Summer? Yes. A break? Heck no. Athletes power through summer months

Education is the key to freedom
June 6, 2018
Both guys are awesome
June 6, 2018
Education is the key to freedom
June 6, 2018
Both guys are awesome
June 6, 2018

When the final bell sounds on a school year, thousands of local children and hundreds of teachers head home for a two and a half month break before the start of the new academic year in early-August.


But while the majority are resting and maybe even getting some fun in the sun, local student-athletes and coaches are doing anything but taking a break. Instead, they’re polishing their crafts in idle time to get ready for the battles which lie ahead.

Local coaches say that summer is actually one of the busiest times of the year in the sports calendar with workouts, summer seasons and other athletic activities dominating the day.

Take Chandler Guidroz for example. Guidroz is an assistant football and baseball coach at South Lafourche High School – two sports which are active in the summer.


In June, his days start early in the morning with football workouts and sometimes 7-on-7 activities. By late-afternoon, he’s at Swampland Baseball. On nights of road games, sometimes he’s not home until 10 or 11 p.m. – some of the longest days he said he has in the year.

He’s not alone. Several others have a similar grind and veteran coaches are quick to say that their seasons are now year-round affairs.

“It’s not like it used to be,” H.L. Bourgeois boys’ basketball coach Andrew Caillouet said last summer when asked about the importance of summer work. “There are leagues, team camps, practice times and a lot of things that are great tools. The wins and the losses aren’t as important as learning who you have and who you can trust in certain situations. That’s valuable to know before the games start to count.”


FOOTBALL STAYS BUSY

Football teams are allowed to work during the summer with restrictions.

Teams are not allowed to hold full padded practices, but they are able to have workouts and conditioning to keep players in shape and ready for when fall practices begin before the start of the school year.

Most teams take care of their workouts early in the day, which gives coaches and players the rest of the day to enjoy their days.


But that only works for one-sport student-athletes. For multi-sport standouts, they then leave football and go to basketball, baseball or sometimes both.

Football teams also are able to do 7-on-7 competition over the summer and there are several leagues around the state which host teams and allow them to work on their passing skeleton and secondary.

Some teams swear by 7-on-7’s value. Others don’t put as much stock into it.


But it’s work and coaches universally agree that they would rather their players work than sit on the couch during the summer.

BASKETBALL ALSO STAYS BUSY IN SUMMER MONTHS

AAU basketball has grown into a huge player in athletic development over the summer. But there’s also a growing school-ball summer basketball season which has taken root heavily in the Houma-Thibodaux area.

The LHSAA allows basketball teams to have a ‘summer season’ where they can have practices and other team development activities.


Like football, basketball also has a summer season, but unlike football, the style of play is not limited. Basketball teams can play full 5-on-5 games in summer leagues or team camps, which are hosted around the state.

Locally, E.D. White High School hosts the longest-standing local summer league for boys’ basketball teams. The games are held multiple times a week and local teams head to E.D. White and get live work against other teams in game-like situations.

How important the games are depends on the coach one asks. Some say it’s very important to build chemistry, while others stress that it’s a time to learn lessons as a team.


All local coaches agree that the leagues and camps are great for building depth and developing younger players, getting them ready for the varsity season in the winter.

“It’s great to get the chance to earn experience,” E.D. White boys’ basketball coach Jonathan Keife said last summer when asked about hosting the league. “It’s great for the younger players and it’s good to build chemistry. As coaches, we sometimes think we know what our strengths or weaknesses are, but you get a much better idea when you see it against another opponent in live game action.”

SWAMPLAND ROLLING ON AT LOCAL PARKS

Baseball has perhaps the longest-running summer season locally with the Swampland league, which has existed locally for well more than a decade.


Local teams compete in the league, which plays both varsity and junior varsity games three times a week at local parks around the area.

Standings are kept throughout the summer and the top teams advance to postseason play at the end of the summer season.

Like all the other summer sports, Swampland is development based with few coaches extending pitchers past 50-60 pitches in hopes of building as much depth as possible before the new school year begins.


But Swampland success actually does matter.

Teams which do well in Swampland almost always parlay that success into the upcoming varsity season and several of the top Swampland teams win district championships and make deep postseason runs.

Swampland baseballCASEY GISCLAIR | THE TIMES


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