Coach Gary Bastien Gary Bastien Coaching Stats: Coached at Auburn University under Olympic team Coach, Mel Rosen as the mens graduate assistant and the head women’s assistant coach* While at Auburn University coached the decathlon, pole vault, high jump, all throwing events* Coached Jim Awbrey from a 5,000 pt score to a 7,700 plus decathlete qualifying for the NCAA Division I National Championships* June Reid broke the school women’s shot put record* Coached for six years at Eastern Michigan University* Coached Dave Adamek to new school record in the shot put qualifying him for the NCAA Division I Championships, Dave was Canada’s second best shot putter that year* 2007 Gary was one of only two coaches with two athletes in the finals in the shot put of the NCAA regional championships* 2009 Coached Gerald Gersham to NCAA Regional top five placing and National Championship top 15...improved Ger. 14 feet while at EMU and he became the high point scorer in the field events at the conference meet in 2009 winning the shot put & runner up in the discus and placing in the hammer * Coached several kids from Ann Arbor Track Club and Hershey Track Club to state, regional, and national births and several athletes went on to earn college scholarships *Coached state shot and discus champion, Vince Helmuth of Saline in summer sessions in his early years, in the eight and ninth grade...(note...Coach Crabtree, Price (junior high coach) and other Saline track staff were Helmuth's full-time coaches when he earned his state championships, ALL exceptional coaches in their own right.) Gary Bastien Athletic Stats: 1984 Olympic Trials qualifier* 11-time U.S.A Track & Field, NCAA Div. I and USOC national qualifier and U.S. team member* Two -time NCAA Division I All-American* Four-time MAC Conference Champion & record holder* All-Time U.S. Decathlon List 1983 as the third highest score in the United States in the decathlon, 1983 with top 25 score in the world* 27th highest score ever by a U.S decathlete up to 1983* Pan American Games team member 1983*Bronze Medalist, U.S.A Track & Field National Championships '83(then TAC)* U.S Junior Champion, 1978* U.S.A. Vs. USSR Champion 1978* Drake Relays Champion 80 and runner up 81 & 85* Penn Relays Runner-up 79* Won every major relay decathlon title from Florida to Michigan and the East Coach, USOC National Sports Festival bronze medalist, 1985* School, conference record holder in the decathlon and indoor multi-event, going undefeated all four years indoors and outdoors on a conference basis * Voted 1980 EMU Athlete of the year, for all-sports* One of only five EMU male track athletes ever to attain top three U.S A. year-end rankings in their event by Track & Field News, (1948-present) other four were Olympians. Member of EMU Hall of Fame. High School: State Class A pole vault, 3rd Place '76, State Class B runner up '77. * In 1977 Gary established one of the highest high school regular season point totals ever in the state, winning all four events in every dual meet in the 100, 200, high jump, pole vault in all but two races/events on the year.(scoring 20 points in each dual meet, 18 in two meets) Set area record in the pole vault, school records in the high jump and pole vault. Michigan State record for a high school decathlete stood 20 years. Second highest high school decathlon score in the United States, 77. In high school participated on the wrestling, basketball, baseball, track & field, football, cross country teams on either high school or summer club teams. Member of Grandville High School Hall of Fame.
In1983, Gary Bastien became one of the best decathletes in the world when he placed in the top three at the United States Track & Field Championships. At that meet he scored the third highest decathlon score by an American, qualified for the 1984 Olympic Trials and earned a spot on the Pan American Games team. Gary accomplished this after a successful four year collegiate career where he qualified for the NCAA Division I Championships all four years, something few college decathletes have accomplished to this day. Gary twice earned NCAA Division I All-American status, won the MAC conference championship four years in a row, setting conference and Midwest records. Gary was a multiple Drake Relays and Penn Relays champion and runner-up. In all, Gary participated in over 11 NCAA Div I, USOC, USA TRACK & Field national qualification meets and USA teams during his career.
"I was a late bloomer, so it allowed me to participate in many different team sports until I found the sports I was skilled at. From 7th-12th grade, I participated on baseball, basketball, track & field, wrestling, football and cross country teams. This foundation of doing many sports is why I believe I became a good all-around athlete. The variation was also the foundation for my coaching success too. Knowing what it feels like to do a sport is imperative to being a successful coach and I believe it's why I really connect with the athletes I teach."
