June is usually a busy month for high school athletes.
After getting out of school in mid-May, June is the month during the summer break for summer workouts, camps and leagues. July is time off for vacations and other summer activities before getting back to work for fall sports in August.
This year, not so much.
June, in the year of covid-19, will serve as a time to get back in shape and prepare for camps and leagues that will be held in July.
Bo Bergen, athletic director at McDonald County High School, said the district is tentatively planning to begin a summer weight and conditioning program on June 1.
"First and foremost, the safety of our student-athletes and coaches is the top priority," Bergen said. "We cannot and will not simply roll out a plan that isn't extremely thought out and logistically feasible. I also want to stress that our school district absolutely wants a summer weights program for our kids. The process of planning and implementing an effective, efficient and safe plan for all involved has not been easy, but we feel that we are close to being able to roll one out and get started. I know our coaches are eager and excited to be able to see our kids again. Once we are approved to move forward, the month of June will be primarily used for getting the kids back in shape."
Bergen said the plan as of now is to divide the day into separate sessions with the same workouts and programs offered at three different locations at the same time.
"In an effort to reach more athletes throughout the county, we plan to offer sessions at satellite locations," Bergen said. "We plan to have a location in the west, central and east parts of the county to try to help ease the travel burdens. Hopefully, this will provide some convenience for kids who struggle making it to the high school on their own. We plan to split each day up into sessions. Each session will be split between weight training and speed development/conditioning. Workouts will go four days a week. Our goal is to set the kids up for a successful month of July at full-bore so we can hit the ground running."
Bergen said coaches are willing to volunteer their time in order for this plan to work.
"Student-athlete engagement is something that we have talked about extensively," Bergen said. "Although we will be limited to small group sessions, I feel that we will have enough coaches who are willing to volunteer their time for supervision. I can't thank our coaches enough for their willingness to get this thing off the ground. Our goal is to provide as many sessions as we are allowed to reach as many kids as possible. I believe that most of our kids are itching to get back into it. I know our coaches are. We aim to satisfy that itch in the most safe and efficient way possible."
Bergen said no specific plans have been made as yet for leagues and camps in July.
"Discussions about sports-specific stuff like practices, camps, leagues, etc. are still ongoing," Bergen said. "Myself and our coaches have been communicating with other schools regarding this and we will have a plan in place should we get the go-ahead to participate."
Bergen said just getting to this point has taken a lot of time and work from various school personnel and county health officials.
"I want to thank everyone involved thus far in the planning of all this -- our coaches, administration, safety officials and local health department," Bergen said. "We all have the same goal: to give our kids some normalcy during these trying times. This summer and what we do with it is crucial to the success of our athletic programs and we are committed to providing a safe environment for our student-athletes. Rather than concentrating on our limitations, we need to concentrate on the opportunity given to us through all of this. We have to practice safety with our kids so that we can get back to competing and doing what we want to do."
Sports on 05/28/2020