1/22/2003 - Football
Training Athletes, Not Weightlifters

The local eateries are firing up their grills as lunchtime arrives on the first Tuesday of the new year.

Soon, much of working Annapolis will crowd the downtown marketplace to ingest the calories that fuel the remains of their day.

Just blocks away, on the ground floor of the Naval Academy's Ricketts Hall, Mike Brass is seated in his office chair - his lone sustenance for the moment being the coffee which simmers in a Styrofoam cup atop his desk.

While his title of "Assistant Athletic Director for Sport Performance" may seem somewhat ambiguous, Brass is on a mission that's perfectly clear - help the Navy football team become stronger, faster, quicker.

So for now, as he explains the method by which the Mids will train for the next eight months, his thoughts are focused on nourishment of muscle and mind.

There are thirty-four weeks until VMI. And in that time, Brass and his staff must help each player enhance the skills specific to his football specialty.

"We're training athletes, we're not training weightlifters," he says. "If you do (an exercise) in this room, how does that relate on the field? If there's no relation, we're not gonna do it."

Brass's words are underscored by the scene unfolding outside his open door, amidst the 12,000 square feet that make up the Jack Lengyel Sports Conditioning Facility.

Members of the men's basketball team happen to be working out. Paired with teammates, they toss a heavy ball back and forth, mimicking the on-court motions of passing and receiving.

Every twist and turn punctuating each point he makes.

"We do athletic type movements in an explosive manner," he said of a program built around the basic exercises that lend strength and stability to core muscles and joints. "There's a generalization of things, core strength, lateral speed, explosiveness."

Of course, simulating movements from the basketball court is one thing. Regardless of a player's position, he's likely to repeat very similar actions.

Football is quite another. Made so by the sheer number of players and by the sport's specialization. As a result, Brass must formulate a "game plan" for those months we mislabel as the "off"-season.

Obviously, the guys in the backfield won't follow the same regimen as those on the interior. Furthermore, a program isn't tailored simply to suit a certain position. It must also be customized to fit a distinct style of play.

"(Take) our offensive linemen, as an example," says Brass, who - along with the spread option offense - accompanied head coach Paul Johnson from Georgia Southern to Annapolis. "If we were a drop-back passing team, compared to what we do (in the option), we would train differently.

"We train our linemen to come off the ball...to take care of the backside linebacker or safety."

Which means being bulkier isn't necessarily better. The Mids' up front need to be quick and agile.

"I can be the strongest person in the world," says Brass. "But if I can't get to where I'm supposed to go, I can't use that strength."

Thus, the Mids pump iron with a purpose far more relevant to their roles than trying to develop the next Mr. Universe. And when outdoors, rarely are they on the straight and narrow.

"It comes back to specifics, movements they're gonna do on the field," Brass says of the conditioning that complements Navy's strength training. "We never run straight ahead without some other movement."

Instead, a guard or tackle will start in the same stance he'd assume at the line of scrimmage. He might back-peddle 10 yards, before turning to sprint to his right, as if pulling on a sweep or leading on a screen.

Perhaps at the same time, on a different part of the field, wide receivers will be running pass patterns.

All of this running or shuffling must be done in intervals. Go hard. Rest and recover. Work to prepare for the tempo of a game.

Taking all of the above into account, Brass will walk the fields in the fall, watching practice and making notes to himself. Often he'll carry a stopwatch, gauging the amount of time a player will run, block or tackle on a given snap.

And, naturally, he'll solicit input from Johnson and his assistants.

"They're with (the players) on the field," he explains while looking out at the vast array of machines and more than 42,000 pounds of free weights - each plate in Navy blue, bearing gold letters that spell out, 'BEAT ARMY.'

"What can we do with them in (the weight room) to help them on the field?"

Brass has been involved in such sport-specific training as a college coach since 1985, when he was hired at Wisconsin-Whitewater. Since then he has worked with athletes at Dartmouth, Tulane and Georgia Southern.

Each of those stops shared many similarities to his experience so far at Navy. But none featured some of the challenges Brass now addresses at a service academy.

Among them is the block of classes that dominate a Midshipman's academic life.

At most - if not all - civilian schools, players have staggered schedules, creating openings throughout the day. Those windows of opportunity allow individuals to can get into the weight room at different times.

