The Knights football and cross-country teams spent their summer practicing to prepare for the 2019 fall sports season.

“We had optional workouts with Barclay [Spring] at the performance lab,” quarterback Max Banks ’21 said. “The team also had a few mandatory practices closer to the end of summer where instead of lifting weights, we actually played football.”

Spring is also working with team members to improve physical conditioning.

“We’re constantly working on the athlete’s athleticism,” Spring said. “In the game of football, you need to be bigger, faster, and stronger than your opponent, so we’re constantly trying to build the body.”

Cross-country got together during the summer to run on city streets and worked on conditioning.

“We’ve been working out three days a week from mid-June up until the end of July,” head coach Michael Buckley said. “Last week of July, we had our preseason camp where we worked out every day and then starting Aug. 12 we’ve been practicing normally every day.”

Team members from both sports say summer practices helped them bond with each other.

“The team chemistry is looking great, especially since we have a lot of returning players this year,” center Michael Metz ’20 said. “Myself and the other upperclassmen hope to create strong bonds with the underclassmen to make us better as a team.”

Football team members say summer workouts are beneficial to the entire team.

“The summer practices I’ve been going to will definitely make me a better player out on the field,” Banks said. “Being well-conditioned is the first step to being a really good quarterback.”

Team members say many students have joined the sports teams as a way to connect with their peers.

“A lot of new people joined the team this year,” Nick Kuwada ’20 said. “Joining a sports team is a great way for an incoming freshman, for example, to meet new people and get introduced to the culture of the school before the year starts.”

Buckley sees two major benefits to underclassmen joining a team.

“I think the first and most obvious benefit is that joining a team is a great way to make connections with others, specifically upperclassmen,” Buckley said. “Kids coming out of middle school have not been challenged in this way, and so it completely redefines what they think they can do.”