By Sydney Engesser

Most students spent their summer sleeping in and relaxing; for Cobbler athletes those were luxuries. They traded their pillows and blankets for dumbbells and squat racks three days a week at 6 AM, and if you were a football player you were on the field the other two days of the week.

“We had a really good turnout, and all of our seniors were there all the time,” mentioned head football coach Rob Sales. “We took attendance just for references, but the numbers were good,” he added. In addition to football players there were other athletes. Head basketball coach TJ Hay said, “We had about 80% attendance for basketball boys. it was good for them.” Not just the coaches, but the participants noticed the good attendance also. “We started in January for football and then summer lifting started in June and it was a good turnout the whole time. You notice more underclassmen but it was good to see them there putting in work,” agreed seniors Tyler Quillen and Derric Tiller.

With the high attendance numbers, one of the downfalls was the lack of air conditioning in the weight room. From the coach’s perspective the lack of air conditioning wasn’t an issue for the athletes, as the warmth was good for the workouts; the problem was the rusting and wear and tear it caused our equipment.

The strenuous workouts this summer have been paying off physically. Coach Sales said, “I have noticed improvement on the field, they are able to play more aggressively.” Also Cobbler football participant Ryan Adrian added, “We definitely don’t get tired, but people start to hang their heads if stuff goes wrong.” There’s not much to say about the payoff for players who are currently off-season still, but it is still safe to say it was more beneficial than being a couch potato for the entire summer.