As popularity in youth sports continues to rise, coaches, athletes, and parents are willing to put in extra effort to give their kids a leg up on the competition. Ankeny High School has found a way to give its athletes a taste of the next level.

In 2023, Ankeny hired Coach Andrew Moser to lead the school’s strength and conditioning program.

“I help each team program find out what they need to do for some stuff with practice, and then all their training aspects, in-season, offseason, preseason, kind of whatever area we’re in for that,” Moser said.

Moser has worked in the weightlifting world since 2001, when he started at Iowa State University as a graduate assistant for Olympic Sports Strength. He would go on to serve as an assistant coach in Olympic Sports before becoming the director of the program in 2003 at Iowa State. In 2016, he made the move to the University of Missouri, where he became the associate director of Applied Performance.

“He has a lot of past skills, and he is able to apply that and help us get to that next level because he’s worked with those athletes and knows what it takes to get there,” junior wrestler Jacob Haase said. “He knows the effort that we have to put in and what we have to do to hopefully reach that high level of athletics.” 

Moser’s past coaching experience has given him a lot of knowledge in the weight room, which he is able to share with his athletes to help them improve.

“I think he is super knowledgeable with his experience from working at the division one level, and multiple sports. He knows how the body works. He knows how the body moves, and we’re training these athletes here, how to move properly, how to be more explosive. When you incorporate strength and movement, you decrease the likelihood of injuries,” Ankeny head athletic trainer Grant Waller said.

Not only is coach Moser able to bring a highly experienced skill set to Ankeny, but his energy and effort are also on par with his knowledge.

“I like the energy that he brings. I truly think that he cares about all of these athletes, and sometimes that’s why he’s so intense, because he sees the potential that we have, and he wants to see growth, and he wants to see the success of the athletes,” Waller said. “When we have all those things combined into one person, that’s someone who provides a positive drive to our athletics, and having good strength and conditioning, and shaping explosive athletes is gonna improve our overall success in our teams.”

As a strength coach, Moser’s goals not only include improving physical strength, but also preventing injury. His first goal is to make you a better athlete by improving strength and speed while fixing any muscle imbalances. His next step is to ensure athletes are staying healthy.

Moser’s athletes are able to see these efforts pay off as they put in the work in the weight room.

“I know it helps us stay healthy and not get injured. He plans a lot of the workouts around a lot of common injuries in sports,” Haase said. “Coach Moser knows what’s right and helps us get a lot better.”

Preventing injuries from the weight room comes from Moser and Waller collaborating to make plans that will keep Ankeny athletes healthy.

“If I’m seeing at the end of the season, there’s a trend in certain injuries, I’ll meet with coach Moser, and then moving forward with that weight training, strength and conditioning, we will tweak the programming to focus more on those areas, so we can avoid those kinds of mass injuries in the future,” Waller said.

Working in the weight room improves physical performance and injury prevention, but it can also provide an escape for athletes.

“I think the weight room does a good job of also being a space where there might not be as much stress, where you can come in, from a coaching standpoint. At practice, coaches are critiquing, they’re evaluating,” Moser said. “ Here you can come in and get away from that aspect a little bit and just work on yourself and just focus on yourself.”

With coach Moser leading the weight room, athletes and coaches know that they will improve performance and reach their goals.

“Just knowing I’m going to get better, and just knowing it’s going to help me achieve what I want to be,” Haase said.

“I love how we’re buying into it here at Ankeny, and I think we’re going to see so much more success in the future,” Waller shared.