With the summer dead period officially over, Strong formally began summer workouts on Monday.
The other schools in Union County began workouts last month once the Arkansas Activities Association lifted the dead period from the spring at the end of May, but Strong waited until July to start workouts due to concerns of the coronavirus spreading in the area.
Strong coach Sirl Wright was pleased to not only get to see his players again, but also get back into doing football activities.
“It’s great,” Wright said. “It gets lonely. Being isolated and distance learning throughout March, April and May.
“It was kind of lonely for a little while, but I made sure I planned and cleaned and was getting to some loose ends and tighten everything up, but overall, it was good to see the kids. All educators and everybody missed their kids. I missed the players and the students that I work with. It was good to get back with all of them.”
Wright was also happy with how the workouts went.
“It went pretty good,” Wright said. “With the long layoff and the long dead period, conditioning is going to be a factor.
“They were a little winded, but they worked hard and persevered through that good old friend we call heat.”
Wright said he worked in two separate groups between the junior high and senior high squads.
“I just quarantined the areas,” Wright said. “Junior high lifted in a certain area. We had sanitized before them and we sanitized after they worked out. Then the senior high came afterwards, and we did the same process with them. Just getting them acclimated to the new system as far as face masks, washing their hands, make sure they’re social distancing. Just going over the ground rules.”
Wright added that the Bulldogs got to work in several areas.
“First, we did weights. Then we moved to conditioning, then we did some skill drills and hand-eye coordination with the football,” Wright said.
As far as the rest of the week is concerned, Wright said his team will continue to work slowly as they begin preparing for the season.
“We’re going to repeat,” Wright said. “Once we get a full squad, we can do more team drills, but until then, we’re just getting off the couch and getting back into athletic mode.”
Wright said he had 11 players between the two groups, but added that more players will join workouts once they finish family vacations.
Wright, who is about to start his third year as Strong’s coach, said the team is taking a day-to-day approach with everything.
“We’re getting ready to rock ‘n’ roll, but it’s kind of like the school districts, everybody is taking it day to day,” Wright said.
“We’re going to plan like we’re going to start school as we planned in the spring, but until the Department of Education gives us the official green light, we’re just taking it one day at a time.”