By CLAIRE CRUZ, Staff Writer
HARLINGEN — Student-athletes are showing their resiliency this week as they return to school for summer strength and conditioning camps.
The San Benito Greyhounds, Harlingen High Cardinals and Harlingen South Hawks are among those enduring the South Texas heat and humidity as they take advantage of the time the University Interscholastic League is allowing for group workouts. Monday was the first day athletes and coaches have trained together in almost three months.
“We’re excited to see the kids and to be able to converse with them. Turnout has been good. (The energy) has been fantastic,” San Benito athletic director/football coach Dan Gomez said. “The kids from San Benito have always responded well, and I think that’s just the way the kids are in the Rio Grande Valley in general. They love structure, they love to be coached, they love the discipline and they love to work, and it seems like there hasn’t been much time that has passed.”
San Benito’s workouts start with group strength and conditioning before the Greyhounds split off for sport-specific instruction. The incoming freshmen are doing their training at Veterans Memorial Academy to keep the population low and minimize risk. Also, San Benito is delaying the start date for middle-schoolers to July 15 to get the process fine-tuned for the younger athletes.
Harlingen High has seen more than 250 athletes from a wide range of sports come out each of the first three days. Football coach/athletic coordinator Manny Gomez said the Cardinals will do their strength and conditioning outside for the first two weeks to help the kids get acclimated and regain endurance.
After a two-hour group workout at the mini-stadium with strength and conditioning coordinator Mike Aguilar giving instructions over the loudspeaker, the Cardinals divide to the gym, tennis courts and other assigned areas for sport-specific training. Manny Gomez said about 85 kids stay back for football skill work.
“Coach Aguilar does a great job of putting this together. He’s networking with quite a bit of people, and there’s a lot of science behind what we’re doing,” Manny Gomez said. “Today is probably the most humid it’s been, but it’s all for a purpose because you never know what kind of environment you’re going to play in. What you put into it is what you’re going to get out of it.”
Harlingen South athletic coordinator/football coach Brian Ricci is happy with the turnout the Hawks are getting in Week 1. He said South is averaging about 140 kids per day, with almost 90 percent of them being football players.
“With the situation, I didn’t know if they were going to show up, but we’re getting more than we thought,” Ricci said. “It’s been almost three months since we’ve been in active workouts together, so we’re taking our time and we’re easing them in, but the kids are doing a great job and I’m proud of them.
“Monday they were hurting pretty good and I was wondering if they were going to show up Tuesday, but they did and, sure enough, we have more numbers today than we did the last two days, so it’s good to see our numbers going up. That just shows you how ready they were to get back,” Ricci added.
The Hawks keep music playing over the mini stadium’s sound system to keep the kids energized. Strength and conditioning coordinator Daniel Cortez leads weight workouts on the turf Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. South is doing the allotted hour of sport-specific training on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Ricci said the Hawks will start using the weight room slowly next week or the following due to the slightly eased UIL restrictions.
Harlingen CISD middle-schoolers will have a summer program that runs June 15 through July 16 at Boggus Stadium.
Some school districts decided to delay the start of their summer workouts. Rio Hondo and La Feria will commence training June 15. Raymondville ISD announced Sunday its decision to postpone strength and conditioning sessions until further notice “due to the recent surge in confirmed cases of COVID-19 in (the) community and to ensure the safety of (the) students and staff.”