How Dulaney High embraced the principles of the BFS Total Program
High School of the Year How Dulaney High embraced the principles of the BFS Total Program BY LAANNA CARRASCO, MA eenagers who become physically fit and happier will always be a great thing to see. That’s what the students at Dulaney High School in Timonium, Maryland, have become under the influence of the BFS program. The students are happy that Ttheir school has been named the 2011 BFS High School of the Year, but the award is not the source of their upbeat moods, well-being and better outlook on life. Rather, it’s the camaraderie, friendship and life skills along with a high level of strength and conditioning that they have developed by participating in the BFS Total Program.
Commitment, dedication, togetherness and pride are concepts that Dulaney students have turned into a way of life that is evident in the weightroom, on the sports field and in the classroom. JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012 Dulaney High School’s athletes, both men and women, have excelled in numerous sports and have captured many postseason championships.
Dulaney High School, located in the Baltimore County School System, is a BFS success story because not only has the school completely integrated the BFS Total Program into their physical education classes, but also they have inspired all of Baltimore County to use the BFS curriculum in weight training classes for PE. At Dulaney there’s a BFS extracurricular weightlifting club that any student can join, and the BFS program has helped many of the sports teams achieve winning seasons and championships. The boys lacrosse teams improved from a 9-9 record in 2009 to 13-6 last spring when they won the regional championship.
Girls lacrosse has also benefited, going from 10-8 in ’09 to 14-3-1 last spring. The baseball team went 14-5 and won the Baltimore County championship in 2011. Volleyball, girls basketball, boys soccer and the badminton team all have had winning seasons for the past few years. There’s more – Dulaney school psychologist David Schlenoff, who is a certified BFS coach, conducted a research study that showed that girls who participated in the BFS program had higher happiness scores on a well-known personality test, the Piers-Harris2.
Schlenoff, a lifelong athlete and former bodybuilder, was already familiar with the numerous psychological benefits of exercise, but he was struck by the rapid and remarkable increase in cheerfulness Stewart German, lifter; Jason Lawson, Will Darley and Gavan Scanlan, spotters One reason for the Lions success is their commitment to a unified strength and conditioning program through BFS.
Anthony Rhodes, holder; Nick Benhoff, on hands Joe Fingles, runner; Kevin Turner, resister and better moods displayed by the girls he coached in the BFS program. They seemed more confident and upbeat, and Schlenoff had a feeling that the girls’ participation in BFS, with its solid structure of Six Absolutes for training and the Be an 11 program, was the reason. He conducted a research study last year and found that after taking part in BFS, the girls showed significant improvements in ratings of cheerfulness, luck, ability to get along with others, and view of life circumstances. Basically, they were happier!
Schlenoff says he sees how BFS has transformed Dulaney students into fitter, happier kids. “The weightroom is packed and jammed, and the kids are excited about it,” he says, even at the early hour of 6:30 a.m., when the voluntary BFS Club meets to train. Laughter and camaraderie are always present now in the weightroom, and the sense of excitement and energy is palpable. Kyle Fiat, the varsity boys lacrosse coach and BFS Club sponsor, agrees. Fiat grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah, using the BFS program, and he is “proud that the students and coaches at Dulaney are being honored with the High School of the Year award because everyone’s dedication has been so phenomenal.”
When BFS was adopted by the school, all the coaches became unified around the program to help students make physical gains and prevent injury. “It’s awesome to see the seniors and experienced lifters help teach the freshmen and first-time lifters the correct power clean or parallel squat form using the Six Absolutes,” Fiat says. He points to the students’ effort and commitment to the program in learning the ins and outs of the BFS program. The sense of togetherness, friendship and team spirit that is evident in Dulaney students who participate in the BFS program goes beyond making exercise fun or winning on the field.
Schlenoff sees the students helping and encouraging each other to improve the technique and performance in an overwhelmingly positive way. The other day, Schlenoff says he saw this camaraderie and cohesiveness in action when he was walking outside the cafeteria after lunch and saw a number of the female students who had just started participating in the BFS Club practicing their squat technique. The girls were critiquing each other’s form and trying to get better. “They were excited and kept saying, ‘I think I’ve got this down now.’ I was impressed by their social support for each other. I could see that happiness score (from the Piers-Harris2 test) demonstrated outside the cafeteria.”
Getting Physical: the BFS Way For athletes, happiness comes when they win and also when they perform at their best. Fiat sees many of the teams getting stronger and faster, with more and more kids going on to play college sports with the physical and mental foundations they learned from the BFS program. Fiat coaches lacrosse, and he says that when his players learn optimal body alignment and movement patterns in the weightroom, this carries over into better performance on the field.
Proper body alignment of the toes and knees, spreading the chest, always being tall, and keeping the eyes on target are all coaching cues that are essential to allow players to excel against opponents and avoid injury. The injury rate at the school is down, and this past year Fiat had no hamstring injuries on the boys lacrosse team. “It’s due to the way that we parallel squat and straight-leg deadlift,” Fiat says. “We develop both the hamstrings and the quads with the right strength ratio.” From a recreational standpoint, the Six Absolutes of technique translate into better mobility and allow students who are new to weight training to lift without risk of injury.
Schlenoff has seen this in the female students and points out the importance of learning proper alignment and the athletic stance to ensure better movement patterns. Getting “bigger” hasn’t been a concern among the girls he’s worked with – they seem to be pretty well informed regarding the science of muscle building. “They really like to get ‘toned,’” Schlenoff says of the female students. Baltimore County is an area where a lot of local students go to private schools, but offering the BFS program at Dulaney is one way this public school is able to draw high-achieving student athletes to the school.
With the sports department, physical education and the BFS Club, Dulaney is fully unified around BFS, demonstrating stability in a strength and conditioning program that leads the field in the Baltimore region. With the athletes and students adopting and living by the methods of BFS and Be an 11, greater successes are sure to come for Dulaney athletic teams and students. We look forward to watching as this school leads the pack of bigger, stronger, faster and happier students! (Laana Carrasco holds a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Colorado and worked as a strength and conditioning intern for Harvard University and Brown University.
She is currently a writer for Poliquin Performance in East Greenwich, Rhode Island.)
From BFS Magazine — January/February 2012. Part of the BFS Magazine Archive (1980–2014).
