AUBURN – More than 100 high school athletes will be gathering at Edward Little High School Saturday, learning how to get bigger, faster and stronger.

Athletes at all levels of competition are always looking for ways to improve their performance. Those who take part in the Bigger Faster Stronger (BFS) athletic fitness clinic at Edward Little, sponsored by the EL’s football and basketball programs, could be getting a step on the competition.

The BFS program’s popularity has spread rapidly through the state over the last decade, and is even used by some physical education departments in their fitness programs.

Edward Little football coach Jim Hersom attended a clinic on BFS last week and was surprised by the number of other football coaches from southern Maine who subscribe to it.

“There are a lot of good programs out there. This is something that’s been available for quite a while and a lot of coaches like it,” Hersom said.

Among its supporters is Brunswick coach Dick Leavitt.

Leavitt introduced the program to his team three years ago and says it’s no coincidence that the Dragons’ win totals have increased every years since. Last season, Brunswick went 10-2 and won its first Pine Tree Conference title.

“We were very fortunate with the injury bug last year, and we felt this program was a big part of our success,” Leavitt said. “In the fourth quarter, we were in better shape than a lot of teams and we won a lot of games in the fourth quarter.”

Founded in the 1970s by Greg Shepard, a former coach and current exercise physiologist, BFS emphasizes athletic weight training, flexibility, agility, speed and plyometric training. The clinics also touch on other aspects of training, such as motivation and diet.

One of the reasons the program is so attractive to schools is that it works for both males and females and is effective for all types of athletes.

“The thing that I like about it is it’s for both genders and it doesn’t matter what your sport is. It’s for football players, baseball players, softball players, hockey players, track. It doesn’t matter,” Leavitt said.

Leavitt said the program is well-suited for high school athletes because it keeps them interested with a variety of workouts and doesn’t consume a great deal of time. For instance, the weight training portion of BFS can be done with 45 minutes of lifting three days per week.

The program also keeps athletes motivated and focused by having them set goals and keep log books to track their progress.

“One of the things you seek in anything you do is some form of structure that kids can kind of grasp onto,” Hersom said. “This has a lot of structure to it.”

Hersom, a phys ed instructor at EL, organized the clinic along with football assistant Matt Twitchell, boys’ basketball head coach Mike Adams and girls’ track assistant Rebecca Hefty.

The clinic is from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and will be directed by Len Walencikowski, strength and conditioning coach at Miami Southbridge High School since 1979. Though only invited athletes may register and participate, the public is invited to observe the clinic, Hersom said.