Elitefts SPP: Fred Eaves Interview

Fred Eaves

Director of Wellness and Athletic Performance

Battle Ground Academy

Topics in this Podcast

Topics Covered in this Podcast

How Coach Eaves got started in the profession

Taking over a New Program

1. Assessing the situation 
2. Identifying roadblocks
3. Exceed expectations
4. Under-promise over-deliver

The Multi-Sport Athlete

1. Over-specialized and under-generalized
2. The correlation between the number of sports played and injury rates
3. The throwback kid: physicality, mentality, and resiliency
4. The benefits of competing in other sports year round

Assessments

1. Block Zero (Wildcat) assessments
2. The Dynamic Movement Screen
3. Relative strength
4. Movement quality

Scheduling

1. 8-period rotating schedule
2. Tier System for everyone
3. Regressing non-athletes in class
4. Wildcat, white, grey, gold, blue programs
5. Technique then Velocity then Load
6. Counter-culture what the world tells us
7. Do more of what they are not getting

In-Season Adjustments with the Tier System

1. Manipulating sessions, volume, and intensity
2. In-season: keep high intensity and control the volume
3. Empowering older athletes
4. RPE scales and HS athletes

Programming

1. Rotating schedules for athletes
2. 30 minute sessions during school hours
3. MWF = Strength training, TH = Movement and Restoration
4. Complex for the strength coach = simple for the kids and coaches
5. Mixed gender versus boys and girls only

Go to Exercises/ Drills

1. Trap Bar DL
2. OlympicLifts
3. Every situation is unique
4. Overhead Squat
5. Swiss Bar Presses
6. Exercise selection for stress management
7. Baseline with 3 regressions and 3 progressions

Monitoring/ feedback

1. Why monitor if we can't do the basics
2.  Be the best you that you can be
3. APRE numbers for tracking
4. Can't be numbers driven
5. If you are only looking at the end number, you are not getting the whole picture
6. Fighting against the Culture

Mentoring/ Character Development

1. The most important aspect of the job
2. Model the behavior
3. Be accessible
4. Transactional versus transformational
5. All you leave behind is how you effect, Trickle down, cyclical
6. Set the legacy
7. Perception is reality
8. Put accountability back on the player

Advice for young coaches

1. Differentiate yourself
2. Humility
3. It is a unique field.. Sacrifice
4. Bringing others down to build your up
5. Stay in the Eye of the Storm

How to contact you/ social media

The Fred Eaves File

Fred Eaves is currently the Director of Wellness and Athletic Performance at Battle Ground Academy in Franklin, TN. He has 16 years of experience in the field that includes stops at UT-Chattanooga, the University of Tennessee, and Louisiana State University as well as multiple high schools in the state of Tennessee. Eaves was voted the 2013 Samson Equipment and American Football Monthly Central Region High School Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year. Battle Ground Academy’s Athletic Program has had tremendous success in the last year with state championships in men’s basketball, men’s soccer, Final Four appearances from baseball, women’s soccer, and a State Quarterfinal appearance from the football team. Eaves holds degrees from UT-Chattanooga, Tennessee Tech University, Lincoln Memorial University, and the University of Missouri. He currently serves as the Tennessee State Director for the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA).

Coach Fred Eaves is entering his second season as the Defensive Line Coach for the Wildcats.  This is also Coach Eaves 16th year coaching overall. Coach Eaves coached three State Championship football teams and 1 state championship weightlifting team before coming to BGA. In addition to coaching, Coach Eaves is the Wellness and Athletic Performance Coordinator for all BGA students and athletic teams. Coach Eaves has trained 32 NFL Draft picks as well as 10 NCAA All-Americans. Among these players are Jerod Mayo, Arian Foster, and Randall Cobb. Coach Eaves has also been a featured author for American Football Monthly and Gridiron Strategies. He is also a featured speaker at the Hammer Strength clinic series. Coach Eaves has been a strength coach collegiately at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, The University of Tennessee, and Louisiana State University. He is married to Kristy Eaves and has two step children: Savanna and Grant Allen.

- Battle Ground Academy

www.elitefts.com