Wreckers End Early Morning Fitness Sessions Strongly
From the bone-chilling cold of January through the warm spring mornings of June, Staples’ returning soccer players have risen very early twice a week.
On Tuesday and Thursday mornings — through snowstorms, exams and vacations — they arrived at the school’s fitness center at 6 a.m. They immediately got to work, going through specialized strength and flexibility routines designed specially for soccer by assistant coach Kurt Dasbach.
The regulars — more than 15 in number — showed tremendous gains over the past 6 months. They are stronger on the ball, quicker all over the field, more confident, less likely to be injured — and they’ve been fully alert for the start of their 7:30 a.m. classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays too.
Griff O’Neill had the best attendance: 38 sessions out of all 39. Trailing right behind were Matteo Broccolo, Sam Kantor and Noah Schwaeber (37) and Daniel Reid (35). Other leaders were Rory Steele, Kenji Goto, Danny Jersey, Jerrett Rende, Shane Dasbach, Luca Cocito, Ian Weiler and Jack Zeldes.
“Huge props to these guys,” says head coach Dan Woog. “They embraced Kurt’s workouts, and the results have been great. The ones who bought into what we’re doing are seeing results — and they know it will really be worth it down the line.”
After a brief break during exams, their conditioning regime resumes. There’s a 5K race on June 27 in Fairfield, Workouts of the Week and speedcamp, plus other events like the Preston Hirten 7-v-7 Tournament. The returning players know that August — and intense competition for spots — is not far off.
The Fitness Center crew, on the final day of 2015 workouts.
