June 5, 2020 at 11:56 a.m.
Players seize opportunity to exercise together
Players seize opportunity to exercise together
The Hodag Soccer booster club - a private booster organization that supports the Rhinelander High School and James Williams Middle School boys' and girls' soccer programs - coordinated conditioning activities open to any and all interested athletes, and will continue to do so twice a week throughout the month of June, at the Hanson Lake Soccer Complex.
Roughly 30 athletes took advantage of the first opportunity last Tuesday, on what was the warmest day of the summer thus far - with the thermometer reaching the mid-80s during the late-morning session. A number of social distancing and sanitation procedures were in place - something that will likely be the new normal when high school teams begin official practices - in accordance with guidance being offered to coaches from several national organizations in regard to reducing the potential spread of the illness in athletic settings.
For a bunch of pre-teens and teenagers who have been cooped up since March, the workouts are very welcome, regardless of how strenuous they are or how warm it is outside.
"It's nice to finally be able to get out of the house for the first time in maybe 2 1/2 months since this started," said Kahlie Arneson, a senior-to-be and multi-sport athlete.
Added Hugh Wiese, a senior-to-be who participates in boys' soccer and wrestling, "I haven't touched a ball in a while so it was fun to get out here with the team and just start training again."
Nathan Bates and Richard Kotula, head coaches for the RHS boys' and girls' teams, respectively, were among those on hand to facilitate the drills and ensure everyone was following the added safety guidelines. The booster club is trying to ensure a low athlete-to-coach ratio for the sessions to limit the size of the individual workout groups. Last Tuesday, the 30 participants were split into three groups of 10 and rotated through various training stations spread throughout the complex.
"We're just encouraging the kids to try to keep their distance and stay apart as much as possible, stay a minimum of six feet apart at all times," said Bates, who could be heard on several occasions Tuesday reminding the kids to keep a proper distance.
"There are very minimal things they need to touch," Bates added. "The lead sled and the parachutes and things like that, before anyone was touching them today, they did use hand sanitizer. When they finished, they used hand sanitizer to try to limit the exposure. Other than that, we really tried to keep everything else minimal today. There are certain drills where they have to go down and touch the cones, we weren't doing those things. The coaches were the ones that set everything up for the day. We brought water so the kids don't have the temptation to share water bottles, things like that."
With the RHS girls' soccer team slated to begin official practice July 1 ahead of an abbreviated season, Kotula said the sessions serve as an opportunity for him to get accustomed to the new best practices ahead of when the full team gathers for the first time.
"Actually today I had to stop myself a couple times to think about it. 'OK, is this a safe manner, or do we need to tweak it so that kids are not running to each other?' It's a learning process and something new for everyone," he said. "It's better to start it now and jump into it than think about it later. We're starting to tweak things around and making it safe for everyone. It makes a difference to start it now. I'm starting to learn a lot myself now, just trying to work through some of those drills and do it in a safe manner."
The workouts are in accordance to National Federation of High Schools recommendations for areas in Phase 2 COVID-19 recovery. Among the guidelines, the NFHS recommends outdoor workouts be limited to no more than 50 individuals overall and that those individuals should be split in to smaller workout "pods" of the same 5-10 students throughout the session. Additionally, the NFHS recommends that hand sanitizer should be plentiful, that athletes should not share clothing, towels or water bottles and that any shared equipment should be cleaned intermittently during practices.
Face masks were optional.
"It's different than from last year for sure," Wiese said. "You're trying to play with everybody. It's a team sport. It's not an individual (sport). It's kind of hard to keep your distance and still play as a team, but it's better for us. It will keep up healthy in the long run."
As for the workouts, which were not sport-specific, there were a variety of speed, agility, footwork and endurance exercises for the athletes over the roughly 90-minute workout session - everything from a 20-minute jog, to 100-yard sprints, to cone and ladder drills, to running with resistance in the form of a parachute or weighted sled.
"I was more tired after some of those sleds than I've ever been after some swim workouts - and we've done some very tough USRPTs (ultra short race pace training)," said senior-to-be Joseph Heck, a former state swim champion and three-sport athlete at RHS. "It's tough. It's hot, but we're working and it will pay off in the end."
Heck, Wiese and Arneson all said they have done what they can to stay active during in the pandemic that has shuttered school since the middle of March.
The shutdown effectively canceled the state's high school girls' soccer season and teams were relegated to virtual contact via social media, text, video conferencing and/or other forms of remote communication.
"I don't really have anything at home I can do (for exercises) besides we basically workout in my basement," Arneson said. "We don't have any equipment, so a lot of it's been all bodyweight (exercises) and no weights. This is really nice to finally get out here and have some resistance."
Though the sessions are not mandatory, nor are they limited to only RHS soccer players, the benefits of participation could be felt by players once it is OK to resume practices and competition. That's especially true for the girls' soccer team, whose planned abbreviated season would culminate after only nine practices with games July 15 and 16.
"The heat will be very high and there will probably be temperatures that are difficult to play in, so it's definitely it's something that we, as a girls' program need to work on, to get the conditioning back," Kotula said. "It's not really for winning or losing, but mostly for health. Our bodies need to be adjusted to it yet again and play in such a manner where we are injury free."
Added Bates, "It's the best we can do right now to keep the kids moving forward and keep everybody healthy and safe."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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