[Journeyman]

I agree to some of what you said. A lot of strongs teams may not make the playoffs, but they may have been a lot worse if they had not of lifted. Also, the weight room does not just make you stronger. You should spend just as much time on footspeed, agilty and plyo's as you do lifting. Two of the biggest gains you make in the weightroom are work ethic and team spirit. It is a time to push kids to get them to see what hard work is and what it can bring. It also brings the kids closer together while they working towards a common goal.
I would venture to say that not many if any successful teams these days don't hit the weightroom all off-season. More and more high schools are hiring strength and conditioning coaches (often a member of the regular staff) to work with their kids to push them to their fullest potential. Bottom line, I don't know of any successful schools that don't place a high value on their off-season work.

I mentioned one, as well as saying that it does not hurt to lift weights. If you look most successful schools, the kids who play one sport, play two or three. This keeps them agile, in shape, and also working for a common goal. You can be as strong and agile as physically possible and know all there is to know about the game, bottom line, if you can't do little things like block and tackle it does not matter how strong/fast you are. And this comes from coaching and practice. When Highlands won state with Lorenzan and Smith, they were not one sport players, Mason County had some successful years with Grutza who was not a one sport player and several other kids on that team which was pretty good. High school is not college, you must first learn the game, then worry about the rest. All college teams are strong and fast, the one's who have the best coaching and do the little things are the one's who are successful. You have to practice to win, nothing takes the place of practice and repetition. If you take two equal teams, the best coached and disciplined will win every time. If they are not equal the lesser has a chance if they have been taught the little things and the other hasn't. :thumpsup: