Bingham Coach Jeff Arbogast be­lieves too many athletes limit their thinking, and chance for success.

Coaches see it repeatedly. Two athletes. Both have benefited immensely from the athletic gene pool. And, yet, one breaks record after record and the other is content to sit on the bench.

"What makes the difference between two teams?" Bingham High School Coach Jeff Arbogast posed this question to a group of athletic directors, principals and coaches during a workshop on the periphery development of athletes. "We all have high school kids with talent. And, yet, amazingly some teams win and some don't."

Arbogast, head track and field coach at Bingham High School in South Jordan, said the difference may come from skills learned off the court. Because of this, he uses a variety of approaches to get his athletes ready for the season. He has developed a program, which is a compilation of mental preparation through sports psychology, and physical preparation using good nutrition and speed and agility training.

Coaches can provide their athletes the necessary skills to compete against others, he said. But, to turn those skills into the tools that will earn your team trophies and accolades, coaches must prepare their team in other ways.

Some of the preparation areas, such as nutrition, are realistically outside of the purview of the coach. The coach can inform the athletes as to a proper diet, but it is ultimately up to the athletes and the parents to follow through on the advice, said Arbogast.

He once asked a group of runners what they had for dinner the previous night.

"The best answer from six kids was a loaded hot dog," he said. "One kid thought it was pretty good that he had popcorn."

Although coaches cannot be sitting at the dinner table alongside their athletes, they can make a point of telling their team that with proper nutrition, their recovery from training and playing is easier, and therefore their progress is faster.

The Bingham program places athletes in the classroom, where they learn sports psychology and the dynamics of winning.

Arbogast said some low performances occur when athletes limit their thinking.

He said 10 percent of all boys nationwide can break the 5-minute mark when running the mile. And, in Utah, the percentage is even higher.

"Are your kids targeting 5 minutes or 4: 15?" he asked. "Why are our kids at 63% [of capacity] when they are practicing every day? They are limiting their thinking. They are excited about 70 percent."

Coaches have to push their players to set a higher, yet attainable goal. They also have to teach them to deal with adversity.

"Adverse conditions magnify the difference between teams," he said. "When things are going south, the difference widens. You want to be the team that searches for adverse conditions. They should be reveling in it."

He said it's okay to leave your athletes exposed and vulnerable.

There are countless examples of athletes who have shown their toughness. Just look at the pistol shooter who goes to war and gets his shooting arm shot off. And, yet this same shooter can come back 12 years later and get Olympic medals with his opposite arm.

Unlimited thinking? Not in this case, said Arbogast.

Changing an athlete's thinking can make the difference between having a team that is content with a .500 season, and one that wants it all.

"Why don't lA schools beat 5A schools?" asked Arbogast. "They don't think they can. Someone is going to do that one day."

And, key to that nutrition, is proper hydration, says Jeff Arbogast, Bingham High School coach of cross country and track and field.

He said that just a 1 % drop in an athlete's body weight during a contest translates into a 10% drop in strength, speed and coordination. In a number of sports, an athlete will easily see a 3% drop'in body weight brought on by water loss.

"Who performs best at 70% [in a game] rather than 100%?" questioned Arbogast.

He recommended that athletes begin drinking the night before a game. They should continue the hydration process the day of a game by drinking 20 ounces of a sport drink prior to the contest. Following the game, the fluid loss should be replenished with further fluids.

Water, he said, is not always the best fluid to use. He said athletes need a drink that will allow them to replenish their loss of electrolytes and sodium.

If an athlete shows up to an athletic event without a water bottle, the coach should send him/her back to obtain one.