Mustang Conditioning program designed to strengthen body and mind, coach says
JENNIFER FIERRO • PICAYUNE STAFF
MARBLE FALLS — Marble Falls High School head football coach and athletic director Matt Green has developed a Mustang Conditioning program that will launch June 9.
The six-week program is designed for male and female athletes in the seventh grade and older.
The cost is $200 for each athlete. Families of two athletes pay $170 each; three family members pay $145 apiece. Some of the money will be used to pay coaches, who will lead the program, and the rest will go into the activity fund of the Marble Falls athletic department, Green said.
“We’ll bring those kids together and be coached by their coaches,” he said. “I don’t believe as the athletic director and head coach in having kids work out while coaches stay at home.”
Green said he believes it’s crucial for these athletes, particularly those who will play a fall sport, to participate in the program.
“They will come into (fall camp) in shape,” he said. “It’s dangerous if they’re not (in shape), it’s scary.”
The program fills the void left by Performance Course, which the Mustangs used for two years during former head coach and athletic director Todd Dodge’s time at Marble Falls.
Offering a summer program is nothing new to Green, who came to Marble Falls from Lovejoy High School in Lucas, just north of Dallas. Last summer, the Lovejoy coaches led a summer program that drew 450 athletes.
“My vision is to do the same thing (in Marble Falls),” he said. “I want them working out three days a week. They have four days off.”
Coaches will be at the high school from 8 a.m. to noon for two sessions. An 8-10 a.m. session is for high school athletes, while middle school players work out 10 a.m.-noon.
When the girls are in the weight room, the boys will be on the field for agility and speed training for an hour. Then, they’ll switch, Green said.
He noted the amount of weight work will be age and gender appropriate.
“Your body is going to naturally break down,” he said. “Lifting (weights) heals your body.”
Green purposely chose to keep the boys and girls together because he believes the two groups make each other stronger with the athletes supporting and motivating each other to give maximum effort.
“They see themselves as Mustangs,” he said. “It builds camaraderie. They’ll still be up there with each other working.”
The program is not just designed to improve the physicality of a player, Green said. It’s also created to make each athlete mentally sharper to help develop overall character.
“A bigger, stronger more powerful athlete will not always win,” he said. “We’ll develop mental strength and physical strength in athletes. In time, it’ll generate wins.”
Green said there is no problem with families taking planned vacations during the six-week course.
jfierro@thepicayune.com