With over 5,000 square feet of training space, The Shanil R. Naik Athletic Training Center is one of the best training facilities in Georgia. As the program has increased in popularity, we are continuing to look for new ways to grow facilities and accommodate for the high demand.

Currently, some of the amenities within the facility include 10 racks, a 20-yard x 7-yard turf surface, 20 iPads for tracking data, heart rate monitors, a power plate, velocity-based technology devices, and more. Although the tools inside are impressive, the instructors that we have at GAC truly develop our student athletes.

Coach Richard Burnett serves as GAC’s Head Strength and Conditioning Coach. Since arriving at GAC from coaching at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Coach Burnett has continued to grow as an instructor.

During his first year on campus, Coach Burnett worked under the tutelage of former GAC Head Strength and Conditioning coach, Gary Schofield. Once the reins of the program were handed over, Coach Burnett combined the lessons he learned from Coach Schofield with new philosophies.

Each Performance Training class is a unique environment in itself. The eight class periods are split by gender with each class having a wide range of participants varying in age, skill level, and athletic discipline. One class period can have students from grades ninth through twelfth grade that all play a variety of sports.

In addition, with half the class being in-season, the other half operating
in off-season conditioning, and requests for sports-specific training, maintaining a baseline curriculum is not simple. To help create a consistent and cohesive training environment, Coach Burnett utilizes multiple systems that focus on making each student more athletic overall. The entire strength and conditioning coaching staff, including four female instructors, help execute these systems.

Coach Burnett utilizes the GAC Assessment System to help track the progress of our student-athletes in his classes. This system is a 14-step assessment (given twice a semester) that covers three main tenets of form, force, and function. Under the form category, students test their strength competency to see how capable they are at having controlled coordination and how repeatable that performance is. The force category tests the strength capacity and maximum strength level. Function focuses on the maximum velocity of our student athletes.

Training the Whole Athlete

The assessment system helps our students discover their own personal motivations, their progress throughout the semester, and it also identifies any individual training needs. The data from each test is collected so that students can view their progress throughout their time in the class. At the conclusion of each testing period, students will have undergone a 5-step cycle that includes character, assessment, training, experience, and recovery.