HSSC 11: Micah Kurtz and his philosophy on AC Flora Falcon Strength & Conditioning

AC Flora in Columbia, South Carolina. Coach Micah Kurtz is in his 7th year at AC Flora and has had great success with the building and developing of his strength program and has really built a great athletic culture there. He goes to sleep every night thinking he has to be ready to be able to train the athletes the next day because they are relying on him to get them better. And he lives up to that motivation factor for sure!

Here is a little bio on Coach Micah Kurtz:

Micah Kurtz is in his 7th year as the Director of Strength and Conditioning at AC Flora high school in Columbia, South Carolina.  In his role, Coach Kurtz has developed the school’s first ever school wide strength and conditioning program and created a school wide culture of vitality and fitness which includes not only student-athletes, but also the faculty, staff, parents and community. 

In the past year, AC Flora was named the #1 athletic program in the Columbia metropolitan area by the State Newspaper.  The baseball team has won 3 straight state championships; the basketball team won the state championship in 2014 and was upper state champions in 2015.  The football team tied the school record for wins and won the region championship in 2015.  It has won the region championship in 3 of the past 4 years and Coach Kurtz also serves as the team’s Associate Head Coach/Special Team’s Coordinator/Linebacker’s Coach.  The boy’s soccer team won its first ever state championship. and the golf team has won 5 straight state championships.

Additionally, Coach Kurtz is the Strength and Conditioning Consultant Coach to the high school basketball power house Oak Hill Academy. The Oak Hill Basketball team is currently 45-0 and ranked #1 in the Nation.  

Here is a short video STACK magazine did about Coach Kurtz and our Strength program:  

 http://www.stack.com/video/4003103505001/stack-impact-ac-flora-high-school/

Coach Kurtz has taken on the duty of overseeing Richland School District One’s new district wide strength and conditioning program.  For this duty, Coach Kurtz presented at the Richland One Coaches Convocation and at multiple Athletic Director’s meetings. 

 Coach Kurtz took 50 athletes to the Region Speed and Strength Meet and 11 of them medaled.  AC Flora had 5 athletes come in first place in their weight class and had a clean sweep of the 150 lb. division by winning 1st, 2nd and 3rd place.  Of Flora’s 11 athletes that qualified, 9 were in the varsity division.  At the State Meet, AC Flora was the ONLY school in the state with two varsity champions.

 Coach Kurtz also organized the first ever Richland One Intra District Speed and Strength Combine and hosted South Carolina’s 2nd annual Female Speed and Strength Meet.  At this meet AC Flora had 2 overall weight class winners and 4 other athletes came in the top 3.  There were only 5 weight classes at this meet.

 This past year, Coach Kurtz was named the State Director of the National Strength and Conditioning Association’s (NSCA) South Carolina Chapter.  He was also named a member of the NSCA's Subject Matter Expert Committee to create a new NSCA certification.  This group of 15 individuals is some of the most respected and well known fitness professionals in the country. 

Coach Kurtz spoke at the Nike Coach of the Year Clinics in Atlanta and Orlando, the NSCA’s South Carolina State Clinic and the PGC/Glazier Basketball Clinic in Charlotte.  Coach Kurtz will also be presenting at the South Carolina Coaches Conference in July.

 Coach Kurtz is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS), a USA Weight Lifting Sport’s Performance Certified Coach (USAW), a Functional Movement Screen Specialist (FMS), a National Board Certified Teacher (NBCT) and a Speed and Explosion Specialist (NASE).

Contact Coach Micah Kurtz here:

Email: [email protected]

twitter: @kurtzm3

instagram: @kurtzm3

Check out his 12 week vertical jump program here:

website: www.theathletemaker.com

 My info:

 My name is Dane Nelson. I am a former college and high school strength coach. I created this podcast for strength coaches at any level but more specifically for High School Strength Coaches. I want strength coaches to be able to connect to each other and learn more about the growing field of full time high school strength coaching.  Thanks for checking out the website.  It would be great to connect with other strength coaches and talk about what works and what doesn’t work when training high school athletes.  This is why I created this podcast. I hope  you find it useful and valuable!

Website: www.hsstrengthcoach.com

Contact me at [email protected]

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