DMS off season is off to a good start.
While Duncan Middle School athletes wait for their sporting season to start this semester, many are funneled into the off season period, where they focus on conditioning to be ready for their sports. This year, off season is headed by coaches Stacy Pena and Darren Ross, who are also science teachers at DMS.
Ross, who heads off season for the eighth-grade boys, said off season is important to the coaches because it helps build strong relationships with the athletes, along with helping them grow closer at a team. He said he hopes to prepare the athletes for their sports.
“As long as the boys keep their focus and don’t let themselves get distracted, they should have a great year,” Ross said.
Pena had similar thoughts.
This is her second year heading off season for seventh-grade girls. She said that she loves the new group of athletes, but she is struggling to figure out where people are or where they are supposed to be.
Toward the end of the year, she plans on giving the girls a lesson in archery and a safety course to keep them busy.
Although she’s enjoying working with the athletes, she did have one concern. She said she strongly believes that students should not be allowed in off season or their sports, unless they get their physical before the years starts.
As far as athletes go, Jaiden Ellison, a seventh-grade wrestler, said many of the athletes are enjoying off season.
Ellison enjoys spending time with Pena and her friends, and she likes the organized schedule.
“It’s so perfect, and I enjoy getting to bond with my friends and getting ready to do my best in wrestling” she said.
Students, who do not have a sport this semester, were placed into a new civics class until next semester.
