ROCKINGHAM — Although high school athletics across North Carolina and other parts of the country have been suspended due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the coaches at Richmond Senior High School want their student-athletes to know they’re still cheering them on.
And now the RSHS athletics department is challenging other coaching staffs across the state, and the country, to participate in the #SpringAthleteChallenge.
Spearheaded by physical education teacher and assistant softball coach Andy Shuler, the #SpringAthleteChallenge is a physical workout dedicated to the current spring sports athletes who are seeing lost time.
Across its six varsity programs (baseball, softball, girls’ soccer, boys’ golf, boys’ tennis and co-ed track and field) and three junior varsity programs, Richmond has 194 athletes grades nine through 12 who are currently sidelined during the spring sports season because of the coronavirus.
“I wanted to start this challenge for the kids and our seniors who aren’t getting to compete,” Shuler said. “And as coaches, we love to compete, too. We wanted to do something that lets them know that we’re thinking about them.
“All you see right now is a lot of glasses half empty, and we wanted to do something positive for spring athletes across the country,” he added. “Our glass is half full. We hope this inspires athletes and coaches across the nation to stay active and hopeful.”
The idea of the #SpringAthleteChallenge is for the coaches at Richmond to combine to log 194 reps at different exercises across campus to represent each of the student-athletes who are missing out on playing time.
Joining Shuler in the challenge were fellow coaches Bryan Till, Brad Denson, Jay Jones, Milton Swinnie, James Johnson, Chris Campolieta, Dennis Toney, Chris Larsen and Alan Parker.
Starting in the weight room and jogging between each location, the coaches combined to bench press 175 pounds 194 times. Next at the tennis courts were 194 hang cleans at 135 pounds, followed by the same amount of reps with overhead squats using 45-pound plates at the softball field.
Then the participants jogged to the soccer pitch and banged out 194 reps of 45-pound plate snatches, matched with 65-pound curls at the baseball field and rounded things out with 194 crunches each at the track.
The final task was for each coach to jog a quarter-mile lap around the track together carrying a chain to show their unity and that their “link is strong” and finish at the iconic Mr. Raider statue in front of the G.R. Kindley Field House.
Ultimately, the Richmond coaching staff and teachers want to see the video go viral to help bring awareness that spring sports athletes, whether they be at the middle school, high school or collegiate levels, aren’t forgotten by the coaches who invest so much time with them throughout the school year.
“To our athletes, we want you to know we love you and we’re thinking about you during this time off,” Shuler said. “Keep working hard, stay active, keep your heads up and we hope to see you soon.
“For all the high school and college coaches, our challenge to you is to replicate this video and bring something positive from this virus to all spring athletes and their families across the nation,” he closed. “We’d love to see them posted on social media to share this experience together.”
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Tag @ROSports_ on Twitter with any new videos made. Music used in video courtesy of Bensound.com.
