AREA ATHLETES GO FULL THROTTLE: SAINT FRANCIS OFFERS PROGRAM TO ENHANCE PERFORMANCE

Most high school coaches will tell you the same thing.

Now -- in the stifling heat of the summer -- is when games are won, when athletes are molded and when teams are created.

With athletes out of school having free time on their hands, coaches of a variety of sports hope -- and sometimes insist -- that their players prepare their bodies for the rigors of the regular seasons.

Football and wrestling are the first two sports that may come to mind when thinking of offseason workouts. More so than any other high school activity, those two sports require brute strength.

But it's not just football players and wrestlers who work out anymore. And it's not just brute strength that many athletes are after.

Some athletes -- particularly soccer and basketball players -- have opted for a somewhat new form of workout called Sports Enhancement training.

In this area, only Saint Francis Medical Center offers a program solely to make athletes quicker and faster. The method of training is called the "Acceleration Program" and several of the area's best prep athletes -- including Advance's Garrett Broshuis, St. Vincent's Derek Kutz, Notre Dame's Scott Reinagel and Cape Central's Brett McNabb -- are buying into its ideals. And they seem to be getting good results.

"There's a lot of different things we do," said Billy Underwood, an Acceleration exercise therapist. "We want to make athletes better."

Underwood said most athletes undergo plyometric sessions which includes a lot of jumping. The Acceleration program also utilizes kicking cords, running cords and throwing cords to allow them to be stronger in specific areas. Athletes also work on flexibility.

"A lot of coaches tell their players to stretch so they don't get hurt," Underwood said. "And that's true. But what they don't realize is that you also stretch to get faster."

Underwood said it is not uncommon to see an athlete drop three to four tenths of a second off his 40-yard-dash time and improve three to four inches on his vertical leap.

"A lot of running is technique and mechanics," Underwood added. "And we work on that as well."

Kutz, a three-sport athlete at St. Vincent, is a two-time all-state kicker in Class 1A and, in all likelihood, will end up a college kicker. He also plays basketball and will likely be named an all-state pitcher. Kutz is one of six St. Vincent football players in the Acceleration system this summer after the successful Indians had 10 in the program last year.

"It helps your strength, your speed and your (running) form," said Kutz, who is also a cornerback and receiver on the football team. "They've got so many jumping exercises. The exercises are better (than a normal workout) and you've got the world-class machines. They've just got a lot of things that you wouldn't do anywhere else."

Perhaps one of the biggest proponents of the Acceleration Program is Advance basketball coach Jim Hall. Hall's Hornets made it to the Class 1A quarterfinals this past year and they were state-ranked for the entire season.

Advance sent its whole basketball team to participate in the program last year.

"The results spoke for themselves," said Hall. "We did it in October and November last year. The smallest vertical-leap improvement on the team was two inches. I was impressed and it got their attention of what results can come from athletic training."

This fall, several members of Scott City's basketball team are planning to enroll into the program.

"I've heard of it and we have several who will go through it in the fall once school starts," said Scott City coach Derek McCord. "Because of the camps we attend, and because of the summer jobs, it's been hard to get in during the summer like we would've liked.

"I think it's a definite advantage the stronger you are and for the past several years strength has been a big part of our game. But speed and quickness are the most important things."

Underwood said the program, which runs three to four days a week, can benefit all athletes in all sports. The program runs in six-week intervals. Some of the top athletes in the country, including Jim Edmonds of the St. Louis Cardinals, international track star Carl Lewis and Pro-Bowl receiver Randy Moss, use the same type of program.

Many Cape Central athletes, particularly the soccer players, have opted for the Acceleration program. Ten members of the Lady Tiger soccer team went through it and several members of the boys team went that direction as well.

"They're a little bit stronger, a little quicker and less susceptible to injury," said Cape Central soccer coach Tom Doyle of his players who have been through Acceleration. "It helps with conditioning. They come in pretty good shape and we have to maintain it."

A stronger soccer player "won't get bumped off as easy," Doyle added. "There's a lot of body contact in soccer and on head balls, if you can jump just a bit higher it's an advantage."

For large high schools such as Cape Central and Jackson, athletes have a huge edge over athletes at smaller schools that have nowhere near the lifting facilities.

Advance, for instance, didn't even have a weight room until last year.

"This is really good for the smaller schools," Underwood said.