For Franklin Football, It All Starts in the Weight Room

Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoon the Franklin football program is getting even better.

And, while the outsider may not know it because the team isn’t practicing offensive plays or running sprints on the actual stadium field, the Indians are tucked away in a less than spacious activity room, with sweat dripping and music blaring, improving themselves and encouraging teammates in a different way.

When head coach Anthony Burgos arrived at Franklin in 2002, the Indians offseason lifting program was nonexistent. There was no tradition of winning and very little commitment overall.  

Now some eight years later, fresh off a remarkable state playoff run, not only are Indians football players dedicated to the building team chemistry while getting stronger in weight room, some are practically living in it.

And, if you consider yourself a part of the program and you’re not in there lifting—unless you’re participating in a spring sport—your teammates are seriously pondering whether you’re really on board.

“This is like my home, my second home. Without this place I don’t think I’d be the same as a football player,” sophomore Alpha Khan said. “I feel like if I saw you in the weight room I can feel that trust with you. If I haven’t seen you in forever and you’re just now showing up [on August 14 for camp] it’s like where were you? Who are you?”

Khan is far from the only player who possesses that mentality. Ever since Burgos’ arrival to Franklin, he and his coaching staff have stressed the importance of lifting as a team.

So many aspects of gutting it out in the weight room, especially during the hot summer months, translate to success on the field.  

With football being the ultimate game of accountability and trusting your teammates, lifting as a squad is vital in building team unity and literally showing you can be there for each other.

Head JV coach Ryan Heaney who leads Franklin’s Bigger, Faster, Stronger (BFS) program, loves what he’s seeing out of his players—not only the effort they put in, but also the amount of support they show for one another.

“These guys push each other to failure and even when they’re not successful on their last set they still encourage each other to keep pushing through,” Heaney said. “Take a break, come back, don’t give up, keep it going—that’s really what it’s all about. We’re building a positive atmosphere so that when things get tough we don’t criticize each other but pick each other up instead.”

However, the team-oriented support does not just stop at the players.

The coaching staff, athletic director Rich Reed and Franklin’s athletic boosters have supplied the football players (as well as the other sports teams) with all the incentive they could ever need to commit to the BFS program, unveiling brand new weight lifting equipment and a refurbished activity room fresh with Franklin colors in 2009.  

New multi-faceted apparatuses allow the players to do all four of their core lifts (bench press, squat, dead lift and power clean) without having to cycle throughout the room to get their work done.

And, in addition to a spanking new dumbbell section for auxiliary lefts, Franklin also added large boards for lifting records so players can compete with their teammates while encouraging each other along the way.

It may not the biggest workout room, but Franklin does all it can to maximize its space. And, don’t think that high school kids don’t appreciate their shiny new “toys”.

“It makes you want to lift the more you see our beautiful equipment. You might as well use it. It looks good and its brand new!” sophomore Dondre Randall said. “It’s not like its old, messed up, tired equipment. It's brand new stuff—that makes me want to lift.”

That desire to lift has permeated throughout the high school and even to some of the students at Franklin Middle, where Heaney teaches.

Now, for the first time in the program’s history, eighth graders from the middle school attend lifting sessions to get a head start on training with the team they hope to play on come the start of the fall sports season.

“Franklin is a very close community when it comes to sports. They want in,” Heaney said of his eighth graders. “They want to be a part of what they see on Friday nights.”  

Take one good look at that jam-packed weight room and you’ll be able to tell that a whole bunch of people want to be a part of Franklin’s success as a program.

You can ask any of the players, there’s a special feel to the small, humid room where everyone’s got each other’s back.

When asked if he could recall a specific time when his teammates pushed him to do better, Randall responded immediately.

“Every day,” the senior said. “You get that last set and you got everybody, the whole team, coming around you and you push down [the weight] and you feel like you can’t do it, but they give you that motivation, they get to clapping and get loud and you get that extra push, that extra energy to put it up.”

Added Khan, “The reason we’re winning is because of this.”