Aretha Taggart talks preventing injury through flexibility

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - Stretching. It’s something most of us hate doing, but for athletes, it’s a necessity.

But did you know there's a proper way to stretch? That's where fitness instructor Aretha Taggart comes in at Marbury High. Once a week, she works with the Bulldogs for 20 minutes to improve the skill of stretching.

"It's flexibility training, so it's strength with stretching mixed together," said Taggart. "If you're on the outside of the gym it sounds like I'm killing them but if you're on the inside, you actually see the process of them releasing. You see them calm down - by the time we're done, there's like a sweet peace in the room."

"She gets pretty intense with it," added head football coach JB Wallace. "So you start hearing the moaning and the groaning and things like that."

But, it seems that "sweet release" is well worth it.

"She started last year in the offseason, and to this point this year, all of our sports - volleyball, football, both boys and girls basketball - have made it into the post-season, and that's quite an accomplishment for Marbury high school; that's more than we normally do," said Lansdel.

"To see where they've come from April (of 2019) until now, I can imagine where they were when she first started," said Wallace. "She comes in on Saturdays after the games and she gives us a post-game deal, and in the summer she works with us. She's been a blessing to the program."

But the biggest benefit of Aretha's training?

"This season, we had no ACL injuries, we had no real serious shoulder injuries, and that's hats off to the work she's been doing with the team. To come from a program where we've

had 6-7 ACL’s to having none, or no really serious ankle injuries, it’s been huge for us," said Wallace.

For Aretha, it's a way to teach the players how to truly care for their bodies while improving on the ball field.

"It's so important because they learn how to heal their bodies," said Taggart. "They all come back and tell me my speed and my running is better, my performance is better, they feel more confident within themselves, and so they are challenged within themselves to really try."

In addition to her work at Marbury, she also works with the basketball and football teams at Prattville High. You can read more about her work at Mami’s Dance and Fitness studio on her Facebook page,

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