1996 PARMA HIGH SCHOOL PANTHERS

The 1996 Parma High School Football team entered the season with high expectations.  Returning 9 starters on offense and defense (our players go both ways) from last years Western Idaho Conference Championship team, the potential for a promising season was great.  It was hard to believe that four short years ago as freshman, this group had gone 1-7, with the lone victory coming in overtime in the last game of the season.  I sincerely believe that we must look back to progress forward.  This group of young men were the first group of athletes to attend a clinic put on by Bob Rowbotham of Bigger Faster Stronger.  To win a state championship, three years later, is "unreal".  I am a firm believer that the BFS system works, and I have an Idaho State trophy to prove it!

The Panthers entered the play-offs in 1996 unranked and unrespected.  With a 7-1 record (our only loss was to a larger Oregon school 36-30), we proceeded to qualify for the finals by defeating our next three opponents by scoring an average of 38 points a game while our defense surrendered an average of only 12 points.  Two of our three opponents had been averaging nearly 40 points per game during the regular season.

Our goal at the beginning of the season was to be State Champions.  We were one game away from achieving a dream.  Our opponent in the final game was perennial power Glenns Ferry High School.  Glenns Ferry entered the finals 11-0 and the number one ranked team in the state of Idaho, two time defending State Champions and riding a 35 game win streak.  To quote the POST REGISTER newspaper out of Twin Falls:

"Parma may have just one loss this season, but the Panthers are woefully mismatched against the defending State Champion Pilots.  Glenns Ferry has speed to burn and can run up the score quickly against almost anyone.  Last weeks' state semifinal between Teton and Glenns Ferry all but decided the state champion."

With this in mind, Parma jumped out to a 20-0 half time lead and never looked back, winning 26-6 and bringing Parma, Idaho its first State Championship!

The four year project was complete.  We credit BFS with a great deal of our success.  We had only 2 injuries on a squad of 28 players.  This durability allowed us to keep our athletes "in the game."  As a team we rushed for over 3500 yards and averaged over 30 points a game.  Our defense held opponents to under 200 yards total offense nine times during the 12 game season.

The BFS system gets results!
Special Player Comments on BFS.

"The Bigger Faster Stronger progam has helped my performance in sports tremendously.  Coming into my junior year of football, I weighed only about 145 pounds.  After that season, I worked with the BFS program throughout the next spring and summer and it helped me gain 20 pounds before my senior football team and I credit a lot of that to the long hours spent in the weight room during the off-season."
Nick Sarich, Senior-WB & DB

"You have to work very hard to achieve the goals that we have set for the football team, and the BFS program has played a very important role.  The program has helped me in every aspect of my athletic ability."
Brad Bowman, Junior-WB & MLB

"Bigger Faster Stronger has done wonders for my athleticism.  It helped me to increase my strength , speed and agility.  It caused me to become a better all-around athlete.  It helped me to increase my bench press from 115-pounds to 230-pounds, my parallel squat from 135-pounds to 300-pounds, my power clean from 95-pounds to 195-pounds and my dead lift from 225-pounds to 500-pounds.  Bigger Faster Stronger also helped me increase my size, by helping me put on 80 pounds of muscle.  BFS has also increased my speed and agility.  At the beginning of the program, I ran a 6.3, 40-yard dash, I now run a 5.3"
Russ Hollenbeck, Senior-Center

"Being a champion, that is what being in the Bigger Faster Stronger weight program is all about.  Our high school started this program three years ago and the results have been unreal.  We have gone from a conference doormat to the conference elite in almost every sport, including a State Championship in football.  Why?  Because we are all bigger, faster and stronger.  This program has helped me immensely.  In the past year, I put on 10-15 pounds in the weight room.  My agility has increased and my stamina has risen.  I play football and basketball and the extra muscle that I put on are assets in both sports.  I am also able to play 48 minutes in football and 32 in basketball without getting exhausted.  My speed has increased as well as my jumping ability.  The Bigger Faster Stronger program has brought nothing but positive results to me and my high school.  If you want to be a champion, train like one in the Bigger Faster Stronger program."
Tony Haddock, Senior-QB & DE 

"Bigger Faster Stronger has helped me in many ways.  In basketball it has helped my jumping ability.  I'm 6'2" and can jump off two feet and dunk a basketball with two hands.  My vertical has increased eight inches and I am able to rebound and physically move people where I need them to be.  In football I needed to be a good blocker.  On defense I needed to be a leader and the main player in the middle, making the tackles.  Bigger Faster Stronger made this possible.  Bigger Faster Stronger gave me the ability to have the strength, the endurance and most important, the confidence that I could do it.  Everyone in this program at Parma High School has benefited."
Ryan Tracy, Senior-TE & MLB

Clinician's Note:  In June of 1994, Bruce Schlaich dreamed of winning a state championship.  In 1996 Bruce, his staff and players made it happen.  Preparation and hard work were consistently implemented to allow the dream to be a reality.  Congratulations for playing your song and helping me to play mine.

Bob Rowbotham
Parma's BFS Clinician