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Snyder High School athletes Jaden Hernandez (left) and Hunter Stewart finished a sprint during summer workouts at Tiger Stadium earlier this summer. This week is the final week of summer workouts before pre-season practices begin on Aug. 3.
Summer is almost over for local high school athletes, as pre-season practices can begin on Monday in accordance with the University Interscholastic League’s guidelines.
The Snyder High School boys’ athletic program made it through the summer with few COVID-19 issues and athletic director Wes Wood said he was pleased with how the workouts went.
“I think it went about as well as it could have,” he said. “I am super proud of our kids, super proud of our coaches and I know for a fact that it hasn’t been this smooth or this good in lots of other places. I credit the people here in Snyder and I credit the kids and the people I work with. This has been a roller-coaster.”
Wood and his staff had developed a strength and conditioning plan for the football team designed to improve team agility and strength for the 2020 season.
With the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping the state, those plans went by the wayside. Instead, Wood and his staff introduced a strength and conditioning program that included athletes of every sport working together.
Despite the change in plans, Wood said he thinks his staff did the best it could and that he is confident athletes will be ready for Monday.
“It’s hard to say,” he said. “I’ve got no control in my experiment, so there is not something to compare to. I think we are about as prepared as we could be considering how we tried to operate and organize things. We tried to be efficient and we tried to be safe.”
Wood said he felt excitement brewing at a football staff meeting earlier this week.
“We had our first football staff workday, in what I call our coaches work week, and we got so much done,” he said. “We have so many guys on board and I think things are going to be about as good as they can. I know there are going to be turns in the road that we’re not expecting and I know there is going to be changes in the state. I guess you can say I am anticipating some highs and lows, but the kids are excited and we’ll be ready for the challenge.”
The Tigers will begin pre-season practices Monday morning and the first scrimmage will be on Aug. 20 at Littlefield at 5 p.m.
The Lady Tiger volleyball team will begin two-a-day practices Monday at noon. The second practice will follow at 4 p.m.
The practices will then move to 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Tuesday. The Lady Tigers will host Compass for a scrimmage on Aug. 7, with the freshman match starting at 4 p.m. The Snyder tennis team will also be in action next week, hosting Midland Greenwood at the Snyder ISD tennis courts on Tuesday.