Feed the Cats Podcast
When Tony Holler’s name is mentioned, SPEED is the subject… maximum velocity sprinting.
Tony Holler is a track coach, most recently the head coach at Plainfield North H.S. Tony retired from teaching chemistry after 38 years in the classroom and has 44 years of coaching experience (football, basketball, and track). Tony Holler is a member of Illinois Track & Field Hall of Fame and Co-director of Track Football Consortium along with Chris Korfist. Holler created the revolutionary "Feed the Cats" in 1999.
Tony Holler is the son of 47-year high school and college basketball coach Don Holler. Tony is the father of four, including two successful coaches, Alec Holler (Edwardsville H.S.) and Quinn Holler (Andrew H.S.).
Tony Holler has diversified his “Feed the Cats'' message for all sports and the classroom. Tony has consulted with the New York Yankees who started feeding the cats in their 2022 spring training. He’s also consulted with college lacrosse (Princeton, Johns Hopkins, Georgetown, Penn, Arizona State, and Northwestern). Princeton made the NCAA Final Four in 2022 for the first time in 18 years with the battle cry of “Feed the Tigers''.
Hundreds of high school football teams now use a FTC approach (also known as “Sprint-Based Football”). At least 12 states have football teams who have won state championships by prioritizing speed over conditioning. Tony also has a Sprint-Based Football Podcast.
Tony Holler has presented his content in 30 different states. In addition, he’s done multiple presentations in England, Ireland, and France. Tony is also a frequent presenter at football and lacrosse clinics. In the past year, he's delivered two presentations on "Coaching the Classroom" for teachers.
Tony has done several Feed the Cats Seminars which include nine hours of instruction over a 24-hour period. FTC Seminars are usually a one-man clinic.
Tony Holler’s Feed the Cats DVD was the #1 best-seller for Championship Production for ALL SPORTS in 2018. It has been the #1 best-seller from 2018 to 2025 in the track and field category.
Holler’s most recent content can be found at CoachTube, where he is #2 in sales, all sports, all time.
Tony Holler was named as a “Prime Nine Speaker” by Glazier Football Clinics.
Feed the Cats Podcast
EP18: Can You Teach Speed? Breaking the Biggest Myth in Sports with Dr. Dillon Martinez
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
What if speed isn’t genetic… and can actually be taught?
In this episode, we sit down with Dillon Martinez, author of Breaking The Speed Barrier, to discuss the science and coaching methods behind real speed development.
- Link to Dillon's book: https://amzn.to/3P4OPc8
We dive into why most coaches struggle to teach speed effectively, the biggest mistakes in traditional conditioning programs, and how elite coaches develop faster athletes through proper sprint mechanics, teaching progressions, and evidence-based training.
Topics include:
- The “7 UPs” of sprint mechanics
- The Three T’s of speed training
- Maximum velocity development
- Teaching acceleration and change of direction
- Multi-sport athlete programming
- Recovery and injury prevention
- Why speed is a skill — not just genetics
Dr. Martinez also shares insights from the largest research study ever conducted on speed coaching pedagogy and explains what separates great speed coaches from average ones.
If you’re a coach, athlete, parent, or sports performance enthusiast, this episode will completely change how you think about speed training.