Connect with us

SPORTS

Summer workouts heat up in July

Published

on

The first day of practices for fall sports are about four weeks away, but any successful high school athletic program has had athletes working all through the summer months.
“It’s crucial,” Nocona Athletic Director Rick Weaver said. “It will make or break a program to be honest with you, as well as the success throughout the season.
Athletes lift weights throughout whatever sports season they are in, but coaches cannot not afford to push them too hard so they can be ready for practices and games.
The real strides athletes make as far as getting stronger and more explosive happen during the offseason as max lifts are improved upon and agility drills worked on.
The two months of summer can undo all of that progress unless athletes are staying active and showing up to workouts regularly.
“For them to show up during the summer and build upon the progress they made throughout the year is huge for them and us,” Weaver said.
While most schools athletic programs have summer workouts throughout June as well, most coaches report an uptick in attendance in July as the first day of practice comes closer.
“The closer you get to Aug. 5, the more kids start to showing up,” Bowie Athletic Director Cory Mandrell said.
“It is never as many as you hope,” Weaver said.
Despite this, both new coaches reported good attendance numbers throughout June as they have gotten to know their kids.
Workouts can only be two hours a day and consist of only strength and conditioning up to four times a week. While workouts are not mandatory, they are strongly encouraged.
“You have to place a lot of the responsibility on the older kids, the juniors and seniors,” Mandrell said. “We can’t drag them out of bed. We can’t make them show up, but those teammates can.”
While in the past the University Interscholastic League only allowed coaches to do non sports specific weight and condition training, recent rules allow coaches to schedule two hours a week to work sport specific skills with their athletes.
“Today we threw with some receivers, worked on defensive calls, worked our o-line and everything,” Weaver said. “With basketball, they can go shoot and be put through an organized practice. Same with volleyball so we are not starting from day one come August.”
Working in a rural community coaches get that family matters, summer jobs and vacations will limit some athlete’s availability to make it to workouts. The ones that make it a priority now to make it voluntary workouts when they can will probably be athletes most counted on by their coaches once the season comes around.

To see more pictures of athletes from Bowie and Nocona working out this week, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.

Continue Reading

SPORTS

District awards for 1A released

Published

on

Bellevue’s Bryce Ramsey was named his district’s newcomer of the year.

With the baseball and softball seasons over for the area 1A schools, district awards have been released.
Listed below are those earned honors on the field and in the classroom for Saint Jo and Bellevue.

Softball
Saint Jo
Honorable mention

Utility player: Taylor Patrick; Catcher: Jordyn O’Neal

Baseball
Superlatives
Offensive MVP: Devin Stewart, Saint Jo
Newcomer of the Year: Bryce Ramsey, Bellevue

Pitcher: Trent Gaston, Saint Jo
Outfielder: Jayden Curry, Saint Jo

Second team
Pitcher: Charlie Barclay, Saint Jo
Infielder: Brycen Bancroft, Bellevue; Sam Martin, Saint Jo
Outfielder: Rylan Forrester, Saint Jo
Catcher: Charlie Evans, Saint Jo
Utility: Logan Hoover, Saint Jo
DH: Amzy Barclay, Saint Jo

Honorable mention
Cody Gaston, Saint Jo; Xander Joyner, Saint Jo

To see academic awards from Saint Jo players, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.

Continue Reading

SPORTS

Forestburg coach retiring

Published

on

Forestburg boys basketball coach Eldon Van Hooser helped lead the program to its first playoff win in nine years in his last year coaching.

Eldon Van Hooser is leaving Forestburg better than he found it.
The head boy’s basketball coach is retiring after more than 30 years, spending the last five at Forestburg.
Van Hooser did not come to this decision because of a lack of fire or feeling tired after decades in the profession. He had to for family reasons.
“My wife has MS (multiple sclerosis) and it’s a disease where you have trouble standing and walking and she needs help,” Van Hooser said. “I am able to so I am going to step away from teaching and coaching to be there for her.”
Van Hooser was hired in 2019. Along with being the boy’s basketball coach, he also was the football team’s defensive coordinator.
There were some lean years for Forestburg on the boy’s athletic side, with numbers being low and the available athletes being mostly underclassmen.
For two years, the Longhorns’ boy’s basketball team won few games and one of those seasons saw the team field five players on the high school team.
“One of those years we had COVID-19 and the other we had five kids,” Van Hooser said. “It was very rough. After that we worked with the kids and we had a good freshman group coming up. Next year they are going to be seniors.”
That group has helped to turn the program around. Last year the young Longhorns team contested for a playoff spot and just barely missed it finishing fifth in the district.
This season, that same group took a leap and finished second in district with a record of 7-5.
Despite losing its last two regular season games in dramatic fashion heading into the playoffs, the team stepped up in the bi-district game.
Playing against an athletic Newcastle team, Forestburg led for most of the game.
Unfortunately, the previous game against Bellevue saw the Longhorn team blow the lead late in the fourth quarter against a hard pressing style team and they were suffering the same fate against the Bobcats down the stretch.
Fortunately, Forestburg held on just enough to win 53-46. It was the first boy’s basketball playoff win in nine years for Forestburg.
“It was huge for our program,” Van Hooser said. “This new year we will have new goals. The new coach will have some goals of his own, but I set some for the team and think that we have come a long way.”

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.

Continue Reading

SPORTS

Bowie Sports Banquet

Published

on

The Bowie sports banquets was on Monday night. Olivia Gill and Tucker Jones were named Jackrabbit and Lady Rabbit of the year. Pick up the mid-week paper for all of the sports team awards and pictures.

Continue Reading
Ad
Ad
Ad
Ad
Ad

Trending