The Le Mars Community football team just wrapped up a vital portion of their sport’s schedule four months before they are to take the field for fall camp. The Bulldogs completed their Peak Performance program last week which is a program that has nothing to do with the x’s and o’s of the sport of football. Head coach Ken Vigdal says the program is designed to foster the team aspect of the program.
The program encourages athletes to be better teammates through different reading materials that help improve mental performance for each student. Coach Vigdal says it helps bring the team closer together.
The idea for a program like this came to Vigdal while he was at Brookings High School in South Dakota. He says a steep drop off in performance on the field prompted a response off of it.
The program ended up having quick and immediate results. Coach Vigdal says that once the program was fully implemented, the football program was back to its prior winning ways.
The results have already been improved for Le Mars as well. The year prior to Coach Vigdal taking over the program, Le Mars went 1-6. In four years since then, the Bulldogs have made the playoffs two times and were the first team out of the playoffs last year. All of that is good, but Coach Vigdal says the ultimate goal of high school football is to produce results off the field.
Programs like this have changed the mentality behind winning and losing in the sport of football. Coach Vigdal says going undefeated and winning a state championship means nothing if you do not produce great people further on down the road.
The best part about a program like this is that the kids can end up becoming leaders of it themselves by the end of the series. Of course, people come in and lead discussions, but Coach Vigdal says the players are fully involved in leading those discussions within the program.
Coach Vigdal says by the end of the Peak Performance program and an athlete’s time in his football program, he wants them to be better people than they are football players.
Le Mars’ Peak Performance program occurs every spring and is a foundational element to build off of when the team reconvenes for weight-lifting and fall camp. The first date of practice for the 2025 season is set for August 11. Le Mars will find out their 2025 season in the coming weeks once schedules are released from the Iowa High School Athletic Association.
