Inside the Football Performance Centre

It’s one of the many inspirational sayings that adorn the walls of the University of Guelph’s Football Performance Center: “Others practise until they get it right. Gryphons practise until they can’t get it wrong.”

Success on the field requires work. And much of the work that the Gryphon Football players put in for 12 months a year happens inside the Performance Centre. There is a definitive energy in that room, complete with music blasting and laser focus, as teammates put in the countless hours of sweat that enable them to perform on the field.

“At any given time, you will see senior players working out with the younger ones, teaching them some of the finer points of lessons they have learned to make themselves bigger, faster, and stronger,” says strength and conditioning coach Adam Kania. “You’ll hear loud music and sometimes, guys all singing along to a particular song.”

“I’m fine with that because that’s a part of the culture I enjoy in the weight room – work hard, play hard.”

The Gryphon Performance Centre has undergone transformations over the years. The latest plan to change the room is creating a buzz throughout the program.

“One of the first things we did when I arrived was talk about improving the Performance Centre,” says Emeritus Head Coach Stu Lang. “It was quite limited. There were a couple pieces of equipment. It was the first time in a while that a number of alumni got together to contribute.”

With the generous contributions of former members of the program, change was made. Space is always a primary concern and, with the room currently being able to hold about 40 athletes at one time, training is usually split into position groups.

But by the time the current renovation is complete in early 2021, the Performance Centre will be one of the leading state-of-the-art facilities in all of Canadian university athletics. Lang says part of the plan includes blowing out the south end of the wall underneath the stands. He adds that many collegiate programs in the USA have their weightlifting area adjacent to a turf surface where they can transition seamlessly from lifting, to work on skills. The new plan will have a big space to do cone drills and linemen walkthroughs on the turf, with giant surrounding glass letting light in.

“The turf will allow us to do more sled pushes and pulls, as well as train some of our acceleration exercises,” says Kania, who adds there will be more high-quality equipment to accommodate bigger groups of players. “This will help us with our starting speed, which we expect to see transfer onto the field in August.”

The most exciting additions will come in the form of cool technology. Lang and Kania researched programs like the NCAA champion LSU Tigers, and also made a trip to Buffalo to see the Bills’ facility. One idea they took from these trips was to install a huge movie screen that comes down from the ceiling where players can go through simulations with a digital opponent right in front of them.

“You have your quarterback in front of the screen and he sees a play,” says Lang. “You can either film game or practice. At LSU, they have computer software package that you can literally design the play. You can position the simulated players any way so the quarterback can assess, like ‘that’s an overload to the right,’ and what does that mean? Is this a blitz?”

“You can go through hundreds of plays in minutes so you get more repetitions than organizing players on the field.”

In addition to all of the incredible features, Lang plans to have an area dedicated for fans to come and have a seat on the turf and catch the game on TV screens, especially in the event of inclement weather.

Like the Pavilion before it, the revamped Performance Centre promises to be an attraction for Gryphon Football. Kania says that he likes to do things right the first time and the renovation plans represent an opportunity to have a space where future champions are groomed.

“When an individual first walks through the doors of our new facility, be it a current player, coach, recruit, parent, supporter or visitor, their first reaction should be, ‘Whoa!’ says Kania.” There will be power racks on both sides of the facility, dumbbells on both sides past the racks, the turf zone off in the distance, and everything perfectly symmetrical. We’ll have the Gryphon proudly emblazoned on the wall amongst our Decade Team tributes, championship banners, and nods to All-Canadians.

“This facility will be one of the finest in all of U SPORTS. And we intend on using it to foster our student athletes’ growth to bring home multiple national championships.”

Written By: David DiCenzo