season program that it really amazed you?  What made it amazing?

I am not sure if there are specific athletes that come to mind, but there was an instance when I was an assistant strength & conditioning coach at the United States Military Academy at West Point, we had an unique situation to say the least.  I was training the Sprint Football Team and the head coach wanted to test the 40yd dash at the end of a 6 week training cycle.  The sport coaches handled the testing and the protocol was identical to years past.  The ODIA weight room in which I was in charge of was about 5 times smaller than the 20,000 sq ft weight room at Michie.  I also had no open space, speed training equipment, indoor facility times to reserve, etc.  The team was very large and I could only train them for about 35-40 minutes 4x per week.

To summarize, we did nothing but Squat (Free and on a box 1″ below parallel), Deadlift (Hex Bar and Hammer), Glute-Ham Raises, Push Press, Bench Press, Chins Ups & Rows.  We incoprarated some hip mobility work in as well.  At the end of the 6 weeks, almost every single athletes decrease their 40 times by 2-4 tenths of a second.  It made me realize how important the correlation between strength and speed really is.