With sports on hold, Beckman football players apply alternative training methods

Beckman sophomore Nolan Han goes through a home workout. (Photo courtesy Beckman football)

Beckman High football coach Marcello Guiliano is trying to maintain communication with his players and prepare them for the high school football season during a very uncertain time.

CIF officials have not yet indicated if fall practices and the season will go on as scheduled or delayed in light of the coronavirus crisis. CIF officials are monitoring the situation and said they are committed to having playoffs.

The season is scheduled to start Friday, Aug. 21 for most teams. Beckman is scheduled to open the season with a Pacific Coast League game against Portola on Aug. 21 at Tustin.

In these uncertain times, Coach Giuliano is applying a number of elements as he and others wait for direction on the football season. Coaches and players aren’t allowed to be together during this time and no organized practices are allowed. In addition, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s stay at home order is still in effect, allowing only trips for essential services.

Giuliano outlined what he and his coaches have been using:

—–“Google Meet to run meetings for our ‘Counsel of Elders’ leadership group, position group meetings, staff meetings, etc. Coaching is fundamentally about personal connections so these video meetings have been important to feel connected to one another.”

—-“TrainHeroic (a smartphone workout app) is used for strength workouts.  We track sets, reps, duration, etc.” 

—“Google Classroom and Hudl to share football content such as installation, film, and at-home technique training.”

—-“Remind for text message communication like daily reminders and individual conversations.”

—“Social media to stay connected with our players and community. In particular, we can’t run our junior high school training program as we usually do, so we produced some videos aimed at our feeder school populations with instruction on at-home workouts they can be doing to stay active and prepare for high school athletics.”

However, the coach said there are a number of challenges implementing this “new normal, including the steep learning curve for me and the staff.”

He added:

“The biggest challenges, however, stem from accessibility. For example, not every family has a home or apartment large enough to accommodate at-home workouts.”

“Additionally, this has quickly turned into a real financial catastrophe for many people. We all have student-athletes who haven’t had or are losing access to phones and internet as families have to make tough choices about personal finances and the academic implications dwarf the athletic ones.

“The other major challenge is the loss of structure for the kids.  They don’t always love it, but we know that kids want and need structure, discipline, and accountability. All of a sudden, they are in a situation where they have to manage themselves and that is a tough ask.  We have a lot of kids in the program that need academic support: study hall, tutoring, directed study classes, etc. and we can’t deliver those things with the structure they need.”

-Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@occsportszone.com