Scales helps athletes prepare for seasons thanks to specifically designed programs
CAPTION: Richard Scales (second row, left) was one reason why the Mustangs and Lady Mustangs captured multiple district titles and advanced in the playoffs during the 2023-24 school year. File photo
In sports, a banner year isn’t by accident, even one the Marble Falls High School athletic department made look easy.
Those trophies aren’t hoisted without some important moments occurring long before those seasons begin.
One moment came when Richard Scales, who serves as the boys powerlifting head coach, was named the strength-and-conditioning coordinator.
During the offseason and preseason, he had conversations with each head coach to better understand what they needed in a weight program to prepare for their seasons.
“He’s a resource for everybody,” assistant athletic director and girls basketball head coach John Berkman said. “He has been a great resource for our coaches. We can send a team to the weight room, and they’ll get worked out. We’re trying to get everybody committed to the weight room.”
Scales was recommended for the position by former football offensive coordinator and offensive line coach and girls powerlifting head coach Robert Draper.
“I think he’s the perfect choice,” Draper said. “He and I worked so closely together in powerlifting. I knew his value and knew what he could do. We collaborated in a lot of things.
“It all started a little bit before Scales,” Draper added, noting other head coaches, such as baseball’s Tyler Porter have “always done a decent job in the weight room to get kids in shape.”
“(Boys basketball head coach Travis) Crain really bought into the weight room,” Draper added. “He made a shirt that reads ‘Soft Sits.’ He asked the kids to show up, to be ready by 8 a.m. before Scales took over. (Scales) got in touch with all the various coaches and developed a program for them. The boys program took to it. Scales has helped facilitate the shift in mentality for some of those kids.”
During the basketball season, as the Mustangs were in the midst of the District 24-4A race, coaches made the decision to go all-in on a heavy guard line-up that emphasized long-range shooting, high-tempo fastbreaks and driving to the hoop when the lanes opened. Crain often emphasized to his players the importance of rebounding, especially defensively even if the opponents had taller players used to being much more physical than those on the perimeter. A quicker line-up was an advantage because taller players may not be in physical shape to run up and down the floor with the Mustangs.
And Crain noted that attack formula begins with a mindset that Scales helped facilitate.
“Our basketball program developed a mentality in the summer of ‘Soft Sits,’” Crain said. “We went about cultivating a mentality on the court of hard-working, intense, tough kids. Coach Scales was an extension of that as he helped us shape our workouts. He and I partnered on sport-specific exercises that we thought would help our guys build up and then sustain their progress as the season went along.”
Hard-working, tough and intense also can describe Scales, who credited his colleagues for working with him to create programs that ensured success.
“It’s been a coordinated effort between the head coaches and myself,” Scales said. “We worked together to design the programs.”
Scales was a thrower and football player at Abilene Christian University. That might be one reason why he is the throwing coach for the Marble Falls High School track and field team where he guided Kylie Roberts to district and area championships in 2023.
“He lived in the weight room,” Draper said of Scales as a college athlete. “He learned a lot of techniques and things like that. He communicates well with kids. He’s knowledgeable in technique.”
The idea of lifting weights while a sport was in season used to be frowned upon. Now, in some sports, it’s part of the game day ritual because of injury prevention. While that mindset shifted years ago, Scales commits to changing with the times, Draper said, noting he is constantly researching new and better ways to help athletes that includes nutrition, training and rest.
In addition, weight lifting helps with two vitally important traits for athletes, no matter the sport: explosiveness and change of direction.
The goal is to get athletes to perform at their best, no matter the gender, Berkman added. And no program is a better example of that than the Marble Falls summer strength and conditioning program where athletes will be in the weight room and on the field at the same time. Only the ages of the athletes will determine which facility they’ll start the session.
And Scales has challenged each athlete to improve by highlighting the top lifters — no matter the sport — on a record board hung in the weight room. At one time, only football players were on the board.
“They all do the same testing that football does, even the girls,” Draper said. “To me, it helped the girls, and it showed down the road. I’ve seen the girls get competitive. It’s been very competitive. Kids are doing the work and looking at the board.”
That was obvious during the powerlifting season in February and March when the Lady Mustangs finished fourth in the team standings at the Class 4A Region II Division I meet March 3 where Kenadi Dalton, Chloe Humphries and Sophia Trudeau each qualified for the state meet.
After Spring Break, athletes did progress testing that included the broad jump, 40-yard dash, shuttle and other speed tests. Scales also created tests that are sport specific, too.
“I know the board has helped football,” Draper said. “The basketball kids want to do well. It builds more of a camaraderie. I think it helps builds us as a group. I’ve seen more of a hunger — that’s what’s positive to me. There’s a renewed sense of urgency.”
Meanwhile, the athletes aren’t the only ones studying the results.
“I look at the data and I can see where our growth is and our minimal growth,” Scales said. “Then I make adjustments.”
And Scales hasn’t been satisfied with only working with high school athletes. He has created a weight-and-conditioning program for the Marble Falls Middle School athletes, too, where the emphasis is helping those athletes safely learn how to lift weights.
“I visited the middle school a lot,” he said. “I’m going to do a lot of stuff over the summer. They’ll learn the movements, the lifts and exercises and how to do them safely.”
Now that the athletes have shifted their attention to their summer strength-and-conditioning program, Scales will head up the weight lifting sessions, while track head coach Austin Silva will emphasize the conditioning and speed program.
“Scales is willing to work with anybody,” Draper said. “He works well with others. He truly cares for kids.”
And though Draper has resigned to become the athletic director and football head coach at Florence High School, he believes the department is set up to have a tremendous 2023-24 school year, especially the Lady Mustangs.
“I think it’ll show up for the girls program next season,” he said. “I think it’s going to pay dividends down the road in Marble Falls (for all athletes).”
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