august 2006
sports
the stentorian I ncssm
Summer sweat
Athletes utilize time off to prep for upcoming seasons
By Amy Bryson
While summer may be the perfect opportunity
for many to relax and do nothing but lounge on
a beach or hang out with friends, many athletes
see these two months off as vital training time for
the upcoming varsity sports’ seasons. By utilizing
summer camps, hometown team practices and local
gyms, many student athletes stayed in shape and
showed their passion for the game.
“[Training over the summer and constantly
practicing] is the only way you get better,” senior
Emanuel Bryant said. “My brother has always told
me that there is someone out there who is constantly
working and training so he can beat you. The only
way to prevent that from happening is by training
as much as you can.”
Senior Giffin Daughtridge participated in
Cornell and Davidson baseball camps and a Marvin
Moore basketball camp. Each camp gave him the
opportunity to do drills and games, plus the chance to
meet the coaches and see the campuses of Davidson
and Cornell. While this may seem like a lot of camps,
Daughtridge says this is normal and exactly the way
he would want his summer to be.
“I do those three [camps] every summer,” he
said. “I love basketball and baseball and [summer]
would be boring without them.”
While Daughtridge trains through camps, others
prepare for upcoming seasons independently. After
tearing the ACL in his right knee last basketball
season, Bryant was not able to train through summer
leagues or programs. Instead, he spent the summer
training and conditioning for the upcoming baseball
and basketball season with his own workout plan,
targeting specific muscles each workout session.
“I have been doing conditioning to improve my
overall strength,” he said. “I work out everyday in
the afternoon. Each day consists of alternating body
parts to work on such as chest and triceps on one
day and back and biceps
on the next. This lasts
for roughly two hours.
Then later on in the day,
I would work on my leg
strength by doing various
exercises including
squats, monster walks,
calf raises, and of course
jogging. I incorporate
my skills work out with
my leg work out by
dribbling a basketball
while running, throwing
a tennis ball on a wall
to work on grounders
for baseball or working
on a seven step drop for
football, which is for
college prep.”
Senior Kate Icard,
who played volleyball
and soccer last year but plans to participate in
volleyball and basketball this coming year, has spent
the summer training by utilizing both camps and
independent workouts.
“I wanted to improve my game, [so I participated
in] a volleyball camp at my old school for two weeks
and have been running and fi-equently working out
at the gym,” she said.
With NCSSM athletes spread across the state
many opt to work out with their old high school
teams. Senior Mark Owolabi, who is active in both
soccer and track, found playing with his old team
the perfect way to prep for the upcoming soccer
season.
“I went back to my old high school for their pre
season soccer, camp,” he said. “It took place on the
school soccer field at 7 a.m. Tuesday through Friday.
Photo courtesy of Mark Owolabi
Mark Owolabi freestyles with a soccer ball during a practice session with his brothers over the summer.
Photo by Amy Bryson
Emanuel Bryant bench presses in the PEC workout room during a break from
RLA training to prep for this years sports seasons. Bryant plans on playing
basketball, baseball and participating in Track & Field events.
For about two and a half hours we conditioned and
played small-sided games before it got too hot in
the day. I had to work on my fitness at some point
or another and this setting seemed like the perfect
opportunity to do so.”
Due to the imique setting at NCSSM, athletes
face many more challenges when trying to prepare
for the upcoming season. With teammates located
across a six hundred mile state, it is very difficult
to coordinate summer training together. Another
challenge is that fall sports teams have less than
two weeks to hold tryouts and prep for their first
conference games.
“It’s definitely put a tough challenge on us
considering the fact that other high school volleyball
teams will begin to practice at the beginning of
August and we have to start in late August,” Icard
said. “Also, most of the other high school teams
that we will face have most likely played with then-
teammates their whole volleyball careers, whereas
we don’t have much of a history together.”
Senior Bryan Creviston, a soccer player and
golfer, views this problem optimistically and feels
it creates a stronger bond between team members
based on reliance and faith.
“I think [the distance] has helped out some,
because I think that everyone trusts the others to
stay in shape because it takes the team to win soccer
games,” he said. “This has caused me to work out
more to ensure that I am in as good of shape I can
be in for our first games.”
In order to not let his teammates down, Creviston
trained throughout the summer by attending a UNC
soccer camp for a week and continued to play with
the Triangle Futbol Club U18 Classic Navy team.
The thought of the fall varsity sport seasons just
around the comer and the higher level of competition
in the new conference awaiting them provides
these athletes with an even greater drive to push
themselves to the max this summer.
“[All of] this has made my training more
focused,” Bryant said. “It made my drive to win
stronger. When my body is tired and I can’t lift
anymore, it also serves as motivation and makes me
lift a little more than before.”