Culture of Athleticism

As part of my new position in Kings Ridge Christian school, I was asked to develop a philosophy of strength and conditioning for the school manual. In an effort to be succinct, I limited it to three distinct points. Over the next week or so I will be rolling out those three points for each of you all to read. I will also be talking specifically about how to incorporate these three points into different arenas outside of high school weight rooms. I know many of you reading this are athletes, coaches, and owners of CrossFit gyms and I think this philosophy holds true for what you were doing as well.
Before I get into the three specific points that I make in the philosophy, one of my biggest challenges, and should be one of yours as well, is developing a culture of athletic success. We have all walked into the gym or the programs that know what success feels like and are used to being successful. Those cultures and those programs carry a certain amount of swagger and also a certain amount of confidence that many gyms and programs don’t. Developing that culture can often take years of often unnoticed hard work but ultimately it is the only way to impact athletes for a lifetime. There are a couple examples in the state of Georgia of this type of culture. My weightlifting coach, Stan Luttrell, just took the strength and conditioning job at Buford High School. For those of you who have no idea who Buford High School is, they have won six of the last seven state championships in football and have more banners hanging in there gym for state and region championships in other sports than I care to count. Success is just what that school does. I walked into their weight room this past week during the evening to see what their facilities looked like and despite the collegiate level of facilities in their high school, what I noticed most was how athletic and malleable the middle school kids were. The middle school kids were in the weight room that evening working on the technical aspects of their squat and snatch. What I noticed about their movement was that there were no inhibitions. They were all able to squat with a flat back, they all were able to move quickly underneath the PVC pipe into an overhead squat, and they were all able to do so without any muscular or skeletal restrictions. If any of you have been around elementary and middle school kids lately you all know that this is not the norm. With the introduction of video games, iPads, iPhones, and the computer in the last 10 years, we have seen kids become more sedentary and as a result less athletic. The culture at Buford High School has served to deter and in many cases defeat this epidemic. Buford High shuts down the city on Friday nights. Every kid from age 5 and up is watching Buford win football games. They dream about playing on that football field and winning with the Buford Wolves. This took a long time to develop but they are not the only school who has done it. Many schools across the nation have developed this type of athletic success that has penetrated their community. This type of culture changes how kids think about athletics and it changes what kids want to do with their free time.
My big overarching desire for Kings Ridge Christian school is to develop this type of culture. A type of culture where all the parents and kids in the area know who Kings Ridge is, every parent wants their child plugged into a Kings Ridge sports program, and the kids upbringing is changed as a result of their own desires to succeed athletically.
In Weightlifting and CrossFit gyms around the country this should also be the goal. While high schools are creating that culture with success in sports, CrossFit gyms should be doing the same in creating that culture with success in their clients. Clients who display success should be highlighted in your communities. Clients who move from a life consumed with sickness and a lack of activity are inspired by those who have excelled out of that lifestyle. In order to develop a culture of athleticism and success in your gym, you have to make examples of the people who have done it in your gym. In high school sports it’s easy, because that success is displayed on the field of play. In your gyms it is up to you as an owner or coach to highlight that success. Developing a culture of success takes time and intentionality. However that culture can begin to permeate past your gym and into families and into communities. However you have to be purposeful about creating it and continuing it.