Put to the test: Pioneers check endurance as summer camp opens
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While the first-year Pioneer coach was pleased with the number of players who participated in the first of 12 non-mandatory conditioning sessions, he was less than happy with the numbers showing up on his stopwatch.
“As far as the physical endurance of our kids, it’s very poor,” Tidwell said as Monday night’s session ended. “Right now, walking off the field, that’s going to be a concern of mine.
“I thought we’d be better than we were, but then again we’re coming off a two-week dead period where the average athlete is not going to go out and do the same things they’d do under the supervision of a coaching staff.”
Approximately 48 Pioneers, including roughly 20 members of this fall’s freshman squad, came out for Monday’s session, which consisted largely of testing speed, conditioning and endurance.
“I was pleased with the turnout,” Tidwell said. “I know a number of kids aren’t here because of prior commitments, and most of those kids came and talked to me beforehand.
“We’ve got kids going to baseball camp in Mississippi, some at church camps, but I was very pleased with the number we had, especially the freshmen. My goal is to average from 35-50 a night, and we had that.”
The camp, which runs from Monday through Thursday for the next three weeks, employs a grading system known as the “football readiness test.” In this test, players keep track of their performance in five different categories — bench press, the 40-yard dash, number of sit-ups in a two-minute period, number of agility “touch-and-goes” in a 30-second period, and six-lap run.
“It’s a pre-test from the University of Oklahoma, back years ago,” Tidwell explained. “It was passed on down to me when I got started, and I’ve always done it.”
Players are awarded an increasing number of points based on their performance in each category, with their total score out of a possible 100 indicative of their level of readiness.
For example, a score of 40 or less points carries the comment, “I need a lot of conditioning/strength improvement,” while a tally of 86 points and above translates to, “If my teammates work as hard as I do, we’ll win the district championship.”
“It tells you where you stand. It’s an attention-getter, really,” Tidwell noted. ” It gives them an idea of where they are in terms of their physical strength and endurance.
“A lot of kids will come here thinking they’re in pretty decent shape — this shows them they’re not, most of the time. The exceptional athletes are going to be in decent shape, and this shows them that.”
While his team didn’t turn in overly impressive marks in its first day of camp, Tidwell is confident with more work, the Pioneers’ grades will continue to improve.
“I’m sure the bad thing about starting camp after the dead period is you’ve got kids that haven’t done anything for two weeks,” he said. “You lose what you worked on before the dead period. They’re dragging, they’ve done hard work tonight.
“But we’ve got some good attitudes, and we’ll get there. As long as they’re out here, we’ll get it out of them.”