Back to work: Wildcats open up summer workouts

The Enterprise Wildcats jumped right into summer workouts on June 1 as they try to get ready for fall camp in July.

The Wildcats weren’t able to have any spring practices, so head coach Rick Darlington said these summer workouts will be important.

“We missed spring football, so we have to get back into the football aspect of things but right now it’s definitely more about conditioning than building strength,” Darlington said. “We hope that they haven’t lost a lot of strength with having two and a half months off, but we were surprised they hadn’t lost a lot of speed during that time.”

Darlington said that with fall camp beginning July 27, the Wildcats would be going hard with 15 workouts in June before scaling back to just five workouts in July to get some rest before fall camp begins.

Enterprise will not be using the locker rooms at all during workouts, so players have to come ready to go and they also have to provide their own water bottles. Players also have designated arrival and departure spots on campus and enter and exit through specific doors into the field house.

The Wildcats are working in specific, static groups in both the weight room and on the field and keeping spaced out as much as possible.

“Because we aren’t lifting heavy weights right now we don’t have to have a spotter right on top of a guy, so that’s good,” Darlington said. “We’re also blessed to have such a big weight room that we can be spaced out and we have a lot of room to work around with.”

In between rotating groups of players in the weight room all of the weights are sanitized before the next group comes in.

On the field, players are working on conditioning, speed, strength and agility, as well. The Wildcats are utilizing tractor tires to build strength and endurance, while coaches also build in races and competitions in agility and speed drills to keep things fun and competitive at the same time.

Darlington said it’s just good to have his players back.

“It’s great to be back with the kids,” he said. “The coaches need it, the kids need it. The kids need the structure and the camaraderie and need to be pushed to work. Really, though, it’s just great to be around them agai