"You have to find things to do, and a big part of it is appreciating the work you put in. They’re going from a three-month offseason of workouts and now all of a sudden, they could be doing nothing. They have to be doing something to stay in shape.””

Katy High coach Gary Joseph

Katy ISD coaches got busy on March 23 creating remote workouts for their student-athletes following a seven-day period, which seemed considerably longer, where they had no contact with their kids.

Just last week, the UIL permitted coaches of in-season sports a maximum of eight hours of instruction per week working with their athletes remotely. Out-of-season coaches are allowed a maximum of five hours per week.

Workouts vary in how they are created and executed per program for each school. But the foundation of establishing those plans goes above and beyond the norm.

“Our situation requires you to think outside the box and get a little creative,” said Paetow High strength and conditioning coach Matthew Beeler. “In the end, I don’t want to overthink things. The biggest thing is making sure the student-athletes are staying active, practicing social distance, and being safe, injury-free.”

Because of precautions taken for the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, the UIL has suspended athletics since March 16. The earliest games may resume, for now, is May 4.

Until then, athletes have been working out on their own—many proudly broadcasting their efforts on social media, using everything from free weights to ice coolers for exercise—while also following structured workouts organized by their high school coach.

“I don’t know if we’ll be able to keep them in shape,” Katy football coach Gary Joseph said. “I think it’s more about the knowledge of them getting out and doing something, understanding they have to take care of their bodies. They can’t go for months without doing anything and expect to come back and be the same person they were when they left.”

At Katy, Joseph said each head coach in each sport designs and coordinates workouts for their athletes. Coaches have benefited from ideas put out by the Texas High School Coaches Association, but most have also sought input and suggestions from their peers via social media.

“It has been great to see the willingness to share ideas and workouts,” Beeler said. “It has shown that there are a lot of great coaches out there that are in this business to improve athletes, even if they are not their own.”

For his football kids, Joseph said, there is a strength coach that coordinates weight workouts, the head track coach helps coordinate the running aspect of exercises, and the Tigers also have a coach that works with flexibility and stretching.

How athletes attack those workout plans, depending on what is or isn’t available at use in their homes, differs.

“There’s things we can control and things we cannot control,” Joseph said. “They might have no control over not having a weight set, so they have to find other things to do. People didn’t always lift weights and were still physically strong; they used to go out and bail hay and they got stronger doing that. You have to find things to do, and a big part of it is appreciating the work you put in. They’re going from a three-month offseason of workouts and now all of a sudden, they could be doing nothing. They have to be doing something to stay in shape.”

Seven Lakes’ football workouts last week emphasized strength training with weighted or air squats, reverse lunging, step-ups, pushups, pullups, curls, squat jumps and wall sits; core work with side planks, weighted crunches and weighted overhead sit-ups; sprint running; and plyometrics with squat and broad jumps.

Mayde Creek’s workouts this week are based on the same principles, but also incorporated a yoga series for mobility. Rams softball coach Jill Voss sends her athletes at-home daily practices that emphasize hand-eye coordination skills and specific offensive and defensive drills. Pitchers and catchers get individual workouts sent to them.

“As challenging as it can be for athletes to train without equipment, each athlete received a practice program specific to hitting or fielding that allows them to use household items,” Voss said. “These practice plans we implement make our athletes have higher quality discipline, focus and drive to improve in all areas.”

Tompkins girls soccer coach Jarrett Shipman has his girls working with body weight (squat jumps, planks, sit-ups, et cetera), running (sprint and tempo runs) and touching the ball as much as possible (1,000 juggles and wall touches).

“Also, importantly, we’re telling them to enjoy a walk or bike ride with the family,” Shipman said.

Paetow’s workouts are centered around planking, chair dips, short-yard sprints, lateral lunges, form running, pushups, pullups, air squats and other forms of creative exercise, like overhead squats using a broom or mop.

“The biggest piece of advice (for student-athletes) would be to stay active; sprint, jump, squat, do pushups,” Beeler said. “Sometimes the simplest things can be the most effective. If they were in-season, I would tell them to practice their sport-specific movements and conditioning, like throwing, running, explosive movements, et cetera. I would tell them to try and develop a routine, to the best of their ability, that modeled their sport practice plan and workout routine. Create as much normalcy and familiarity as they can so they feel comfortable.”

As Joseph alluded to, there is only so much that can be controlled when coaches can’t physically be around athletes to gauge evaluation and campus resources are unavailable.

“During this time, you hope that you have had enough buy-in from the weight room that the athletes would take ownership of their development and want to maintain their fitness and strength level over this break,” Beeler said. “As hard as it is to let go, you have to trust that your athletes are handling their responsibilities and working out on their own.”

The hiatus has an effect for out-of-season athletes, too.

The offseason is generally a good time for a program’s athletes to build trust and bonds through the struggle and grind of workouts. Some players may even mature into team leaders. Coaches get to see who rises to the challenge when athletes are pushed to the brink, physically and mentally, during the monotony and rigidness of offseason work.

It’s why Joseph’s primary message to his coaches, as a campus athletic coordinator, has been to stay in touch with the kids, first and foremost.

“Take care of your kids. Keep up with your kids. I know a lot of them have different problems and things, and it’s about reassurance,” Joseph said. “The relationship between coaches and their kids is so important.

“The other thing I told our coaches the other day is this is a vital time, because some of these kids that were on the bubble may decide they don’t want to come back. I think the program is important enough, not just from a football standpoint but from a character standpoint and growing up to be a man. It’s important that kids are a part of this if they can. Not all will be the stud or a star, but every one of them can learn something and be good people from this.”