TALLAHASSEE, Fl. (WTXL) - Fall camp for high school football teams in both south Georgia and north Florida kick off in just a few short weeks, but that doesn't mean teams are taking the summer off.
Quite the opposite actually, as the summer is the time to make gains, so you can win the battle come fall.
""We focus on the main lights, squats, dead lifts, bench, cleans," said Gadsden County head football coach Joey Striplin of the Jaguars regimen this summer.
"There's a standard in terms of being a Trojan," said Lincoln head coach Quinn Gray. "There's a standard in terms of making sure that you're in the best shape that you can be in once the fall camp hits."
That's why this summer, teams across south Georgia and north Florida are hitting the weights, the track, jumping tires to make sure they're game ready.
"I tell them all the time, when you get back for fall practice, and start putting the pads on, the kids that showed up for workouts, you can definitely tell those guys," added Striplin. "They're the ones that are pushing guys around, moving people, moving better. It takes those other guys a while to catch up, if not the whole season to catch up."
"It's very important that you hit all facets," said Gray. "The conditioning part, the strength part, and the agility and the plyometric part. It's all part of the game of football, and you have to condition each and every part of it to make sure you're at your best when the fall hits."
Participation is key in the summer months.
"We don't have any complainers," said Godby head coach Corey Fuller. "I have some bad ways I have to break, but the complaining? We don't get down with that."
Grinding it out in the summer is what summer conditioning is all about.
"There's nothing like the summer," said Fuller. "I think the summer is when you bring all the team together and get them all on one accord on what it takes to win a football game in the fall."
"To see the kids want to get better, and want to learn, and want to get stronger, faster and more in shape, you can't ask for any more than that as a coach," added Gray.
All the coaches are hoping stronger and faster leads to big results come fall.
