As summer time approaches, many students are thinking about relaxing somewhere far away, waking up late everyday, or staying up at night watching movie after movie.  

However, for many athletes, this image depicted above is far from what they will actually experience.

“Our practice will be every week day at 8 in the morning,” sophomore Gretchen Braak said.

Several female athletes will arrive at school almost every day this summer to condition and get in shape for their upcoming 2019-2020 seasons through a new program at MNHS called SWAT.

“SWAT stands for Strong Women All Together.  It is a program for Millard North’s female athletes in all grades to come together and build a culture of positive and strong multi-sport athletes at our school,” one of the head coaches, Emily Janda said.

Many runners go through this conditioning every summer to make sure they are in shape for their cross country season, but this new joint effort by multiple coaches will cover many more sports including volleyball and basketball.

“Coaches representing nearly all sports will be present to work with athletes to develop comradery, knowledge, and skills to build a strong athletic conditioning base,” Janda said.

Many athletes are combining this strength program with personal fitness goals and exercise for optimal results.

“This summer, I will have to do some running, running, and more running. My goal before school starts is to run times around my personal record, the SWAT program will hopefully help me accomplish this goal,” sophomore Anusha Deshpande said.

Head cheer coaches Haley Barry and Kathryn Etzelmiller are making all members of the varsity cheer team do the summer SWAT program as well.

“Usually, we have all members of the varsity squad work with plyometrics and strength training during the summer. However, now that the SWAT program is available, this should serve the same purpose,” Etzelmiller said.

Though to many students this exercise routine seems like a nightmare, conditioning for competitive sports is absolutely crucial.

“To ensure that you are in fairly good shape from the start of the season it is so important to condition. The more in shape you are at the beginning of the season, the higher chance of improvement you will have,” sophomore Allison Louthan said.

As final exams are upon us and the school year is coming to a close, female athletes are anxious for their summer season to begin.

“I think that it will not only keep my body and lifestyle active but it will also help me to be mentally prepared come cross country season. With the new SWAT program I feel like these summer workouts are really going to help our school get stronger and faster,” Louthan said.