The following is a transcript of the March 2, 2026, episode of Public Power Now. Learn more about subscribing to Public Power Now at Publicpower.org/Podcasts. Some quotes may have been edited for clarity.
Paul Ciampoli
Welcome to the latest episode of Public Power Now.
I'm Paul Ciampoli, APPA's news director.
Our guest on this episode is John Pfeiffer, supervisor of the line apprenticeship program at Arizona Public Power Utility, Salt River Project.
He's here to discuss SRP's Grunt Olympics, a unique way in which SRP tests and trains apprenticeship hopefuls.
John, thanks for joining us.
John Pfeiffer
Thanks for having me.
Paul Ciampoli
So John, just to get our conversation started, could you kind of briefly describe your role and responsibilities at the utility?
John Pfeiffer
I'm the supervisor of the Line Apprenticeship Program at Salt River Project.
I manage the Line Apprenticeship Program and everything it takes from hiring and selecting apprentices until they graduate. We have 66 apprentices over a five-year class. We have a pre-apprenticeship and then the years one through 4.
Instructors, they're my babies too, so I develop and groom and mold and do my best to get the best instructors we have, so our apprentices have a good staff to work with.
And I do have three things that I require from all my apprentices. I require them to be a safe worker. I require 100% effort 100% of the time and I require them to be accountable for their words, actions, choices, and deeds.
So pretty much everything line apprentice related -- that's my wheelhouse.
Paul Ciampoli
And then just diving into the main topic of the interview here, two-part question for you.
One, can you offer an overview of these Grunt Olympics?
And also, how long has SRP held this event?
John Pfeiffer
We have an orientation week during our selection process where candidates come up and we give them a taste of what they're getting in for. The Grunt Olympics is on the Friday and it wraps up our selection process and it's a competition for the candidates that want to be apprentices.
We do five different events. We hand dig pole holes, obstacle climb, a saw cut, a mystery event, and a weighted grunt bag.
So what's that weighted grunt bag? It's a hand line pole on a 45 foot pole where they pull it up and down the pole.
I personally have been participating in the Grunt Olympics since 2012.
Paul Ciampoli
And that 2012, that was the first year that it started?
John Pfeiffer
No, sir. That is when I got hired at Salt River Project.
Paul Ciampoli
So it's been held, I'm sorry, before 2012 or?
John Pfeiffer
Before 2012, and I couldn't give you the exact dates.
Paul Ciampoli
That's okay. No, that's fine. I was just curious.
And in terms of preparing for this interview, one of the things that jumped out at me that I believe takes place at this event is that they're simulated on the job scenarios.
Any details that you provide on those?
John Pfeiffer
Absolutely.
So on Thursday of the orientation week is when we do our written testing and we test over everything and we do our hand dig.
So we hand dig a pole hole for setting a pole and all of these events have a matrix and a point value so they are accumulating points throughout the competition itself.
We do an obstacle climb, so the candidate has to go up a pole. It's a 45-foot pole. It has a four-foot cross arm about halfway up and an 8-foot cross arm 3/4 of the way up. On the 8-foot cross arm, there's a cutout and on the other one, there's an insulator pin with an insulator. So the candidate has to climb over the clean side of the arm, pass the arm, go up, spin around the pole, come back down.
Somewhere in the middle, they have to remove the hardware from the east side of the pole and put it on the west side of the pole. They come down and they tie knots on command.
Then we have a saw cut. We use chainsaws in the field. I'm not going to lie. This is a gut check event. The candidates have to hand cut saws, pieces of 35 foot service poles in two inch pieces and this shows us their grit and determination.
And what the concept is is when things get tough in the field, like during storm season for us, will the candidate crumble during adversity or thrive?
The mystery event -- the mystery event is the three-ton Harrington hoist -- they have to pick up and hang it on a cross arm with a sister eye about 6 feet off the ground. After they hang the hoist, they have to grab a 45 pound chunk of wood and walk at 35 feet and then continue this pattern.
Once they get the hoist hung, the next repetition, they put it down on the ground and same thing.
What does this simulate in the real world? It’s hanging hoist on the line to sag conductor.
And here at Salt River Project, we have a lot of poles in backyard so when we change out a pole and we have to cut it up, we have to walk it out the front so that simulates stuff we do for real.
And then the handline pole -- so the handline pole is the candidate pulls a 45 pound kettlebell up a 45 foot distribution pole on a cross arm 20 times and they pull it up as many times.
And this simulates sending stuff up on the handline up to the bucket on top of the pole up to the tower, whatever you got going on.
But what we like to do is we like to show the candidates that they have more to give than they know.
And how do we do that? We mislead them on their repetitions and we let them pull way more times than they do. And this is a fun little game we play. And after the event, we all sit down and break bread and BBQ together. That's a big thing and that builds camaraderie.
Paul Ciampoli
What would you say are the ways in which apprenticeship hopefuls benefit from participating in the event? We may have covered some of this, sorry.
John Pfeiffer
Yeah, no, it's a beautiful question.
So it's my opinion that they complete the week, just completing the week in itself. Not everyone makes it through the week. We do have candidates that drop. Their physical shape usually is what makes their mind mentally weak.
So just completing the week boosts their confidence and their self-belief, and it gives them a taste of success that they can do this. They can be selected.
The testing…is a validation that shows the candidates that studying hard and working hard pays off.
And then we do push them to the limit, and we show them that the limits are in their head and that they really can do anything they set their mind to.
What do we take from this is a gut check for us. And what we want to see is, are you capable of learning? Can we gauge your attention? And how committed are you to being successful? Like, show me you want to be here.
Paul Ciampoli
I'm sure some of our listeners to this episode may be interested in setting up something similar at their public power utility.
So if another public power utility wanted to set up a similar event, what would you say are the key steps for making sure the event is successful?
John Pfeiffer
I think the biggest key for me is it's to create engagement. And how do we do that? We like to use controlled chaos in a safe manner.
So controlled chaos safely creates massive engagement amongst the candidates and the staff. It's entertaining and it's supporting and it draws your company in because it's entertaining. It's high energy.
It draws all these people in that want to be supportive of the program.
I think personally, one of my superpowers is, I can get people to give me more than what they know they have to give.
So what my other suggestion would be is don't be afraid to push.
Don't be afraid to push individuals as far as they can go individually and let them show that they really can thrive.
I believe that this sets the tone early and it sets the tone with the candidates coming into the apprenticeship program and it helps a lot of little things from turning into big things.
It doesn't cure everything, but it sets a good tone for the successful apprenticeship.
Paul Ciampoli
And I guess one quick follow-up question that occurred to me was so once a person has completed this initiative or effort, are there subsequent years where that person will kind of maybe take on a supervisory role?
John Pfeiffer
No, I don't know.
I guess maybe coming up through the system like…maybe a few years later down the road, but getting into this, succeeding in this, sets the tone for them to be successful as an apprentice. So they have to do their five-year.
Paul Ciampoli
Well, John, thanks again for taking the time to speak with us, and you have an open invitation to come back, and I'm sure there's a lot of other activities that you're involved with that we could talk about on the podcast.
John Pfeiffer
Well, that would be great.
Paul Ciampoli
All right, well, thanks again, John.
John Pfeiffer
Thank you for having me.
Paul Ciampoli
Sure thing.
Thanks for listening to this episode of Public Power Now, which is produced by Julio Guerrero, Graphic and Digital Designer at APPA.
I'm Paul Ciampoli and we'll be back with more from the world of public power next week.
