The Shadow
Warm Springs, VA- Bath County varsity football coach Jake Phillips gathered his prospective players together for an evening of physical testing to determine who was the fastest, and who was all-around the most athletic.
Each player got the opportunity to perform in a few different events like bench press and verticals to test strength and jumping ability. Once each athlete was satisfied with their performance, the team moved outside to the football field for events like running the 40 and the shuttle run, both of which Phillips says, “are great tasks for evaluating speed, agility and quickness”.
This year observer, and last year player, Miguel Malpica, commented that “the combine is great way to see how much of a difference your hard work in the offseason has made when compared to your scores from this season”.
His younger brother and current player “Hernan Malpica” a sophomore at Bath County High School added, “I see a lot of improvement in players from last year. Our backs and receivers are faster, and our linemen are stronger. I can tell that everybody was in the weight room over the summer.”
Upon conclusion of The Combine’s events, coach Phillips met with his players to discuss the upcoming season and to assign them their football helmets and lockers. The Chargers, along with other Virginia High School teams, began practice on Monday August 5th.
The Chargers will compete in a scrimmage this Friday, August 16 at Greenbrier East High School in Lewisburg, WV. We will have updates and pictures from the event online and in the physical paper next week.
