With the vast number of benefits a dedicated strength coach can provide, there’s no question why so many educators and coaches now believe it’s a necessary position within a high school. At Smithville (Mo.) High School, Jason Ambroson is that key figure, offering not only extensive knowledge on health science, but applying his years of experience to the shape and intent of the weight room.
Ambroson (a.k.a., Coach Ambro) joined Smithville High School as the Head Football Coach and Strength & Conditioning Coordinator 8 years ago. During his time as coach, the football team has achieved numerous milestones. Specifically, in 2018, they were crowned District and Conference champions, as well as reaching the semi-finals of the Class Four state championship. The following year, they were champions of the Suburban Blue league, and in 2020 they once again took the District title. In 2021, they solidified their legacy by winning their first state title in the Class Four championship.
Outside of organized high school football, Ambroson is helping to transform the culture of fitness within the high school and within the community.
Ambroson originally went to college to become a team doctor, but while pursuing his dream of finishing medical school, he found that it wasn’t the right fit for him.
Because he had already earned his CSCS from the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA), he decided to switch his focus to coaching. For nine seasons, he coached college athletics, working as an offensive coordinator and a special teams coordinator at the collegiate level, division two of NAIA and as an assistant at the division one level. The time he spent in college athletics helped him immensely when transitioning into the high school setting.
With Ambroson’s arrival at Smithville, a new wave of strength and conditioning enthusiasm came along with it. Out of the 900 students going to Smithville, more than 600 currently take a weight training class, with 699 taking at least one PE elective, and 485 taking two different PE classes at once. The physical education program at Smithville is unlike any other in the country. Students are given opportunities to engage in a variety of physical education classes based on their personal fitness goals.
“Our weight room is an investment center,” Ambroson says. “If you’re going to come in here, we want you to give your best effort all the time because the more you put into something, the more you’re going to get out of it. It’s about making students feel like they’re a part of something. It’s giving them something that they’re reaching out for, whether that’s athletically, whether that’s personally, whether that’s socially, emotionally, whatever that may be, and then helping them to improve on that.”
This approach allows students to engage in physical activity at a level that suits their needs, making them more open to discovering the multitude of ways they can invest time and energy into their own physical well-being. Students can even begin their fitness journeys at a young age in Smithville, with weightlifting programs being offered all the way down at the elementary school level.
This all-encompassing outlook on physical education has resulted in an undeniable interest in fitness among the students attending Smithville.
“They’re lifting one day, they’re playing dodgeball the other, and then they’re doing some form of other activity on another day,” Ambroson says. “That programming starts with us in our elementary school because the biggest breakaway from physical activity — on that spectrum from obesity to unhealthy to athletic — happens between sixth and eighth grade. That’s where kids have less recess, they have less PE in a lot of schools, and that’s when kids begin getting out of shape.”
Creating A Great Weight Room
With a strong emphasis on establishing fitness norms at an early age, it’s important for schools to have a facility that can support a wide variety of needs. The weight room is an essential piece of that puzzle, and at Smithville, Ambroson designed a beauty instilled with care and intent.
“Our weight room to me is like recess when I was a kid,” Ambroson says. “We’ve got a jungle gym and we’ve got this and we’ve got that and we run around. Do we work hard at doing certain things? Yes, we do. We also work really hard at trying to be as diverse as we can so that our kids can find something tangible to take away from it.”
Creating a space that can fulfill the needs of every type of athlete is a challenge, but anything is possible when teaming up with the right people. One of the most important, but often overlooked, aspects of any weight room is the flooring. Flooring is essential for absorbing the impact of each individual who sets foot in the room.
With so many different athletes moving in and out of the weight room every day, Ambroson needed a floor that could keep up. The further from school we get, the more likely we are to forget our basic physics, and there’s no better reminder than the weight room floor. The fact is, the harder an athlete pushes down on the floor, the harder that floor pushes back on growing muscles and tendons and ligaments. The right floor can decrease the negative impacts of those forces.
Thankfully for Ambroson, the decision on flooring was easy. Smithville previously worked with Mondo for its turf field, which was installed 12 seasons earlier. The field was in such good condition when Ambroson arrived, the decision was a no-brainer.
“The proof was in the pudding,” Ambroson says. “There were other companies with similar things; I’m not going to deny it. And there were companies that may have had one thing better or one thing not. But Mondo was able to specifically give me what I wanted.”
The Mondo football field was the canary in the coal mine, and it was still in great shape, having proven its ability to withstand everything thrown at it. This served as a great indication that Mondo’s high-quality, durable and affordable flooring would also meet the high standards Ambroson expected. Mondo’s flooring not only offered great force absorption but was affordable enough to allow Ambroson to invest resources in other parts of his weight room.
Ambroson’s experience proves that coaches seeking quality, long-lasting weight room flooring that won’t break the bank should take a hard look at Mondo.
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Details
Mondo offers extra strong and durable sports surfaces with customizable design for weightlifting areas.
