ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — When Gary Kubiak heard that the Broncos would host a high school football training clinic on Wednesday, he made the short-notice decision to add himself to the clinic because he knows firsthand the impact high school coaches can have.

"Anytime I get the chance to get to meet some ball coaches, I'm going to take the time," Kubiak said.

Remembering back to how meaningful his own high school coach was, Kubiak noted that he was a big figure in his life and that he could do the same, and that he wanted to let the gathering of high school coaches in front of him know about how much they can mean to the students they coach.

"One of the things that means more to me than anything is when I'm called 'coach'," Kubiak said.

Kubiak gave opening remarks and opened up to answer questions from those visiting the event, the fifth annual High School Training Clinic, presented by Gatorade and Nike.

From there Strength and Conditioning Coach Luke Richesson gave a rundown of how he found his path to becoming a leading coach in the field, and why his view on strength and conditioning has the impact it does.

Then the event really got into the nitty-gritty as Offensive Assistant/QBs Coach Brian Callahan coached an offensive breakout on quarterback fundamentals while Defensive Assistant Chris Beake did a defensive breakout on defensive line fundamentals. Assistant Wide Receivers Coach Marc Lubick also coached a session on wide receiver fundamentals, and Assistant Secondary Coach Samson Brown taught defensive back fundamentals. The event was capped off with a focus on special teams led by Assistant Special Teams Coach Tony Coaxum.

"Just growing up and being a football kid, it's kind of a dream to come in and meet coaches and get to kind of pick their brains and learn new stuff that we might not have known about," Fairview strength and conditioning/defensive coach Mark Murphy. "I think it's very important to learn new ways to teach drills you might have been teaching for so many years. If they show you a new drill or new way to explain drills, it's a new way to kind of communicate with the kids."

While the focus was on being ability to round out coaching skills, there was also the ability to pick the coaches' brains on perhaps learning more about connecting with their students through coaching football.

"I just want to see how it is that they get close to their athletes, how it is that they approach their athletes knowing that they're big-time athletes but to relate to them on a personal level," said Denver West coach Erik Carrasco. "I really feel like a lot of our athletes, especially working in DPS—Denver Public Schools—I feel like a lot of our kids have trouble trusting and I want to know how it is that they engage the athletes how it is that they get to know them on a personal level, that way they can get everything out of the athlete. That, to me, is going to be one of biggest challenges. Therefore, I want to learn a lot about it."