SANTA ROSA JUNIOR COLLEGE—The Bear Cub football team began its Spring football Olympics from March 27 to . The event consists of a series of team-based competitions throughout a two week period completed for points. At the end of the two weeks the team with the most points wins; earning bragging rights and a t-shirt.
The focus during the spring sports season tends to be on baseball and softball, but spring is also the heart of offseason training for the football team. The Spring Olympics is a time for football athletes to take a slight break from their training and compete against their teammates.
This year’s captains include quarterback RJ Flores, safety Tommy Streb, running back Zach Hugh, linebacker Sue Taguavau, offensive lineman Kyle Davis, safety Connor Sosa, wide receiver Rodson Kealohi and defensive lineman John Herkins.
The spring football Olympics consists of various events ranging from weight lifting to agility events, and basketball skills competitions such as a three-point shootout and dunk contest.
On Monday, March 27 the Spring Olympics kicked off with a bench press competition. Many players broke personal records and proved that their last 10 weeks of training were put to good use. Ultimately, