Developing Competitors

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The following article is form Marc Hill, Current Deputy Athletics Director for the University of Kentucky & former Director of Performance / Head Strength Coach for football program. The article appeared the September 2013 issue of The Coaching and Leadership Journal

Developing competitors has become a huge part of our program.--Marc Hill

Prior to starting the offseason workouts, we select ten captains. Those ten captains then meet in a closed room and have a draft of "teams" They select their own team that will compete against other teams for the entire winter workout session and the summer workout session. To draft properly, they have to understand what gains them points and what costs them points. You often win or loss based off of how many mistakes you have in a game so a huge piece of this is that when a player misses class, misses a tutor, etc. he loses points for his team. So, the captains always start by taking the guys that will do it correctly first. 

Points are gained in daily and weekly events. Within each workout on a daily basis they will compete with other teams to gain points. For example, on a workout, we may finish with a rep out test and if you improve your score you will earn your team points. Then, twice per week we have an event. Each team will compete versus the other teams in an event. It may be an obstacle course relay, a wall sit competition etc. All the events earn points. Weekly, we do agility stations. If a player is slacking and not doing the drill correct, he will get a demerit. At the end the team with the fewest demerits earns bonus points.

On a daily basis, if your team wins you may not have to condition, or you may get a special training table meal. At the end of the offseason the winning team gets a gift pack from the equipment room that is well worth winning!

—Adapted from The Coaching and Leadership Journal






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