No time off in the offseason

The 2022-23 high school sports offseason is in full swing, and although you won’t be on the field, these next three months will be crucial to your development as an athlete.

In fact, the offseason and how you prepare for the regular season, more often than not, is more important than the product that you’ll put on the field come the fall, winter, or whatever season you happen to play in.

It’s also going to produce some of the most fun and memorable moments that you’ll have as a high school athlete.

From getting up at six in the morning to go lift, to going to a summer sports camp with your teammates.

The camps are probably the best thing about the offseason because not only are you getting better, but you’re away from home and the normalities of your day-to-day life.

It also gets you prepared for the next step, which is obviously the college level. Most of the time at these camps the coaches will arrange for you to sleep in dorms with your teammates, which will be some of the most fun you’ll ever have.

The best time I had as an athlete was at the University of Idaho’s Vandal camp my sophomore year.

Not a whole lot of kids from my class went to camp, so it was fun to experience those three days with my friends on the football team.

We all stayed in the dorms and got to play some snaps in a varsity scrimmage. Even though it was just a scrimmage, for a sophomore, that moment meant everything.

My senior year, we returned to Vandal Camp, but this time all the kids that were there as sophomores were now seniors.

Basically, we knew the deal; we knew what was expected and what we had to do. But this time there was something new added to the camp, a 1-on-1 pass rush tournament.

In the past, the skill players got all the love with the scrimmage tournament and the 7-on-7, with the lineman basically getting pushed to the side.

During some of the technique training, however, I twisted and sprained my ankle and wasn’t able to compete in the 1-on-1 tournament.

I was crushed, it felt like the worst day of my life at the time, and while it sucks to get injured, I would’ve rather been hurt in July than in August or September.

This is another big reason to stay in shape and to go to all these camps with your team to make sure you maintain a certain level of fitness and health.

Take your bumps and bruises early, so by the time the opening kick-off comes around you’re available and making plays.

It’s understandable if the summer time is your time to relax and come down from a busy and hectic school year.

However, it’s not only important to get on the field during the offseason to maintain physical fitness and to make sure you’re on top of your game, you also get to make memories with some of your best friends.

Once you take your final snap, run your final lap, or take your final shot at the high school level, it's all over.

I promise you, once you look back on your career, you’ll look back at these summer camps and think about all the fun you and your teammates had.

Whether it's competing on the field, acting like a fool in the dorm room, or just flat-out bonding as a team.

Make sure, if your team is going out of town for a camp this year and you have the opportunity to attend that you go.