Sports Performance

Boyd Buchanan offers a Sports Performance program within our 6-12 Physical Education Department that focuses on developing the attributes of a well-rounded athlete in physical traits such as strength, speed, power, agility, hypertrophy, flexibility, mobility, and conditioning.

Middle School

Students at Boyd Buchanan Middle School will go through an "Intro to Fitness" program that focuses on teaching students proper form on a variety of athletic movement patterns.  Students will learn these basic fundamental movement patterns and then utilize them through a program led by our Middle School Fitness Instructors to start developing skills in speed and agility, general strength and power, and fitness-based conditioning.  Students will also learn basic barbell movement patterns that will be loaded upon once they start their upper school curriculum.

Upper School

Students at Boyd Buchanan Upper School will have two pathways they can follow based on each students needs.  Students who participate in athletics will be placed in a Sports Performance pathway, while students who do not actively participate in Boyd Buchanan athletics will participate in a Fitness for Life program.  Both pathways encourage physical fitness and physical literacy, but have different primary end goals. The Sports Performance pathway will primarily aim to increase attributes that generally lead to improved field or court performance.  These attributes include strength, speed, power, agility, hypertrophy, flexibility, mobility, and conditioning.  By combining all of these attributes together coupled with great movement patterns, the program not only aims to build a better athlete for sports, but a more complete athlete that is more resistant to common sport injuries (commonly referred to as injury-prevention).  Students placed in the Fitness for Life program will focus more on obtaining physical literacy before leaving Boyd Buchanan Upper School.  Physical literacy is defined as having the motivation, confidence, physical competence, knowledge, and understanding to value and take responsibility for engagement in physical activities for life.  In other words, we want participants who take this pathway to be able to walk into a fitness facility after upper school and have the knowledge, motivation, and technical competence to maintain a healthy lifestyle for life.  Movement patterns and exercise selection will be similar to the Sports Performance program with the exception of teaching the Olympic Lifts (unless requested by a participant) and more of a focus on conditioning based exercises compared to speed and agility based exercises.

The Sports Performance Department is led by CSCS (Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist) JT Rankin.  Coach Rankin was formerly the Director of Strength & Conditioning at Goodpasture Christian School located in Nashville, as well as an Assistant Strength & Conditioning coach at Austin Peay State University.

John Tucker (JT) Rankin Biography

Goodpasture, Director of Strength & Conditioning: February 2018 - May 2021

Oversaw all Strength & Conditioning Duties for 9 Varsity Sports and Middle School Programs.  Played a role in winning two State Championships since moving into Div-II (Volleyball 2020 & Men's Basketball 2021), an Elite 8 and Final Four appearance in Women's Basketball, Semi-Finals appearance in Football (farthest post-season play since entering Div-II), and the best Baseball season since moving into Div-II.

Austin Peay State University, Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach: January 2017 - February 2018

Worked primarily with Football, Women's Soccer, Men's Basketball, and Baseball as an assistant, while serving as the Head Strength & Conditioning Coach for the Cross Country and Track & Field Teams.

Athletic Career & Education

Played on three State Championship teams at Alcoa High School earning All-State honors during the 2010 and 2011 seasons.  Played Center at Tennessee Tech and was a four year Letterman from 2012 to 2016.  Earned a Bachelors Degree in Exercise Science in 2015 and Masters Degree in Exercise Science in 2016.  Certified by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) as a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) as well as earning a Level 2 Weightlifting Coaching Certification from USA Weightlifting.