Wildcats Athletic Director and Head Football Coach Greg Owens and his staff were pleasantly surprised Monday when the number of high school athletes attending The Edge conditioning program actually increased. Usually they see a steady decline each week from the first days. There were just over 100 athletes attending Monday including close to 30 girls.
Included on the menu Monday were running of six 100-yard dashes with brief rests in between. The athletes have been gradually building toward this over the previous five weeks. Coach Owens showed us a large white commitment board posted in the weight room for The Edge. It lists all attendees since day one. Several athletes showed perfect attendance. Coach Owens says the goal for attendance is for an athlete to attend 20 of a possible 24 sessions.
Also on the board, athletes list their body weight in black ink when they are present or they have a red A for absent. Coach Owens says coaches monitor body weight to make sure athletes are drinking enough water after The Edge. He says a big weight loss may indicate that fluids were not replaced. Coaches may expect those athletes to struggle.
Tuesday will be a big testing day for The Edge. The emphasis will be on squats in the weight room and a gasser test. The gasser test features a series of sprints done in a short period of time with each to be completed in a set number of seconds. Football players must pass the gasser test either during The Edge or sometime after the start of two-a-days in August.
