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The week marks the end of the school year for many districts in the area, but it also signals the beginning of a phase for several student-athletes.

Nederland Head Coach Monte Barrow said he looks at the summer program as a continuation of the work done in the spring.

“We met the last day and said we weren’t going to talk about a lot of things because we weren’t going to treat it as a stopping point and starting something new,” he said. “They way it is now, with the UIL allowing you to have time to do sport-specific skills, you treat it like the spring.”

Barrow said the only real difference is working with kids on a different schedule not centered around school.

“We have kids that are going on vacation and other kids that work,” he said. “We have different options as far as time of day so they can get to the weight room and things like that.”

Barrow wants to make sure his players have active, fulfilling summers while also be dedicated to the team.

“That was the last thing I told them,” he said. “We told them our expectations but also told them they are still teenagers. Some of them are just 14. It is summertime. You go through a lot in a school year and you need to unwind and reset.”

Memorial spent the majority of the spring working on strength and speed, as many of the program’s skill players participated in the track season.

Head Football Coach Brian Morgan said the summer allows his team to lock in on skill-specific drills

“We probably get more football done in the summer,” Morgan said. “With the way the rules have changed, it has benefitted us. We feel like the way our summer has gone the past few years sets us apart from other teams. Everyone across the state works hard, but we feel like our structure, consistency and how many kids are here in the summer gives us an edge.”

Morgan said having incoming seniors and juniors, who have been in the program multiple years, allows coaches to focus on new student-athletes.

Port Neches-Groves Head Coach Jeff Joseph and his program wrapped up spring ball with some inter-squad contests this month.

“For us this is a chance to look back at what we did in the spring and do install stuff again,” Joseph said. “We will get everything polished and ready for the fall. It gives us a chance to narrow our scope and know exactly what we need to do and who we are going to be.”

Joseph said his program has built-in weeks off.

“We try to do our best to communicate what days we will be completely off,” he said. “We let them know when those off days will be so they can try to plan their vacations around those times. At the same time, we don’t tell them to not take trips or anything. It is all good with us. When you are in town and here, get the work in. If you are out for an extended period of time, find a way to stay in shape.”