Do you feel the need for speed? Do you want to be strong and in condition for the upcoming sports season? EGHS athletes have an opportunity to do just that with a strength and conditioning camp called Prime Performance.  The camp runs through August 17. It meets Monday-Wednesday-Friday from 7 to 9 a.m. at the high school for speed and agility training with EGHS Assistant Football and Sprints Coach Kyle Mushaweh. Coach Kyle, as he is known around campus, is a veteran of college football having played four years on a D1 FBS team and was a 100m and 200m sprinter in the Patriot League and the Big East, after being a high school All-State football player and an All New England sprinter. Strength training for the camp is done by EGHS ’02 grad Andy Procopio, a certified strength and conditioning specialist and a former strength and conditioning coach for URI.  Coach Andy has a B.S. in Exercise Science and a M.S. in Exercise Physiology and will meet with athletes for strength training by appointment.

I am signed up for the camp because I am hoping to be strong enough to muscle my way past defensive lineman this fall on the gridiron, or at the very least be quick enough to run out of bounds. Last summer at this camp, I sweated more than I thought humanly possible and some days I prayed for Coach Kyle’s death.  Or least a 24-hour illness so he would not be at camp that day. As painful as working out on these hot summer days can be, it pays off in the fall as most EGHS athletes know. Coach Kyle is a master at teaching speed and agility and Coach Andy increases your strength considerably in a short amount of time. There are dozens of athletes already signed up for camp but there is still space available.  Check out www.primeperform.org for more information.

This speed and conditioning camp is particularly helpful for football players. The EGHS team starts off-season workouts on July 10 at 6 p.m. on Carcieri Field.  Captains Pete Hunziker and Eric Lauro are expecting a big turnout of returning and new players.

For any questions about football you can contact Head Coach John George at jgeorge45@verizon.net. If you are unsure if football is the sport for you, consider if you like playing backyard football, watching college or pro ball, have ever thrown or caught a football (even a Nerf one), or like cheerleaders. If you can answer “yes” to any of these questions, you are definitely a football player. Hope to see you at strength and conditioning camp and on Aug. 10.