State championship-winning team credits success to training with former New England Patriots assistant coach at Disney
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (July 19, 2016) – The Houston High School Mustangs from suburban Memphis just wrapped up a week of training at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort and, if history is any indication, the Mustangs are almost guaranteed to win the Tennessee girls soccer state championship.
That’s because after the Mustangs made the 800-mile trip to Florida the last three summers to train with renowned performance trainer Tom Shaw at his Disney-based training program, they went onto the state championship game all three times, winning the title twice. In fact, the Mustangs are an amazing 69-1-2 during those last three seasons.
The Mustangs, who spent five days training under Shaw last week, are once again favorites to win the state championship. And if they do, they say a lot of the credit goes to Shaw.
“From a state championship standpoint, that’s what put us over the top,” head coach David Wolff said in reference to his team’s success since it began training with Shaw in 2010.
Wolff began bringing his team to Disney to train under Shaw after hearing about Shaw’s successful program working with NFL, NBA and MLB players. Shaw has been training youth and professional athletes at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex since 2005 after being an NFL assistant coach for several teams, including the New England Patriots during three of their Super Bowl years. In all, Shaw has trained 11 Super Bowl MVPs and 145 NFL draftees, including 10 No. 1 overall selections. His alumni include stars such as Tom Brady, Calvin Johnson, Deion Sanders and Hines Ward, among others. His current clients include reigning Heisman Trophy winner Derrick Henry from Alabama and Mississippi State QB Dak Prescott.
For the Mustangs, the key has been the opportunity to train alongside Shaw’s more high-profile athletes at a world-class facility such as the Disney sports complex, going through the same speed drills, the same weight training routine and following the same philosophy espoused by Shaw.
“The training we’ve been doing at home or other places just doesn’t compare to the training we do [at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex],’’ said Mustangs player Paola Ellis. “Because we are training with professional athletes, we get to see the hard work they put in to be great, and it motivates us to get to that level also.”
Wolff and the Mustangs have their eyes set on another state championship this year, and the week they spent training with Shaw at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex will likely play a critical role.
“I can point our success right back to Tom Shaw and what he teaches us,” Wolff said.