Local School Cancels Summer Workouts
High school football teams are in the midst of summer workouts and conditioning. These workouts are critical for kids looking to get stronger and work on their conditioning for the upcoming season. Coaches depend on these workouts to make their kids stronger, more fit, and build team comradery. Generally, high school football teams that have good summer workout programs do well in the fall. But, one Valley program has stopped their summer workout program.
Strong River Bend (SRB) High has halted the football program’s summer workouts. Many of the SRB faithful were surprised to learn about the development. They have high hopes for their team this year, but this is not something you want to hear gearing up for the fall. I was able to reach SRB’s coach, Jackie Mullen, for comment. He simply said, “No comment. I don’t want to get fired.”
SRB High’s principal Dr. Dick Belding said, “It’s very unfortunate, but we felt like we had to shut the summer workout program down. We had a player’s parent file a complaint, and we did a short investigation. After the investigation, we decided to shut it down. We uncovered multiple troubling instances with the workouts including a player puking during sprints, only 3 water breaks per workout session, coaches yelling at and berating players and more.”
The players and many of their parents are not happy with the decision. It’s also caused a firestorm on social media. One dad said, “I can’t believe this crap. So, one solitary parent complains and we shut the workouts down? I guarantee you this parent didn’t play football in the 90s. We had people throwing up every day during sprints, and our coaches yelled at and cussed us constantly. You ever heard of two-a-days? We practiced two times each day in 95 degree heat. TWO TIMES! So freakin soft! This is why America is in decline.”
Another parent said, “This is so sad for our players. They are excited about the upcoming season, and now they can’t workout together. Now in America, the loud minority seems to always get what they want. We can’t let one person get upset, offended, or complain. Oh no! I know the parent that complained, and they don’t like the coach. Their son is the backup quarterback, and they think he should be starting. But, he ain’t good enough to start. This is just another example of why kids these days are so mentally and physically soft. The principal also should grow a pair, and they need to tell the parent to go pound sand. I’m so ticked! I’m going to do everything in my power to get the workouts going again. We’ll see what happens.”
I tried to get comments from multiple players, but they told me that they were not allowed to comment. There seems to be a groundswell of support to restart the workouts. Will the administration stick to their decision, or will they listen to their parents and players? It will be interesting to see what happens. But, this is not something you want to happen going into a promising season.
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