Summer has drawn to an end, but the fall sports season has already begun.  Late night games and celebrations haven’t started, but the preparation has been under way.

Athletes have been preparing for the season since the beginning of summer.  Each sport’s athletes have been conditioning to get in shape.

Conditioning consists of exercises decided by coaches to better the athletes.

“It is a lot of self weight training, sprints, and agility based workouts,” senior Michael Omon said.

Seniors Michael Omon and Alex Heath are part of the soccer team, and have been taking part in conditioning throughout the summer.

“Conditioning is extremely intense,” Heath said. “You’re going as hard as you can the whole time.”

Some sports have unique workouts to better themselves. Soccer is a game of constant running, and a workout used in conditioning is the sand sprint. Coach Kelly Barah had a sand pit put in next to the field specially for the team.

“They were fun, but it sucked having all of that sand all over you and your clothes,” Omon said.

Another running exercise used in conditioning is the suicide, in which they run back and forth along the field touching each line along the way.

“We were doing suicides on the field one day, and it was really hot,” Heath said. “After one of the suicides, Butters [a player] went and threw up and everybody started cheering. It shows that you’re giving it your all and everybody appreciates that because it’s making the team better.”

Although the workouts are intense, the hard work is worth it.

“It makes me more optimistic about the season,” Omon said. “Because I know my teammates and myself have worked so hard to be where we are.”