Oconto Falls to add strength and conditioning coach

Bellin Health agrees to provide coach at no cost to district
By: 
Warren Bluhm, wbluhm@newmedia-wi.com

OCONTO FALLS — The Oconto Falls School Board has renewed its training services contract with Bellin Health for three years with the addition of regular visits from a strength and conditioning coach.

The board acted after Athletic Director Jerry Moynihan worked out an agreement that provides the services at no cost to the school district.

In his presentation to the board, Moynihan said health care providers started offering strength and conditioning coaches about three years ago in addition to athletic trainers. Bellin has done athletic training for Oconto Falls for about 25 years, he noted.

He did some research at that time, but it was just after the district had laid off about 11 employees, Moynihan said.

“I never brought it to you because I thought it would be very embarrassing if I asked for $30,000 to $40,000 to bring someone in to lift weights and train them while you just laid off the tech ed teacher and so on,” he said.

The issue was raised about a year ago when a group of parents who have been working with a private strength coach came to him and recommended the district hire one.

He looked into it again and asked other schools in the North Eastern Conference about their athletic training and strength and conditioning programs. The first thing he discovered was that the districts that had strength and conditioning were also the most successful athletic programs.

He received bids from Bellin Health and Synergy of $14,000 and $47,000, respectively. He was reticent about approaching the board with the proposal until he learned that “Luxemburg-Casco and Wrightstown were getting that service for zero dollars” as an add-on to their athletic training contacts with Bellin.

“So we approached them and said, ‘We want the same thing that our competitor is getting,” Moynihan said. “We have to play that team, we have to play Luxemburg-Casco, you know, 20 times this year in our events.”

After some back and forth, Bellin agreed to supply the strength and conditioning coach for 16 hours a week in exchange for extending the current contract for three years, with a fourth-year option if Oconto Falls chooses. The strength coach will come for 24 hours a week during the summer.

What’s in it for Bellin? A chance to get business from the athletes and their families.

“It’s getting them through the door and being here and having that name and face,” he said.

Hopefully the strength coach will work in partnership with the physical education teacher in the district’s strength and conditioning class, Moynihan said.

“To me it was a pretty good deal for us to be more like our competitors, to be on the same playing field,” he said.

Board member Sharon Stodola-Eslien asked why Prevea, which is affilated with the local hospital, was not asked for a quote.

Moynihan and Superintendent Dean Hess said the last time Bellin Health renewed its athletic training contract, the district did ask Prevea for a bid, but they did not yet have such a service and were not competitive.

If Prevea remains interested, they have three years to start a program and be better prepared when bids are sought in three years, they said.

“That would be helpful for the hospital to know about that now so they have the time necessary to spool up for what the needs are for the next time to be competitive,” Hess said. “Some of the things we’re talking about it takes significant time and effort to meet those requests.”