#fred eaves

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Coach's Spotlight: Fred Eaves (2013 Samson Equipment and American Football Monthly Central Region High School Strength Coach of the Year)

What is your background?

I interned at UT-Chattanooga, Tennessee, and LSU at the collegiate level. I also interned with Gayle Hatch in Baton Rouge, LA. I have been the strength coach for multiple state champions in multiple sports at the high school level.

Why did you go into Strength & Conditioning?

I always had an interest in the weight room. My senior year of high school we didn’t have a weight room due to construction on campus. We finished with multiple injuries and the worst record in 10 years. Even at that age I realized the weight room and athletic success were strongly correlated with each other.

What are some challenges coaching today's players?

Today’s players have so many different distractions that we did not have to deal with as athletes. There are many other things to do besides play sports in our society today. I feel you have to make sports participation meaningful and worthwhile to capture their attention. I think it is very important to try to build intrinsic motivation in your athletes to yield optimal results.

What philosophy(-ies) do you subscribe to?

I use Hatch Periodization meshed with Joe Kenn’s Tier System set up. We believe in proper progressions as well as developing proper movement patterns above everything else in developing our athletes.

How do you feel about Battle Ground's S&C program?

I am very passionate about it. I believe it is unique, and I believe that we are working extremely hard to develop our athletes in the best manner we know how.

What advice would you give to those aspiring for a career in S&C?

It can be a thankless job sometimes. Keep plugging away and keep grinding. Keep developing professionally, and be ready when you get your chance to advance.

How to get in touch with Fred Eaves Email: [email protected] Twitter: @CoachEaves Phone: [phone]

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Progressing through the Olympic Lifts -- from Beginner to Advanced

PerformBetter.com’s Wil Fleming offers up a progression of movements to build up to Olympic lifts – “Olympic Lifting Teach Progressions”.  Oftentimes, I get asked, especially by high school coaches, what is the right progression for their players to enter Olympic lifting.  Olympic lifting has some strong cases as exercises that engages the whole body, and develop the speed and explosiveness required in many sports. 

Battle Ground Academy’s (Franklin, TN) Strength & Conditioning Coach Fred Eaves starts his freshmen with sticks when performing exercises like the bench press, squats, etc.  It’s imperative that Eaves’ players learn the mechanics of proper lifting before introducing weights.  (You can read more about Coach Eaves’ philosophies in the June 2013 post where Coach Eaves presented at the Hammer Strength Clinic in Atlanta in “Body Boss at the Hammer Strength Clinic in ATL: Who we met, and what we learned”.)

Wil Fleming provides the following progression when introducing players to Olympic lifts:

Hang Power Clean.  Key points: keep the bar close to the body, finish the second pull with explosive hip extension.

Power Jerk.  Key points: quad dominant variation of the Power Clean, watch for overhead positioning

Power Clean.  Key points: from the deck, drive with your legs on the first pull, explode with traps on the second pull

Split Jerk. Key points: builds on the “norm” where feet do not always land together or at the same time in sports, teaches force absorption

Hang Power Snatch. Key points: explosive hip extension, requires significant movement coordination of the body

Power Snatch. Key points: wide grip from the floor similar to that of a deadlift, wide grip requires the upper back stay tight, demands mobility in the hips

Squat Clean.  Key points: shoulders slight over the bar at the start, shift knees back as hips rise, “feel the steel” as bar grazes thighs on first pull (more)

Squat Snatch.  Key points: requires extensive mobility, demands substantial consideration for safety and whether lift will really help or harm the season