Weight training has become a necessary and sometimes mandatory component of high school football. Teams that lift are stronger and the strong thrive. The same is also true in basketball.

This was evident Thursday night when a Winthrop basketball team loaded with football players eventually outmuscled a Monmouth team that looked as if it hasn't spent much time in the weight room.
Monmouth has club football but it's not evident how many of those players lift or play basketball. This much is certain. The bigger, stronger team prevailed Thursday night. It doesn't take football to encourage weight training, but it certainly helps. Football players have to lift to be successful. Eventually so do basketball players. Look at most any college team and they look like bodybuilders. It not about looks, though, especially in high school where players mature at widely varying paces. It is, however, about strength, and a Monmouth program that appears headed in the right direction under Coach Randy Parenteau could certainly use more of that.