From scoring touchdowns to making a three pointer to passing the baton, high school sports is full of excitement to last the entire year. Behind the game day uniforms, these athletes go through intense offseason workouts to prepare them for game time. To start the school year is America’s most popular sport, football. Assistant football coach John Hodges at Tompkins High School believes that hard work will take you further than talent.
“The toughness of the workouts after school in the weight room and running on the track are very strenuous and complex. That is why one of our most popular mottos is Tough Falcons Win. Our athletes really try to emulate that through our workouts in the off-season,” said Hodges.
The football offseason has some of the most complex workouts. Before a player is able to sign off, which means to complete the workout, there is a buyout. A buyout is a harder workout after the actual team session. Assistant football and basketball coach Kalief Muhammad is the guru when it comes to working out.
“If you are an athlete that needs muscle tone then you have to do extra stuff. I think whenever you do just the same thing everyone else is doing, you’re not getting better, so you have to put in extra work,” said Muhammad.
The State runner up, the boys’ basketball team came so close to a state championship for the first time in Katy ISD history, but fell short to Allen last year. Returning varsity player, senior Murray Grant’s drive for this year’s state championship is unbelievably higher than it was last year. The boys’ basketball program is putting in nonstop work all year long to grasp the title this year. During season there are Saturday workouts with around 75 athletes per workout including all five teams, varsity, junior varsity, sophomore, freshman A, and freshman B. For basketball’, it is a different set of workouts from the agility work in football.
“During the period we usually start with blow out layups or full court dribbling. Then we move to skeleton offense and defense, which is going through plays then we either go to half court of full court scrimmage,” said Grant.
A typical workout in basketball is focused on the major muscle parts, therefore it is not as complex, but it is harder on the body because it covers the arms, legs, core, shoulders, and back. They do these workouts three times a week. However, girls basketball coach Tammy Ray has a different philosophy.
“We workout every day during the week for offseason and when the season starts we also workout on Saturdays,” said Ray.
In basketball there is lots of running, therefore for the girls basketball program conditioning days are very often. The girls basketball program made it to playoffs last year, but did not make it past the first round. With three court days a week, the basketball team is going full force working on plays and defense to make it to the second round. To be the best high school athlete hard work and dedication is the minimum expected to be the best.
