Coopersville Athletes Dominating- Reignited at PowerStrength
Coopersville is quickly becoming one of the most well-represented high schools at PowerStrength Training Systems (Alpine). The Broncos have continued to elevate their success on the athletic fields as participation at PSTS has risen and it is expected to continue to grow both in numbers and results.
“If you look at it, the best athletes in West Michigan on Friday nights come to PowerStrength,” said Beau Harris, Coopersville’s rising star 2025 quarterback. “I’d say we watched that and we say those kids are good and we want to strive to be as good as them.”
The origin of the Coopersville-PowerStrength connection is believed to have begun with class of 2023 graduate Trent Janose more than seven years ago.
“There was one dude (Trent Janose) who went and then he told my parents about it,” Coopersville class of 2027 Hunter Hankamp said. “I started going, I told my friends, everyone just started going. The high schoolers when I was in middle school saw it, they started going and now everyone is going.”
Hankamp, currently a freshman in high school, started at PowerStrength in the 4th grade. He believes that the progress he has made along with others from Coopersville has led to a domino effect of Broncos making their way to PSTS.
“I feel like one person sees how much better this person got in a short amount of time and they want to try it and everyone sees the progress once they go and more people do it.”
THE GABE VANSICKLE EFFECT
While Janose gets the credit for starting the Coopersville-PowerStrength partnership, Gabe VanSickle is the reason for the current spike.
VanSickle, class of 2024, recently signed a national letter of intent to play football at Ohio State. The 3-sport star for the Broncos first came to PowerStrength as a sophomore and made such large gains that it would have been impossible to see him everyday in school and not take notice.
“I think they see results,” Coopersville class of 2025 JJ Hirdes said. “We’ve had kids like Gabe VanSickle come here and he’s going to Ohio State so they produce results. You are only getting better by coming here.”
VanSickle stands 6’5” and weighs 320 pounds and can move, running a 1.7 second 10-yard sprint.
“I look at Gabe VanSickle as a resource,” Harris added. “Once he started coming here he blew up big, he got huge. You don’t see kids that size move very well and he can move really good.”
THE IMPACT OF PREMIER
The Coopersville athletes that attend PowerStrength are not just getting faster, stronger, and more confident – they are setting an example.
The Premier Advanced Training Program is the highest-level, most advanced program offered at PowerStrength. The Winter Premier session is just wrapping up, and the Broncos showed out at the recent combine.
Following in the footsteps of VanSickle is JJ Hirdes. While VanSickle anchored the left side of Coopersville’s offensive line last fall, Hirdes was the starting tackle on the right side.
And Hirdes’ stock as a top 2025 football recruit is rising every week.
Hirdes is 6′ 5″ and 255 pounds and ran a 20-yard shuttle time of 4.31 seconds, good for 9th at the combine among ALL athletes. The rest of the Top 10 consisted of running backs, wide receivers, and baseball players, all several inches shorter and at least 50 pounds lighter.
“Felt really good,” Hirdes said about the combine. “I felt like I was a lot faster than before I came in here, a lot stronger, just more agile, and quicker overall. Being able to be explosive and fast is probably my biggest gain because I was never really the fastest guy on the team, now I can confidently say I’m probably the fastest offensive lineman on the team.”
Hirdes recently attended junior day at Division 1 college and once again tested better than skill players.
“We just had a recent experience with JJ that was eye-opening as a parent,” April Hirdes, JJ’s mom said. “JJ’s a big kid, he’s over 6’5 and he has historically had very poor flexibility overall due to rapid growth, weight gain, and just kind of catching up with his body. We did spend last weekend at a junior day visit at a Division 1 college for a football recruiting visit and there were 15 participants that day, 4 offensive lineman, and then several quarterbacks, running backs, receivers, and when we did flexibility testing at that division one school, JJ scored the highest out of any player there.”
“For being a lineman, we were just really impressed with how far he’s come with his flexibility and we really owe that to PowerStrength, and specifically Premier because I think this off-season he’s gained a tremendous benefit in his explosiveness and his flexibility and we owe that to PowerStrength.”
Big Results
The visit certainly buoyed JJ’s confidence:
“You come here (PowerStrength) and you put in all this work and get results and go out to these different places and compete with some of the best of the best, it really helps build you up and confidence is key when you are going to be an athlete. You have to believe you can do it before you can do it.”
Harris, meanwhile, finished with the best board jump, vertical, and 185 pound bench reps out of more than 60 athletes at the combine. He was also Top 5 finisher in the 40-yard dash (4th) and 20-yard shuttle (t5).
“The day going into the combine I’d say I was pretty close to where I thought I was going to be, but if you told me 3 months ago that is where I was going to be, I would have called you crazy,” Harris said about his showing.
It shows just how much gets accomplished in 3 months during Premier. The Winter session was completely sold out, Spring Premier is getting ready to begin and has very limited space available.