But all Midshipmen face a very similar daily docket, leaving a couple of late-afternoon hours for the more than 120 football players to complete their workouts.

As illustrated by the color-coded charts that hang on Brass's office wall, detailing the training schedule for the coming months, people must be well organized. Their time spent wisely.

"We don't want anyone sitting around," Brass says. "It's get in here and go."

Toward that end, the team is split into two groups - the former arrives at 3:45 p.m., the latter shows up an hour later. And those are then divided into teams of "skill" players and "big" players.

Depending on the day of the week, these Mids of varying dimensions and disparate needs work at different stations. Assisting them are Navy's strength and conditioning staff.

Kirk Woolfolk, a former defensive back at Arkansas, joined the Academy five years ago following stints at Southwest Missouri State and Notre Dame.

Steve Murdock, who's been around The Yard for 16 years, helped design the Ricketts Hall complex before it was completed in 1995.

Cliff Doorman and Rett Warren are in their third year at Navy, having most recently worked at Ohio State and Maryland, respectively.

Far more than spotters helping players clear one last rep on a bench or machine, Brass and his staff are, foremost, teachers.

"We explain (each exercise) intently for one, two, three days at the beginning to make sure everyone does it right," he says. "We spend more time teaching in the beginning, then coach on the go."

Occasionally, they'll interrupt a workout and correct a player's form in front of his teammates. By doing so, everyone learns how to reap the best long-term benefits.

Another of the factors unique to an academy are those weeks in the summer when the Mids are assigned abroad, essentially, as officers in training.

Some will serve aboard ships, others afield with Marines. Carriers offer expansive facilities not found on smaller boats at sea. Depending on the duty, there is access to more. Or less.

"We give everybody a (conditioning) program to take with them," says Brass, noting that some workouts feature weights, while others involve manual resistance to build strength. "We do the same thing for the (winter) holidays.

"What should they do each day? It's important to have consistency, without large breaks with (your training). You can't train for three weeks, take three weeks off and, then, train for three weeks."

As one might expect, so far the players have been responsive - if not proactive.

"They're great, hard-working kids, have good morals, the whole deal," he says. "They're very into wanting to learn things. They're some of the hardest workers I've been around, almost to the other end.

"Sometimes you have to slow them down. They're very eager to get better."

An important part of that process involves educating the Mids about what they feed into their bodies.

Especially when today's retail shelves are stocked with nutritional supplements, much like candy at an old main-street dime store.

There is a long list of stimulants and anabolic agents banned by the NCAA - vowels and consonants crammed together to form words like "amiphenazole" and "oxymetholone." Some -like "ephedrine," which has been allegedly linked to deaths of both pro and college players - can be found in over-the-counter cold medicines.

In light of this shadowy state, with the effects of many such substances still unknown, Brass is part of a sports nutrition and supplement committee that monitors what the Mids intake.

As a general rule, common sense prevails. Stick to the basic food groups and make sure the body gets its daily allowance of natural vitamins and minerals. And soon the results will be apparent.

"Eat a proper balance of food, work out hard and you'll get the results you want," Brass says.

For most of his subjects, the marriage of diet and exercise is designed to generate what's commonly called "lean muscle mass."

But for the Mids who've run out of football seasons, the objective is often to drop weight. So, while Brass oversees the training of players who'll return next fall, he also helps the current seniors meet the physical requirements of their future roles in the Navy or Marine Corps.

"We meet with the seniors," Brass explains. "The team doctors are there and we have a nutritionist to help set up a diet for them. We cut their calorie intake and increase their aerobic activity."

By commissioning week the results are often startling.

Whatever the objective, whether reducing one's waste line or another's time in the 40-yard dash, it's vital for the players to see progress in the making. Success begets success, physically and mentally.

"Those kids see success and see themselves change," Brass says. "(As a player) you tend to do the things that helped you get to that point and work at those things harder.

"You need to know you've accomplished something."

Already, as the various charts and data document, much has been achieved.

"There's been improvement in a lot of areas," says Brass. "We coach them hard when they're in here.

"You're gonna have a situation where the time you see the largest gains, we have them the longest time."

Which is why, on this particular winter day, while most around him look forward to their lunch break, Mike Brass is ready to get back to work.

"I'm looking forward to this year, having the guys knowing the system," he says. "We've implemented a lot of new things and they understand the system a lot better going into the second year of spring ball."

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