Muskego — By leaping over hurdles in four crucial areas of helping America's youth build better bodies, Muskego High School has become one of only four schools in the United States to be honored with a 2010 Strength of America Award.
Mike Nitka, head strength and conditioning coordinator for sports at the school, this week gave the School Board some idea of how Muskego achieved "the gold standard," as cited by the National Strength and Conditioning Association and the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.
Oddly enough, the award did not come from the considerable progress students have made in their overall physical fitness in the last few years, he told the board Monday. Instead, the focus was more on the program that got the students to higher levels, including in the human performance class now in its fourth year at MHS, he said.
The school was evaluated in four categories: program, supervision, education and facilities.
Solid program approach
Nitka, who also teaches physical education and health at the high school, said the program doesn't wander from tried and true strength and conditioning science.
The fitness field gets caught up in all kinds of new ideas and new theories, but "we look at what the science says really works," he said, adamantly adding: "We don't follow trends."
Award judges look for research that is solid, with follow-up studies that turn out the same time after time, Nitka explained.
And using such a research-based approach, he said, "I really don't see an end to improving performance and fitness."
Watching over the weight room
The fitness award groups also noted that Muskego High School is superior in its supervision of its weight room, safeguarding young athletes against injury.
A qualified weight trainer is in the weight room and students are not allowed to work out without supervision, Nitka said. Coaches all have an emergency action plan for both during and after school in the training room, and all students using the weight room must view a training video on safety.
Olympic-level education
As for education, the department brings in speakers to keep teachers and coaches current on such aspects as circuit training, rubber-band resistance training, and the use certain types of technology to measure how fit students are, Nitka said.
For three years running, he also had Lynn Jones, head coach of the Olympics weightlifting team, come from the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs to teach coaches and teachers how to do certain types of weight-training, especially a move called power clean.
Starting with the barbell on the floor, the athlete lifts it to shoulder height as fast as he or she can.
"That gives the ability to generate power, and that's what sport is all about," Nitka said.
Superintendent of Schools Joe Schroeder said that in viewing all the fitness programs, "I've been consistently impressed."
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