Dead week arrives
Published 5:17 pm Monday, July 1, 2019
By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY
Daily News
’s break time.
June was a busy time for the local high-school sports teams as they put in the work in preparation for the 2019-2020 season in their respective sports.
After a busy month, the local student-athletes, as well as their coaches, will be able to take a step back this week.
Each year, the Georgia High School Association sets aside one week where teams are prohibited from holding official team activities.
The so-called “dead week” takes place the week of July 4th every year.
That means there are no workouts, no camps, no weight-lifting sessions, no practices, no team activities of any kind.
Nearly every team spanning all the different sports does something during the summer, whether it’s holding daily workouts at the school, or playing a bunch of games like the basketball teams and baseball teams do.
The summer is an especially critical time for the teams that play sports during the fall, since those seasons will begin in August.
In the case of the softball teams, the first games will be played before school is even in session.
As important as the summer workouts are, though, Troup softball coach Kayla Yeargin is glad to have a week set aside where everyone can get away.
“It’s nice, because (the players) can celebrate the fourth, and they don’t have to worry about being here,” said Kayla Yeargin, Troup’s softball coach. “It’s great for us and the players.”
Added Robyn McCann, Callaway’s softball coach, “you want them to have family time. It’s good to take time off.”
June was an active month for the football teams between the workouts, the camps, the seven-on-seven competitions, the 11-on-11 padded camps, and the strategy sessions.
The busy schedule continues next week, but for at least a few days, the players will take some time off before the grind continues.
Pete Wiggins, Callaway’s head coach since 2005, is glad to give his players some time off. Wiggins said we “had a great month of June in the weight room, and seven-on-sevens, and the padded camp, and the Hodges offensive-line camp.”
After one final workout on Thursday, Wiggins said goodbye to the players, knowing it’d be more than a week before he’d see them again.
“The kids will take a week off, and they deserve it,” Wiggins said. “It’ll be good for them.”
The local basketball players stayed on the go in June as well between the games and team camps. LaGrange High’s girls’ team played a handful of games and also went to a team camp at Georgia State, and head coach Stephen Tuck is happy to let the players step away from the game.
“It’s really vital for the girls to get out of the gym sometimes,” Tuck said. “So now, when they come back to the gym, it’s like they miss it.”
