One of the essentials an athlete must perform in order to keep at peak level is off-season conditioning and training. Coaches always reinforce and encourage it, but we don't often see athletes do that.
Terrell Owens, after his banishment from the Philadelphia Eagles, has spent the last nine months keeping his body in pristine shape. The July 24 issue of Sports Illustrated has a picture of Owens in the weight room, his chiseled body with so little body fat (perhaps 3%?). That is the epitome of an athlete who conditions and trains his body to be prepared for the sport season.
Deaf athletes should be no better off. I recall when I was a Gallaudet student, I only found several football players in the Field House lifting weights in the off-season. Out of nearly 40 players, less than 10 were constant visitors to the weight room. The same applied for other varsity sports. I played varsity soccer and while I admit I wasn't dedicated to off-season conditioning, I never saw another soccer player in the weight room or on the field, except for pick-up games on Fridays in the spring.
Why is it so hard for deaf and hard of hearing athletes to move their butts to the weight room? I suspect it has to do with their athletic backgrounds. A large percentage of our deaf and hard of hearing athletes come from mainstreamed environments. Where they were the only deaf ones on the team, and unless they were star athletes with the talent needed, they were bench warmers. These mainstreamed deaf athletes never got the prodding from their coaches to train and condition in the off-season. This pretty much carried on into collegiate sports.
For several years now, Gallaudet University has hosted summer camps for middle and high school students in various sport disciples. These summer camps coordinated by the athletics department at Gallaudet drew hundreds of deaf and hard of hearing students for a week's worth of instruction, skills training, and camaraderie. In the summer of 1998, I was a wrestling instructor for the wrestling camp, under the leadership of Marty Willigan and Jeff White. We had more than thirty boys sign up. Six years ago, the wrestling camp folded. No one was signing up for wrestling anymore. This summer, only boys' basketball remained after girls' volleyball and basketball camps were cancelled due to low enrollment.
And it isn't happening only at Gallaudet. Why are fewer student-athletes dedicating themselves to off-season training and conditioning? Perhaps it has to do with today's technology-oriented society where fewer children are participating in individual or team sports as in the past.
Statistics have stated that while the numbers of student-athletes participating in sports has increased in several sports (i.e. lacrosse, soccer, and field hockey), the overall number of student-athletes in all high school sports have declined sharply over the last decade. My old mainstream high school, once the state runner-up in varsity football, disbanded their football program, even if the student body is over 1,200 strong. Students just aren't into sports anymore.
In preparation for the upcoming fall season, high schools often host spring sport clinics. These clinics only reinforce skills and review basic formations and plays for each respective sport. What needs to come next is from the student-athlete themselves - the dedication to off-season training and conditioning. Only then will they be able to perform at a higher level during the season.
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