The off-season, commonly called the second season is a time for players to develop their individual strength, quickness, and hand/eye coordination, and for teams to do a little bonding while developing as a squad.
Some sports have devolved into a year-round competition to the detriment of the athlete and the activity, but others use the off-season as it has been intended since the inception of high school athletics over a century ago.
Players from Wind River High School recently worked at team camps held in Spearfish, South Dakota at Black Hills State, and at Chadron State University in Chadron, Nebraska.
The Cougars will have a new head coach soon after Mykah Trujillo resigned from his coaching and teaching position at Wind River, to take a teaching position at Evanston.
A new head coach will be hired soon, but in between Rod Frederick and Kyle Hunter took 10 players to the two team camps.
The camp at Black Hills State featured 9-man teams from Wyoming and 8-man squads from South Dakota. Along with Wind River, Saratoga, Greybull, and Riverside played at Spearfish. There were a dozen total teams at the camp.
Cooper Frederick, Casey Befus, Calder Johnson, Tucker Jensen, Blake Snyder, Chris Burke, Carter, and Fowler, along with freshmen Blue Star John, Isiah Remacle, and Rhodi Brow attended the Black Hills camp. Wind River picked up a pair of players from Moorcroft and one from Thunder Basin at the camp.
The following week, Frederick took Cooper Frederick, Casey Befus, Calder Johnson, and Tucker Jensen to Chadron.
Wind River was the only Wyoming squad represented at the camp. There were 600 players and 31 teams in Chadron, and the Cougars joined with Mullen, Nebraska, an 8-man team for the camp.
“We joined the Mullen team, who brought eight players, one a freshman,” Frederick said. “
Two camps remain for several of the Wind River players.
A skills camp in Thermopolis begins next week with coaches from Chadron, Black Hills, and South Dakota Tech working as clinicians, with a final camp conducted by the Wyoming Cowboys later this summer.
“The kids were tired, seven days of camp will get you, but it was a great experience,” Frederick said.