Chris Carlisle is the strength and conditioning coach of the Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawks, but he spent Friday night in Jefferson as one of the guest speakers at the annual football coaching clinic. Carlisle and others at the top of his profession took time from their schedules at the request of the people at Power Lift, where the Friday night portion of the clinic was held.

He told Raccoon Valley Radio that he’s coached at virtually every level of football- high school, junior college, Division I, and now the NFL, and he believes there isn’t a great deal of difference between any of the levels in preparing for a game because the needs are the same, it’s just at different levels. “The How Much is the biggest difference,” the coach said, and he added, “Each level needs to focus on the How To and the How Fast parts of the teaching hierarchy first. How Much is usually all that people will focus on, when in the technique (How To) and the speed of the movement (How Fast) actually are the keys to the developing of athleticism.”

Carlisle went on to say the game of football is all about movement and if coaches with limited resources and limited coaching experience want to change the nature of their teams, they need to focus on improving the overall athleticism of their players.

The Saturday portion of the clinic is in Jefferson at Greene County High School. U. of Northern Iowa head coach Mark Farley and Iowa State University assistant Mark Mangino are the keynote speakers. Greene County native Bryce Paup of Scranton, now an assistant coach at UNI, will also be speaking today.