PUTTING IN THE WORK

Clifton athletes endure summer heat to prepare for upcoming fall sports by participating in Summer Speed & Power Camp, including sport-specific skills session

Refusing to be thwarted by the persistent temperatures hovering around the century mark, Clifton middle school and high school athletes have been showing up in force to participate in the Summer Speed and Power Camp 2024.

After enjoying a banner 2023-24 year in sports across the athletic program, the Cubs hope to pick up right where they left off. And this summer, they have been putting in the work.

“We give our kids two weeks off after school is out,” Clifton athletic director and football head coach Brent Finney said. “Once we started on June 10th, it was a great turnout for day one of summer workouts. Obviously, the main goal of summer workouts is for kids to get stronger, in better condition, and come back acclimated to the heat. But it is also a great opportunity for new leadership and strong bonds to be built heading into the new school year.”

Starting June 10, the CISD coaches began holding daily workouts from 8 a.m.-11 a.m. Monday through Thursday. Throughout the first three weeks of camp in June, well over 100 student athletes attended daily to get ready for a variety of sports ahead during the 2024-25 school year. Coming out of the Fourth of July holiday week, Clifton resumed four more weeks of workouts on Monday.

“Summer workouts are huge,” Finney said. “Not only does it allow for acclimation to the heat, but with the skill portion added to the strength and conditioning, kids are getting seven weeks of sport specific skill work as well.

“Also, the same coaches that will be coaching them during school are able to work with them during the summer. This allows the kids to be more fundamentally sound when practices actually start in August.”

From 8-8:30 a.m., the coaches work on skill training with the middle school athletes, before moving into a strength, power, speed and agility session with both the middle school and high school students from 8:30-10 a.m. They wrap up the morning workout with a skill training session with the high school athletes from 10-11 a.m., focusing on sports specific instruction in football, volleyball, cross country and basketball.

Prior to the summer, the Cubs participated in an area 7-on-7 football league competing with the Whitney Wildcats and the West Trojans during May. In addition to the traditional passing and receiving skills 7-on-7 football focuses on, the three schools added a linemen challenge to get more student-athletes involved. But unfortunately, the persistent inclement weather washed out several opportunities to compete.

“The weather was tough on us all spring,” Finney said. “We cancelled our first week, we were able to play the following week, but then we lost the last week to weather as well. We played two groups to get more kids quality reps and also added a lineman challenge portion that was great.

“It is always good to get out there and work football skills. We are not a spread, no-huddle style offense. But it is good for our defense to work on communication and coverage as well as our quarterback and receivers to work timing, route running and ball skills.”

After already experiencing significant change during each UIL realignment over the last 10 years, the 2024 Cubs will not have a single familiar football opponent in district for the first time since 2017. Despite graduating a large senior class this spring, Dave Campbell’s Texas Football picks Clifton to earn their third straight trip to the playoffs by finishing fourth in District 5-3A, DII behind 11th-ranked Tolar, Eastland and Early, while placing ahead of Brady and Dublin rounding it out.

“It is always great to be picked as preseason playoff contenders,” Finney said. “That is a testament to the work our kids and coaches pour into this program trying to maintain the expectations here at Clifton. We tell the kids every year that making the playoffs is not a goal, it is an expectation. That is the standard.”

Less than a month away, football can hold its first day of conditioning with no contact activities permitted on Aug. 5, with no contact equipment except helmets being worn. Likewise, volleyball can issue equipment and conduct workouts beginning Aug. 5.

“We had a great start to our June workouts with well over 100 kids daily,” Finney said. “Working out together helps to build new leadership and bonds that will be so important in the new seasons ahead. We tell our kids all the time, the more you put into something the more important it will be to you.

“These next four weeks will be very important as we look to focus more on installation of plays and alignments and actually work on specific schemes we will be using this season.”