I am taking this opportunity to congratulate our boy’s basketball team on their victory over Carroll High School last Friday, December 7. If you are cut from a mold of former generations where defense is the foundation from which to build a team, Coach Phil Brackmann and his assistants are doing just that. The 2 win, 1 loss start isn’t about a team stacked with elite basketball players waiting their time to move on to play at the next level. No, it is about a philosophy built upon a solid, strong foundation.
Out of the 13 young men selected to play on the varsity squad this year, nine of the varsity players made the decision back in August to build a foundation of greater physical strength by taking the weight lifting class, (Jaden Parnin, Jadon Dance, Jeren Kindig, Cade Motter, Landen Jordan, Kamari Anderson-Drew and Will Kammeyer) or lift weights after school, (Brayden Pearson and Christian Schmidt).
It is easy for me to see that the foundation of strength benefits these young men with greater confidence to elevate the physical gifts that God gave them and reduce the chance of injury. Not only are these young men our varsity basketball team members but also nine of the varsity players participate in other sports at Concordia such as football (Parnin, Kindig, Motter, Anderson Drew and Kammeyer), soccer (Gottschalk, Bartkowiak, Neuhaus, and Minger), baseball (Parnin and Kindig), and golf (Gottschalk and Kammeyer).
The boy’s basketball team is not the only Concordia team that builds a solid foundation by gaining strength by taking the weight lifting class. The following teams have student-athletes that believe that building strength is a benefit to athletic performance, boys cross country soccer, tennis, football, basketball, wrestling, swimming, baseball, golf and track/field.
I want to recognize four girls that take the weight lifting class, Morgan Aldrich (softball), Alyssa Henline (volleyball), Caitlin McGaffick (volleyball and track/field), and Paige Falkenstern (soccer). Morgan and Paige are the only females in the classes that they are scheduled, and Alyssa and Caitlin are fortunate enough to be scheduled at the same time. I hope their willingness, hard work and positive attitude is an encouragement for other girls to enroll in the class.
Mark Koehlinger,
Weightlifting Class Teacher