Florida WBB Notebook: Iron Gator Challenge
Monday, October 11, 2010 | Women's Basketball
The final touches of the pre-season strength and conditioning workouts for members of the University of Florida women's basketball team culminated with the Iron Gator Challenge, developed by the program's strength and conditioning coordinator Steve Orris.
Orris, who has been working with Gator student-athletes since July of 2003 and is in his second year training the women's basketball squad, devised the eight-event competition that illuminates speed, strength, endurance and toughness.
“The physical strengths and body types of a guard and post player are different so I had three events that would even out the playing field so the overall competition wouldn't favor either,” Orris explained, while adding two additional events. “I am 100 percent pleased with their effort during the summer. It was a 180-degree difference from last year. Some of that was my comfort level with them and some of it was the number of new players and the great energy and attitude they brought.”
The winner was the player who had the highest combined score from the eight events, with the winner earning 10 points, second-place 9 points, third-place 8 points, fourth-place 7 points, fifth-place 6 points and all others completing the event 5 points.
The inaugural Iron Gator Challenge winner was Lanita Bartley (Jacksonville, Fla.), one of six newcomers captured the award. Her competitiveness propelled her to event wins in the Ramp Run and the Plate Walk and second-place finishes in the Towel Hang, Football Stadium Steps Sprint and the Bench Press.
“The players were a lot strong than I thought they were going to be, especially in the squat portion of the challenge,” Orris shared. “They had to belt-squat two-and-a-half times their body weight and I was thinking the winner would do 20 or 25. Jennifer George (Orlando, Fla.) won it and did 70 repetitions. She showed a lot of toughness. It took her about 10 minutes to complete it and I was really impressed with her effort. You can't really measure toughness and that's something that really stood out with George.”
George belt-squatted 495 pounds 70 times during the competition. George also won the Plate Push and the 3/4-court sprint events.
Other event winners included: Jordan Jones (Suwanee, Ga.) in the Bench Press and the Football Stadium Steps Sprint and Kayla Lewis (Decatur, Ga.) in the Towel Hang.
The Eight Iron Gator Challenge Events (top 3 event finishers)
Ramp run (fastest time wins) – Lanita Bartley, Brittany Shine, Jordan Jones
Towel Hang (longest duration (time) wins) – Kayla Lewis, Lanita Bartley, four tied for third
Belt Squat (each player will lift 2.5X their bodyweight; most reps wins) – Jennifer George, Brittany Shine, Lily Svete
Plate Push (push a weight plate for a specified distance; fastest time wins) – Jennifer George, Ndidi Madu, Lanita Bartley
Bench Press (each player will bench 75% of their bodyweight; most reps wins) – Jordan Jones, Lanita Bartley, Jennifer George
Football Stadium steps Sprint (bottom to the top along the stairs; fastest time wins) – Jordan Jones, Lanita Bartley, Kayla Lewis
Plate Walk (Using 45lb plate, each player will grip the weight and walk down the hall; fastest time to completion) – Lanita Bartley, Jennifer George, Jaterra Bonds
3/4 court sprint (fastest time wins) – Jennifer George, Brittany Shine, Kayla Lewis
The Gators play host to UCF on November 13 in the first round of the Preseason Women's NIT in their 2010-11 season opener. The start time for the game will be announced once the kick-off time for the Gator home football game against South Carolina also slated for Nov. 13 is determined.
For all of the latest information on Florida women's basketball, please log on to www.GatorZone.com/basketball/women or www.CoachAmandaButler.com, as well as http://www.facebook.com/FloridaWomensBasketball. Follow Coach Butler on Twitter at www.twitter.com/CoachButlerUF.
