The boosters' bold statement, along with their strong financial commitment, has helped athletic directors Jeff Walker and Rick Ellis put feet to a plan designed to enhance the long-term health of Saratoga's athletic programs.

The plan, inspired somewhat by football coach Kurt Heinrich's persistent nagging of Principal Kevin Skelly during the past seven or eight years, was set into action in spring of 2003. Walker hired Greg O'Hagan to develop and launch a strength and conditioning program that is "sport-specific" and designed foremost for injury prevention.

"It has really taken off!" says O'Hagan, 29, who is as knowledgeable and relatable as he is enthusiastic. "It has been phenomenal. I think it is the wave of the future."

O'Hagan's program is based on a philosophy that says improving athletic performance requires more than lifting weights. It must include a combination of stretching, plyometrics and weightlifting, primarily with free weights. Simply, plyometric exercises develop sport-specific power, bridging the gap between strength and speed. Agility and balance are part of that bridge.

Heinrich's football team was the first team that O'Hagan worked with last spring, but "now there are as many girls as there are guys" working out. There has been a snowballing effect.

"It met with some resistance at first," O'Hagan said, "but the results speak for themselves."

The results included several Santa Clara Valley Athletic League championships during the 2003­04 school year. "Most importantly, there were no major injuries," O'Hagan said.

The varsity football team won the El Camino Division crown, and the junior varsity had a good year. Billy Fowler's girls volleyball team and Amber Olsen's field hockey team—other squads who tried out the new program—also were league champs.

The commitment of Brett Yeilding's girls basketball team helped it capture a co-championship in the rugged De Anza Division.

Peter Jordan's track and cross country athletes use the facility, as do swimmers.

A common thread through all the athletes' workouts is "improving core strength," O'Hagan explains. "Strengthening the hips, stomach and legs is important, because those are parts of the body that are used so much in athletic movements."

During the cross country season, the sensational distance runner Alicia Follmar was having "a lot of problems with her balance," O'Hagan said. "She had weakness in her hips and a hamstring problem. She learned how to use her stomach muscles to take pressure off of her legs. Her hamstring improved."

Follmar went on to have a fantastic junior year in cross country, was an important part of a successful soccer team and then won the state championship in the 1,600-meter run.

O'Hagan also creates exercises specifically for certain sports. Volleyball players and basketball players are given exercises that increase their vertical jumps. Football players have tasks that help increase their explosiveness during the first three seconds of a play.

"We help the kids understand their bodies," O'Hagan explains. "We show them the mechanics of how to jump properly and to use explosive movements and how it will help them.

"And these kids are so smart, so motivated, so focused, they pick right up on the benefits."

Athletes are tested in their sport-specific exercises every eight weeks, and the results are recorded. T-shirts are used as incentives and rewards. The athletes see their progress, in the numbers and in their bodies.

"I can really see the physical changes," said senior-to-be David Orasin after a recent workout.

Orasin, a member of both the varsity football and basketball teams as a junior, has been using the improved facility and O'Hagan's training techniques for more than a year now. And he has noticed changes other than his larger biceps.

"When you can really burn by a guy driving to the basket or just explode for a rebound, you know the conditioning is working," he explained.

Barry Ju, a guard on the varsity basketball team, is looking forward to his senior season next winter.

"My leg strength has increased," Ju said, noting that he can maintain a strong defensive position for a longer period of time. "I don't get tired as quickly."

Eric Wong, an all-league defensive performer for the JV football team in 2003, will be challenging for varsity playing time this fall. "I feel more athletic now," he said.

Orasin, Ju and Wong "all have really blossomed [physically] in the last several months," O'Hagan noted. "You can see them grow. And that's the case with many of the kids, as they are consistent with their workouts."

What the student/athletes of Saratoga High have is "10 times better than some colleges," smiles O'Hagan. "It's already becoming the thing to do. We have six or seven girls from Redwood [Middle School] that will be freshmen already working out.

"Kids here are getting everything facility-wise that is available at a health club or private lessons or sessions, plus they are learning how their muscles work."

With a "small budget" and a lot of elbow grease, O'Hagan added some equipment to the weight room that had been transformed from an auto shop a few years before. Ellis, the girls athletic director, was instrumental in some of the equipment acquisition, according to Heinrich.

Then O'Hagan cleaned up an adjacent storage area, which is now used as the area where athletes do plyometric exercises.

"It was being used as storage for some robotics equipment," O'Hagan recalls. "Once it was cleaned out, there was a floor perfect for doing the plyometrics—a $10,000 floor."

Not only do the Saratoga athletes have improved resources to utilize while working out in season, off season and pre-season, they have somebody with expertise to guide them.

O'Hagan played basketball and graduated from nearby Lynbrook High School (1992) and West Valley College, before earning a degree in exercise physiology at Concordia College in Southern California. He earned a master's in community health from Portland State University in 1998.

He has worked in fitness clinics in Southern California and has other local training ventures in addition to his duties at Saratoga High. O'Hagan designs programs for individuals, and he conducts strength and conditioning workouts for West Valley's mens basketball team.

"All high schools need a program like this, but few have it," says O'Hagan, who benefits from a solid working relationship with Walker and Heinrich and good communication with Saratoga athletic trainer Heidi Peterson. "It has taken colleges and universities a long time to realize that proper strength and conditioning training is important enough to invest in it."

When a Saratoga student/athlete is hampered by soreness or injury, no matter the severity, the team of O'Hagan and Peterson provide resources like that of a college program.

"The athletic trainer identifies the injury and facilitates the healing," Heinrich explains, "then the conditioning coach rehabilitates and strengthens the athlete. For a high school, this is outstanding."

Looking at Orasin reminds O'Hagan of when he was a high school junior at Lynbrook.

"I wish I had the strength and conditioning opportunities in high school as these kids now have," says O'Hagan. "It really can increase your chance to play in a college program."

Phil Spencer, an all-league running back as a junior last fall, recently ran the 40-yard dash in 4.4 seconds in front of college scouts at a camp held at Stanford University.

"His previous best was 4.6," O'Hagan marveled, "but he is a firecracker. He has worked hard and grown confident. He is taking his body and maxing it out with this program.

"Although he is relatively small, that fast time is going to have more colleges looking at him during his senior year."

The exposure to proper strength and conditioning in high school also can help athletes as they begin their college careers.

Former Saratoga football standout Greg Van Hoesen, who redshirted this past season at UC-Berkeley and will begin his freshman season of eligibility this fall, recently was honored by Cal coaches as "Lifter of the Year."

"He told me they were teaching the same things that we are doing here," said O'Hagan.

Although O'Hagan and the program have helped some Saratoga teams tremendously, Heinrich says, "We have a ways to go" in order to maximize the program. "There needs to be more buy-in from the school," he maintains.

O'Hagan and Heinrich both believe that athletes should have a seventh-period physical education class before going to practice.

"There is a need in season, out of season and pre-season," O'Hagan claims.

"Seventh period needs to be for physical development, speed or strength training," Heinrich suggests. "Each coach needs to make Greg a part of his or her staff. Greg then will have more of an impact on each kid.

"When the message is consistent, we will develop bigger, stronger, faster and, consequently, safer athletes."