The offseason is what every athlete looks forward to at the conclusion of their season. Athletes get to finally rest and relax after months of hard work and competition. However, the offseason is a valuable time you can use to already start preparing for your next season.

Offseason conditioning is a time period when you can physically and mentally recover from your previous season. The offseason is a time for rest; however, it can also be used as time to prepare yourself both physically and mentally for your next season.

Math teacher Bradley Schmidt is the coach for both cross country and track & field. Schmidt goes through two different periods of offseason training since he coaches both cross country and track. He runs conditioning for cross country during the summer, and he also runs conditioning for track in the winter. Schmidt strongly believes in the importance of offseason training.

“It makes a huge difference,” said Schmidt. “Obviously you have your genetic threshold of what you can accomplish, but that training pushes it so much farther.”

The offseason can be utilized by athletes to start their training early and gain an advantage over competitors. Athletes can use this downtime to increase their strength and endurance and build a solid base before they get into high-intensity training. This can reduce their risk of injury during the season. The benefits of that come from offseason training are clear, but like everything, there are some drawbacks to offseason conditioning.

One of the biggest concerns that athletes have when it comes to offseason conditioning is the possibility of mental or physical burnout. Burnout can not only lead to injuries, but it can also lead to losing interest in a sport.

“Burnout is definitely a concern I have myself as a coach. I sometimes encourage kids who are not enthusiastic about running year round to do a sport like swimming because it is a good cross training method for running,” said Schmidt. “One of the things I try to combat mental and physical burnout during the offseason is incorporating more weight lifting instead of pure speedwork and also trying to turn workouts into fun games like scavenger hunts.”

Despite Schmidt’s and other coaches’ approaches to combat burnout, there are additional problems with finding enough students eager to participate in offseason training. 

Senior Sienna Thompson is a fourth year player on the women’s soccer team. She helps run conditioning practices for the soccer team during the winter. Thompson describes the practices as beneficial but is frustrated with the lack of coverage given out about these practices.

“I wish we could get more coverage about these practices. Our coach tries to get the word out as much as he can, but he can only reach so many people,” said Thompson.

This lack of coverage leads to people that are interested in a certain sport not knowing about offseason practices for that sport. This can be detrimental to athletes who do not participate in this training, as they are not able to form a relationship with their coach and teammates. They are also not  getting into the proper shape they need to be in for their sport. Low turnouts at conditioning frustrates coaches because there is only so much they can do by themselves to get the word out on information on their respective sport. 

Coaches can work with the athletic department to help spread the word about offseason practices to student athletes. Coaches can get the word out through both morning announcements making social media posts. The athletic department can help give coaches the resources to help recruit kids that are interested in joining an athletic team and give them information about offseason practices going on for that sport. 

By giving coaches the necessary resources they require, Norrix can help increase participation in athletics and improve athletic performance overall from school athletics by having kids come out to offseason practices.

Offseason conditioning can make or break an athlete’s season. An athlete who is truly dedicated to improving in their sport must do the necessary work in the offseason in order to become the best athlete they can possibly be.