Harris was Broncos quarterback last fall. His work at PowerStrength is present on the field.
“He wasn’t really that fast kid and PowerStrength has made him a lot faster and he moves a lot better in the pocket,” Scott Harris, Beau’s dad. said. “His agility, side-to-side, and lateral movements have been off the charts.”
Coming in right behind Harris on the 185 bench reps was Hankamp. Underclassmen aren’t typically invited to Premier, but this was Hunter’s second time participating – and he made astounding strides. In just 3 months he went from 2 reps all the way up to 13 at the combine.
“This year I was lifting a lot heavier weights than last year,”he said. “I feel a lot more explosive all around.”
Hankamp’s years of consistency coming to PowerStrength have set him up for the success he is having. He added 17 pounds during last year’s Premier, and 22lbs more this winter. Hankamp is building himself into one of the most physically imposing freshman in all of West Michigan.
On top of that, he added an inch and half to his vertical, and 5 inches to his broad jump. Hankamp will be a force to reckon with both on the lacrosse field this spring and then in football in the fall after getting some varsity experience as a freshman.
Bigger Goals
Tyler Terpstra, Coopersville class of 2025, was in the Top 10 at the combine with 11 reps on the 225 bench press. He also added 3 inches to his vertical, and 9 inches to his broad jump. Terpstra had such great results that he is already locked in for the Spring Premier session.
“I love it,” he said. “I’m doing the Spring Premier after this Winter Premier is finished up and just going to get after it. I really loved the benefits that I had with winter, I just grew a lot with speed and strength and figured to carry it on to spring.”
Stacking another 3 months of intense training on top of what Terpstra has already done will open the door for continued improvement in all areas, and the ability to dominate on the football field in the fall as well.
He has goals already set for the spring Premier:
“Just gain a lot more weight, I’ve gained about 20 pounds already, I expect to gain another 10-15lbs and be where I want and just keep gaining strength and get a lot faster as well.”
Troy Dunneback, Coopersville class of 2026, added 19 inches to his broad jump during winter Premier and is 15 pounds heavier.
“It really is incredible,” Dunneback said. “It has helped me become a better athlete, I feel more elusive and I feel I can really do more on the field, stronger for sure, and definitely helped me be more flexible. It’s a huge part of my game now.”
RAISING THE BAR
Being pushed often leads to growth. While the coaches at PowerStrength are known for pushing the athletes to be the best they can be, the Coopersville kids also push each other at PSTS.
“We push each other in every aspect from here, to after school lifting, to before school lifting, we always are holding each other accountable in every lift,” Dunneback said. “It is like family, it really is, we all hold each other accountable.”
“A lot of competition,” Hankamp added. “If you see your buddy benching 225 you want to 1-up him and do 235.”
The small group atmosphere at PowerStrength is important for each athlete to get personalized attention from the coaches. It also allows the athletes to get to know each other better, even kids that go to the same school.
“The freshmen that come here, JJ Miller and Durstin Bruins, I didn’t really know until this winter,” Harris said. “Now when I see them in the hallway I talk to him almost every single day, and the friendship we’ve built and the teammate skills we’ve built have been huge for us.”
SPORTS SUCCESS
Coopersville is enjoying a rejuvenation in boys athletics. The football team reached the playoffs for a third straight season, the basketball team won 20 games, and the baseball team is ranked 9th in the state in the preseason poll after winning 23 games last spring.
“It is not very common for us to be great I guess, but this year has just been insane with a lot of our athletes trying way harder and getting more work done,” Dunneback said. “In-school lifting, out-of-school lifting, especially from PowerStrength. Every time more people come here we seem to win more games, so it definitely is different, and definitely is better now.”
The Broncos moved up to Division 1 (Division 3 out of 8 for football) for the 2021-2022 school year. The competition is better, but so is Coopersville.
“Working hard, coming here everyday, 3 days a week and bust our butt for an hour,” Terpstra said about what is making them better. “Our football team wasn’t really the best, but the past 3 years I feel like we’ve really escalated it, and we are one of those teams to beat now. We weren’t really one of those teams 10 years ago, so it feels good.”
With Harris, Hirdes, Terpstra, Dunneback, and Hankamp, who all play football, leading the way, the upward trajectory is only going to continue on the gridiron.
“It definitely raises them,” Harris said about what PowerStrength does for expectations for the fall. “Just what we could have done our junior year, and I look at it and I’d say we have some pretty good football players here that are working out, and just thinking where we could be senior year, I think it gives us a really big confidence boost.”’
GET STARTED AT POWERSTRENGTH
*The Winter Premier program was sold out. Spots are still available for the Spring Premier session starting in March but act fast.
5th-12th grade athletes of all sports and ability levels can sign-up at PowerStrength at any time throughout the year while spots remain. Multiple sessions are offered after school and into the evening, specific times are varied by location.
Visit https://powerstrengthpro.com/athletes to learn more or click below to Get Started