EliteForm: That Next Big Thing Here Now
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By Randy York
James Dobson is
a lot like the head coach who hired him. He sees the world in
black-and-white with no shades of grey in between, so that means he will
do what he always does at the National Conference of the Collegiate Strength & Conditioning Coaches Association
in Orlando this week. Dobson and the rest of his staff will take a
beginner’s mindset to the annual gathering, so they can learn as much as
possible Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. “The sole purpose of us going
down there is to learn more about strength and conditioning and find out
what else is out there,” Dobson said. “If we can learn what to do and
what not to do and take it back here and help out our
student-athletes, that’s the only mission we have.” Dobson is like a
Marine. He sees everything he does as a commitment, not an appointment.
That’s why he’s headed to Orlando with one motive, even though there
will be two additional sideshows that relate directly to him: 1) Nebraska’s head strength coach will be one of 15 coaches
receiving the association’s highest honor this week – the presentation
of certification as a “Master Strength and Conditioning Coach” from his
peers; and 2) He will be a prototype “expert” for the industry’s newest technology, which will be unveiled, exhibited and perhaps become one of the conference’s biggest highlights.
So here’s an N-Sider tip of the hat for
Dobson’s well-deserved professional honor, plus his leadership role in
helping Nebraska Global launch EliteForm,
an integrated software product that has the potential to redefine every
boundary in the history of strength and conditioning training. But
let’s make one thing crystal clear. “We’re not going to Orlando as
representatives of EliteForm,” Dobson said. “We’re going there to be
representatives of the University of Nebraska strength and conditioning
staff, and we’re there to learn. That’s the bottom line.” Joining Dobson
at the national conference are NU assistant strength coaches Chad Wade, Tyler Clarke and Willie Jones. Of course, someone has to stay home to manage Nebraska’s weight room, and Brandon Rigoni is more than happy to do just that. Last January, when Nebraska Global soft-launched EliteForm at the National Strength and Conditioning Association’s
annual conference in San Antonio, Rigoni was there to hear major kudos
about the product. Now he’s eager for his colleagues to hear even
greater feedback on a vastly improved product.
EliteForm has evolved significantly because Nebraska Global and NU’s Athletic Department have collaborated well. “This
is a relationship, and we have two entities here,” Dobson said. “We
have a strength and conditioning program, and we have a group of guys
who are really brilliant when it comes to information technology. We
work together and share ideas. On our end, we share how we think things
run in the real world, what we need and how we want to go about doing
it. They listen, and they try to meet those needs. It’s a collaborative
process. It takes time, but we feel we have a great product, and that
was our goal. We figured out what ideas we could use and then we went
with it. It’s been back and forth for almost a year now. We’ve given
them great feedback, and they’ve given us a great product.”
We know how precise Nebraska can be in terms
of overall excellence. Getting exactly what you like takes time, not to
mention skills, expertise, cooperation and constant communication. “Working
with these guys has been real healthy,” Dobson said. “We’ve probably
worked with10 or 12 people that we intermingle with on a regular basis.
We’re constantly sharing ideas, and it’s not just from Brandon or me.
Willie, Tyler and Chad have all thrown out ideas and worked through
things on this. As far as relationships go, it’s been smooth. I’ve had a
great experience working with them – there’s no question about it.
Everybody puts thought into it. It’s not one person making all the
decisions. It’s all about the team.”
Knowing Dobson is too immersed in his own
challenges to put on a marketing hat, I ask him the obvious: “If a
fellow coach comes up and asks you for your opinion of EliteForm at the
national conference, what will your response be?” Dobson answered the
question just like I thought he would. “We look at a lot of products,”
he said. “When we installed new turf like we saw at this same meeting last year,
we asked a lot of questions,” he pointed out. “We said: ‘Hey, what do
you think of this turf? Is it good? Does it hold up?’ As coaches, we all
talk because we have a pretty tight network. Everyone kind of knows
each other, and the best way to find information about a product is to
talk to the people who use it. If someone asks me about EliteForm, I
have no problem sharing my experience with it and being honest about the
product. Bottom line, we think it’s great. They’ve given us everything
we asked for … and then some.”
Send a comment to ryork@huskers.com
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