Brandon Tran is an ASU Walter Cronkite School of Journalism assigned to cover Glendale Prep for AZPreps365.com.

For Glendale Prep athetes, the hard work begins over the summer.

The school's "Summer Strength and Conditions" program runs for seven weeks, Monday through Saturday, costing $100, which includes a T-shirt. 

The program began in 2021, focusing on strength, power, agility and speed. 

“Last year was a big push for our summer program,” said Summer Strength and Conditions assistant coach Nate Kummeth. “A lot was built kind of in the six-to-eight month [period] leading up to the beginning [of the sports season].”

The program provides the proper tools and equipment that is needed for specific sports to help athletes improve and be prepared before the season. 

“Over the summer we did every varsity sport for fall and winter,” said Kummeth. “It's pretty universal as it customizes the need we have for each sport.”

If the structure for the program stays the same, football and volleyball athletes will train four days a week while cross-country and winter-sports athletes train twice a week. Even though cross-country is a fall sport, distance runners don’t need as much strength and conditioning to run.

“The biggest thing to [be] looking forward to since we are a small school is to be able to compete against some of these bigger schools that have a little more resources than us,” said Kummeth. “And then preventing injury because an injury to a small school can just kill momentum.”

The money used for the strength program is reinvested into the coaches' time as well as upgrading or getting the proper equipment for students to use since the school is not getting outside funding.

About 78 athletes from eighth to 12th grades participated last summer in the program.

“I think all the athletes being there over the summer is kind of crazy,” said assistant coach Lauren Lam. “And for the commitment they all put into the summer, it was a lot.”

Even though the winter sports season hasn’t started yet and fall sports are still going, it’s important for these athletes to have preparation and experience during summer to help improve their skills. Glendale Prep sophomore Maddie Caspers was one of the hard-working athletes during the summer as she looks to improve as a point guard. 

“My shot was short a lot for a little bit,” said Caspers. “And so it helps me a lot getting my shot farther and getting stronger.”

The equipment that was used to help Caspers improve was ladders and dots to help with running and footwork. Bench press and squats were the other ones provided to help improve athletes like Caspers improve with arm and leg strength since basketball is more of a contact sport.

“I think consistency is a really big thing,” said Caspers.