After retiring from the sport in 1985, Gary continued coaching over the next 20 years on a volunteer basis at his alma mater when needed and worked with youth in his community coaching the Saline Recreation, Hershey track teams, and coached the Ann Arbor Track Club teams. In 2006 Gary returned to his alma mater as the throwing coach where he immediately produced conference champions, record holders, and qualified athletes for NCAA Division I regional & national championships just as he had 20 years earlier while coaching at Auburn University under Olympic team coach Mel Rosen.
Gary competed against 2-time Olympic gold medal champion, Daley Thompson of Great Britain at an indoor Olympic invitational pentathlon during the winter of the 1984 Olympic year
Coach Mark Gardner
You're On Athletic sprint coach, Mark Gardner, ran on Eastern Michigan University's track team from 1979-81. Mark was a top sprinter on the sprint medley, 800 meter relay and 400 meter relay teams. Mark was on the Mid-American Conference championship 400 meter relay teams in 1979 and 1981. During his career he had the opportunity to compete against some great sprinters including Olympians Thomas Jefferson of Kent State, Calvin Smith of Alabama, as well as NFL football stars Hershel Walker of Georgia, Willie Gault of Tennessee and Butch Woolfolk of Michigan. Mark is a lifelong resident of Dearborn, Michigan.
Since retiring from running after graduation, Mark has been very involved in youth and high school sports in the Dearborn area as an official, statistician and volunteer coach. Both Gary and Mark were co-captains of t heir university team their senior years. Mark is a successful, self-employed businessman in the highway & general construction business. Coupled with his 20 year association with the sports teams in the Dearborn, Detroit area, he sees a need for schools, coaches and individual athletes to have a resource like You're On Athletics available to whomever knocks at their door. Mark and his Wife, Stacey, reside in Dearborn Michigan.
Our focus at You’re On Athletic Development is to custom-fit programs to help you run faster and improve your game, whatever sport is your specialty. We're here to compliment, not replace what your high school or college coach is already doing with you. We’re interested in working with athletes who’s coaches support supplemental off-season and in some cases, in-season training.
A majority of what we offer at You’re On Athletic is geared toward improving speed and agility, mainly because too often, repetitive 30 yard sprints simply don’t fit the speed improvement bill. “There is a tendency, especially on team sports like football and basketball, to rely on short sprints as the sole tool to improve speed. It helps conditioning but ignores the fundamentals of how an athlete sprints. The problem is, most kids need to learn proper running mechanics first, otherwise the repetitive sprints just reinforce bad habits,” Mark Gardner, You’re On Athletic sprint coach points out. “Also, focusing on longer sprint workouts and drills typically found only in the sport of track & field will improve speed and conditioning much better than repetitive wind sprints. .
We also focus on directional changing techniques that will dramatically improve shuttle and obstacle course times, (suicides/30-second drills) important because these tests are used to determine starting lineups in sports like football defensive secondary, running back and basketball positions.” Sometimes being faster than the next guy (or girl) is simply adding some technique to your running style. For some athletes, this can mean the difference between riding the pine or playing on it. (or turf)
In addition to sprint training, we found a huge demand for technical help in all of the field events like the pole vault, the high jump, hurdles and all of the throwing events. “The reason for this is most high school or junior high programs are simply under staffed. It‘s not uncommon to see 120 kids out for a team with only one or two coaches assigned to coach an entire team. Therefore, the coaches are pretty much forced to work with the largest contingent of the team, usually the sprinters and distance teams. Short staffed, the field event athletes are left to learn what they can on their own,” Gary said, “But this is where we can help both the coaches and the athletes.” We have programs where we coach the coaches to teach the field events in a simple, visual style that maximizes the understanding of the basics of the field events so they give their own mini camps to their athletes.
“As an athlete in college, our team was understaffed in the same way many high schools are today,"Gary said. "So I went through a lot of trial and error as an athlete trying to figure out what did or did not work in each field event. But this helped me become a better coach, the self- teaching sessions gave me my own learning curve to work out and I am able to prevent athletes wasting time experimenting with ideas that did not work for me 25 years ago. I focus on three to four concepts in each field event to emphasize and I make sure the kids understand the importance of mastering the concepts. I learned these concepts as an athlete and believe those experiences make me a unique coach, helping me get exceptional results in really short time windows with the athletes I coach today.
CLICK HERE and you
can let us know what
sport or coaching sessions
interest you by submitting
the request form.
Call Us at 734=904=9857
