Workouts to start Monday

By Donnie A. Lucas

After almost a three-month lull in activity, local student athletes who will enter grades 7-12 next fall have their first opportunity to start supervised workouts that include both conditioning and limited sport-specific training.

The strength and conditioning sessions start Monday, June 8 with boys and girls divided into separate groups. The workouts will continue until July 30, with two idle weeks along the way.

“Typically we are allowed to have six weeks of workouts, but they have actually given us a week or two longer,” athletic director Ryder Peacock said. “There will be two weeks in July where we will have some off days with no activities.”

The boys will have morning strength and conditioning from 7:00 until 8:30 a.m. on Monday through Thursdays.

Girls who want to participate will meet from 9:00 a.m. until 10:00 a.m., also on Monday through Thursday morning.

The two weeks that include off days are July 6-9 and July 20-23 for the girls. The boys will only be off on July 7-8 and July 20-21.

UIL has designated those dates as “periods of no activity.”

Athletes will also be able to return on designated afternoons for sport-specific instruction.

Girls will have basketball instruction on Tuesdays during the month of June from 5:30 until 6:30 p.m. The basketball session will not continue in July.

“We can only provide individual instruction, so no offense versus defense drills,” head girls basketball coach Tate Thompson said. “They will spend time doing dribbling, passing and shooting.”

Girls wanting volleyball instruction will meet on Thursdays from 5:30 p.m. until 6:30 p.m. throughout the period, except for the off dates of July 9 and July 23.

On the boys side, specific instruction will be provided for football and possible some basketball skills.

The boys will meet on Mondays and Wednesdays during both months with the exception of July 8 and July 20.

“The lineman will practice footwork, while the skilled positions will be catching passes,” Peacock said. “We can only work on individual skills, so no squad drills.”

Required Physicals

Peacock said that any student entering the seventh grade or who is new to the school or the athletic program must have a physical exam completed prior to the first day of training.

“We have the physicals of students who played last year on file, but everyone else will have to get a physical before they can start,” Peacock said. “Normally, we do physicals during the last week of school for the next year, but we didn’t get to do that this year.”

Peacock said that the physical exam forms can be found on the athletics page of the Albany Junior/Senior High School campus page on the district’s website (www.albanyisd.net).

Participants will have to have exams conducted at their own expense.

Volleyball Team Camp

Volleyball coach M.J. Reneau said that the team camp has been set for July 29-31 at the high school. The camp is open to students in grades 9-12 who plan to participate in volleyball this fall.

The camp will be conducted by Amelia Reeves, a current coach who played at Harding University. Reeves was the instructor last year.

Peacock said that summer youth sport camps are still on hold until approval is given by the governor and UIL for use of school facilities. He hopes that approval is granted soon and that camps can be offered to younger students.