BreakThrough Strength & Conditioning

08/21/2026

08/21/2026

The Spring was a as such a fun one and is my personal favorite of the year.
Congratulations to the Group 1 Hornets, the Group 2 Pacers & the Group 3 Hornets.

Something we preach at Breakthrough is ‘The best passing team always wins’ and The Group 1 Hornets did just that.
They were aggressive, closed out on shooter, getting a substantial amount of blocks and attacked the basket.
It seemed that the Boomers in the second half were receiving some heavenly assistance 😊 with a scoring surge from Parks and valiant effort from his teammates, but the Hornets on this day were just the better team.

The Group 2 Pacers on paper all season long were the underdogs. But in reality that was just not the case. Their key? They genuinely loved each other were each others biggest supporters. No matter who was scoring, they were cheering each other on and their selfless play was the biggest key to their victories in the season and on this night against a VERY talented Titans squad.
It was beautiful to see them play for each other. Thank you!

The Group 3 Hornets played from the opening tip with hype, speed, tenacity and they were loud! On paper, they seemed like they would be the underdogs, but they played with such speed and precision that they could not be defeated on this night.
It just goes to show even if you are undersized, never count out a group of kids that are fearless.
Amazing job!

Congratulations to all three championship teams!!!

08/21/2026

Breakthrough Basketball League Spring Season
Most Improved Players: Group 1 Trey, Group 2 Quincy &
Group 3 Henry.

The Most Improved Player is an award voted on by all the coaches over the course of the season.
Trey, Quincy & Henry all showed us how training hard, listening to their coaches and believing in themselves can impact their games and help their teams so significantly.

Trey has always been the kid that kills it in practice but was a little timid in games. This last season, he was able to have his practice habits translate and as a result became not only the most improved but one of the best players in the league.

Quincy, a relative newcomer to the program showed lots of potential from the beginning. He was a hard worker but needed to develop better control of the ball and his body. Well, that control came and coupled with his natural instincts and soccer background was able to impact games like few others!

Henry over the past few years and made improvements little by little but this past season developed the kind of confidence that freed him up to hit an entirely new level. His new found confidence combined with his athleticism and soft touch around the basket has made him a prominent player in the league.

I’m so proud of all three of these young men. They all trust me, listen and implement what they are told. It’s been such a pleasure to watch them on the court. My favorite part though, just might be seeing their parents reactions to their success. 😊

Congrats boys, you deserve it. 👏🏻

06/21/2026

Little s**t turning into a big s**t…
We never thought having kids would be apart of our lives, I am beyond fortunate to have the title of Dad.

Happy Father’s Day!

05/12/2026

❄️ 🏆BBL Season XV (Winter) Results.

Congratulations to the Spurs from Group 1 and the Timberwolves from Group 2.

Both winning teams demonstrated why they were the best just that: Teams. Their teamwork, selflessness and ex*****on was just beautiful to watch.
Both the 76ers (G1) and the Spurs (G2) showed absolute heart and I no doubt believe they will learn from their defeats.

Also, congratulations to Weston Johnston for not only being voted the Most Improved Player from this season, but also being voted the Most Valuable Player from the Championship game. The second only time that has happened in our 15 seasons.

Weston J, Knox, Isaac, Cove, Ari, Milo B, Camden and Baden ALL contributed massively to their win and deserve to be mentioned individually.

Group 2 saw Graham Shelley being voted as the Most Improved Player and an amazing all around performance from an all around great human being: Nixon Wilde saw him unanimously voted as the Most Valuable Player.

What I loved most about this team was their inclusiveness. Everyone was involved and their team spirit was so strong.
Dezy, Emi, Brielle, Nixon, Sheldon, Q, Ethan and Makai, Thank you for showing us what teamwork truly is about.

04/20/2026

Would have regretted not making the quick trip for Wrestlemania Sunday.
Amazing show. Amazing experience. Grateful we got to go.

04/09/2026

One of the best things about Spring Break is having the kids home in the morning. While I’m training, usually Bindi will come out and either watch or ask to join in.

Her simple progression on the bench press today.
1. Dowel
2. Add looped bands (no resistance) just purely to create awareness.
3. She wanted it to be heavier so, added low hanging 5’s to again create awareness and ‘feel’ for the unloading at the bottom as a cue to stabilize and then press.
4. Finally, high hanging 5’s so the weight didn’t unload at the bottom.

Proud of my little girl and so happy she has taken an interest in being strong. 😍 💪🏻

Also, she ‘needed ‘s music on’ so she could get stronger.

Must be Wrestlemania season!

04/03/2026

Super Mario Galaxy Movie Private Screening for (a good chunk of) the Breakthrough kids!

This was the 7th movie I’ve been able to do this.
It was very gratifying looking around the theater at a little over half the kids I get to train 2-3 days a week year round.
They all had such big smiles on their faces while watching the movie, it was fun to see.

Appreciate this very special community. ❤️

03/29/2026

Achieve failure.

In order to know how strong, fast or fit you are, you have to know your limits. But the only way to truly know those limits, is to truly achieve failure.

We are almost done wrapping up our quarterly testing for our young athletes with their age appropriate tests. If you have a kid that is in our program and they haven’t come home and had the conversation with you about the difference between quitting and failing, ask them about it.

Tom Platz famously has spoken about the concept of truly achieving failure and sparking growth from that failure.

In these snap shots, you see Will, brace, fail, realize his failure and then understands with an inward acknowledgment and smirk.
Just prior to this lift, he got 315. Here was 320. Could he get it? Perhaps. Maybe another day. But on this day, he (and I) knew that 320 lbs was HIS limit and he achieved that failure.

I’m so proud of him for this. He wasn’t concerned about his peers and their numbers. He didn’t conveniently bow out when they stopped. He was on a mission.

Our tests: Chin-ups, pushups, the beep test, bench, squats and deadlifts (for the older athletes) to name a few, are all opportunities for them to learn what that crossroad of quitting and failing is all about.

Great teachers for life. When life gets hard, do we quit or do we give our absolute best effort regardless of the odds?

I’ve said it before and I’ll continue to say it, our program is not just about basketball, strength or conditioning, it’s about human development; body, mind and soul.

We are almost done with testing, but I’ll say it right now, I am beyond proud of all these kids for their efforts, their struggles and their trust.

03/19/2026

No one is more ready to play for the Cougs than Cole.
Testing Vertical’s this week with the little ones.

I don’t know what’s funnier, Cole’s face when I raise the or Knox’s commentary as he records the video.

I want all of my athletes (aged 5-19) to be so familiar and well versed with various tests that the NCAA and NBA use, so they are confident enough to perform when they are asked to do so.

With many athletes, there is a learning curve on how to perform athletic testing and this will help eliminate that curve so they get the best possible result for them.

It’s also lots of fun to do 😊.