Message from the SAC President

Ryan McGraw

Attention all athletes! Are you ready to take your game to the next level? Outrun your opponent, jump higher for a rebound, shake off a tackle…If so, the Saginaw Athletic Club is the place for you. We offer the personalized training programs to help you maximize your potential. After a summer of training with us, you will be faster, stronger, more agile, more explosive, and less prone to injury!!!

Be committed

Are you committed to being the best athlete you can be?

Are you committed to working hard and making the sacrifices it takes to be GREAT?

That’s the real question.

So I ask you  – are you ready to commit?

Commit to change

The SAC is here to help you achieve your goals in life and on the field of play. Setting up proper performance training regimens is essential to helping athletes reach their goals.

Sign up for our Elite summer training package, a three-month package that runs June- August. Space is limited. Become a SACLETE today.

Burning Questions

Why / What: The most common question we get asked by athletes and parents alike is why they should train in the off-season. Why should we choose your facility and training program, and what will they be doing?

Why you should train outside of your respective team’s practices and games? Preparing your body physically and mentally for your sport will allow you take the playing field with confidence and  to perform at a high level. There is only so much that coaches have time for during the season. Off-season training includes strength, conditioning, agility, and speed training The summer months are when athletes can put in a lot of work and see big results.

Why train at the SAC: Our training staff is certified. I earned my Bachelor of Arts degree with a focus in Political Science from Coastal Carolina University, where I also played baseball. While attending CCU, I was requested to attend several “National Training Facilities” throughout the United States. I then became a strength and conditioning coach, United States track and field coach, and United States weightlifting coach (CSCS, USATF, USAW). I travel quite a bit each year reviewing top concerns and techniques for athletes at every level across the country. It is at these facilities that I became interested in developing my own facility. I learned the most innovative and productive means in physical wellness and desired to pay it forward to the community in which I grew up.

We are invested in providing opportunities for the athletes in the community and helping them reach their goals. Our facility allows us to train athletes year round: we have 13,000 square feet of indoor turf, a weight room, a sand pit, and hill training. We have proven training programs that produce great results for athletes in all sports. (See our Q&A section for what the athletes themselves have to say.)

What will you be doing: All athletes will go through strength training and speed / technical training to prepare the body for the ways you want it to perform on the playing field. That is accomplished through our designed programs, which include multiple phases like general prep, high intensity, sport-specialized training. The training tools we use will include sand pit training, hill and interval training, resistance sleds, and more. We are the only facility in the area to incorporate sand pit training, which is used at multiple collegiate professional facilities and is proven to strengthen the feet, ankles, knees – without the impact. Aside from the physical benefits, it also is a great tool for mental toughness. Sandpit workouts are like nothing else.

Preventing Injuries

Another big commitment we emphasize at the SAC is preventing injuries. To prevent athletes from getting injured during training, conditioning coaches must know the correct exercise and lifting techniques and be able to teach them to athletes. The conditioning coach also monitors athletes’ general health, sometimes providing nutritional advice or referring athletes to a registered dietitian if they need more sophisticated nutritional counseling.

It seems as though every other person I run into is a “strength coach” or “speed guy,” but when I mention the names of Siff, Verkoshanky, or Francis, they look at me with a blank stare and then proceed to tell me about the kids training with Olympic lifts, parachutes or resistance bands, and whatnot.

Now that I primarily work with high school athletes, my goal is to send them off to college with a solid foundation and the skills necessary to be competent on the field and in the weight room.

Seeing Improvement

I place a premium on speed.

That speed and explosiveness paid huge dividends last season for Swan Valley junior Alex Grace, who broke the MHSAA single-season rushing record with 2,952 yards. Alex came to us last year, and we helped put 15 pounds of muscle on him and helped him become more explosive off the line. His back was junk. We helped strengthen his lower back and he is back on schedule. We helped with his speed. Alex did the rest. The kid is a worker. He busted his butt, and the results on the field showed his commitment to the program.

Alex continues to work hard while showing his leadership abilities at his school and in the weight room.

“It’s not more running, but it’s more agility and speed work,” Alex said. “With most coaches, it was more endurance. But with Coach McGraw, it’s more about speed, quick change-over, how quick you can get out of your cuts, how quick you can do everything else on the move, and how you can think while you’re on the move.”

Brenna Pawelkowski is another one of our athletes who moved on to the next level. She left midway through her senior year at Nouvel Catholic Central High School to get a jump start on her college career at Butler University. We couldn’t be prouder of Brenna.

“With most programs, we ran after we lifted,” Brenna said. “At the SAC we’re running before we lift, which kind of helps, because if you’re tired while you’re lifting, you get stronger. It’s different. I basically like it. You get strong in the lower body and everything else.” 

If it doesn’t help us, it hinders us, and we don’t want it on if it slows us down!