Morning and afternoon; a day filled with football for Rocklin High Varsity Football Team. For many years, varsity football weights have occurred during last period which then went straight into their after school training and practice.

This school year, first and second period, which is first block every morning, varsity football has weights and then have practice after school.

Weights every morning, practice and training directly after school, and games on Friday, football players have their schedule filled with  the sport they love.

One of the varsity coaches, Coach Jason Adams, said that since he has been working here in 2002, football weights and practice has always been last period.

This past football season, the coaches decided to try weights in the morning then practice after school and it has benefited tremendously. The benefits included thinking about football and training in the morning, but then for the rest of the school day, being a student. After school, players can finally resume and “focus” into football mentally and physically.

As for the coaches, having time in between weights and practice with the school day in between, coaches come back refreshed and ready to coach.

Coach Adams says “regardless for how much you care about something or how passionate you are about it, staying focused for four and a half hours is a challenge.”  Now there are breaks in between to refocus on the sport they are passionate about.

Every Thursday before their Friday night game, the boys end practice at eight A.M. which concludes to having about a 36 window of not having to practice or think about football. This helps them feel refreshed and refocussed before their big game.

Adams says “mentally they can get themselves right,” which impacts their game heavily.

On Friday mornings before their games, the coaches bring in a guest speaker “to share some sort of positive message to the team.”

Senior, Ethan Remmers, said once the season is over he will be moving to basketball and baseball weights because he is a three season athlete.

For the next couple weeks, the football players will be other playing sports to take a small break from football coming into the off season. Juniors will be starting their weight training soon again though to be prepared early for next season.

A benefit for football players who drive is now that they have early, 6:50 A.M. morning weights, Ethan said they “don’t have to worry about getting a parking spot.”

Being a senior, Ethan gets to go home early every day before afternoon practice so he can get his homework done in the time period beforehand so he doesn’t have to worry during football.

Sawyer Skerl, a varsity senior, describes that getting up at “6:15 A.M. during the off season was pretty sleep depriving and stressful” but in the end, benefitted them because “it got us disciplined and committed to the program and brought us together as a family.”