By: Whitney Morrison

Many athletes at FHS don’t get enough credit for their off season practices. Their training can start as early as the beginning of the year or even the summer before the next school year.

As most already know, the football players each carry around a gallon of water to drink daily to stay hydrated. Football open gyms start in January with lifting after school three days a week. During the summer, they practice for six hours a week and will have camps for two or three days Their open gyms consist of benching, squatting, running, and going over plays. They also use a ladder to help with speed and keep on their feet. They do all of this to help with agility, stamina, and to become stronger for the upcoming season.

¨Lifting helps with team bonding and succeeding on the path to success¨ said by senior captain, Preston Owens.

For softball they practice during the summer all through July. The softball players will go to open practices two days a week. During that time the girls split into two different teams to play each other, condition together, and determine the skills they need to work on. The main reason they practice during July is to help learn new skills and keep up with skills for the regular upcoming season.

Much like softball, baseball will play games in June and have open headers in July. Open headers are when the boys will get into teams and play each other.

Trevor Nicholson said that open headers ¨enhance our performance for the upcoming season.¨

During the school year they will practice right after Christmas break. In that time, they spend 2 days a week practicing in the small gym. They have two and a half months of off-season before their actual season starts. One thing Trevor Nicholson thinks the coaches are expecting this year is to win regionals and break the record for the most wins in a season.

The volleyball players condition Monday and Thursday with Felicia Fopay and practice Tuesday and Thursday with their coach during the summer. There is a forty point system they have during the summer to determine if you play during the actual season. You can receive points by going to practices and and then to the conditioning practices. A few weeks before August the volleyball team will travel to Salem and play two teams just for extra practice.

Lastly, the cheer squad will meet two to three times a week to learn cheers, practice jumps, put stunt groups together, and condition.The practices last every week until August and then will begin once school is in session. Usually the first two weeks will consist of conditioning and then learning cheers for the season.After a month or two of practicing they will begin putting stunt groups together.Stunt groups are based on height and skill. By the time July is around they will start learning a hello cheer to present to other cheer squads at every game.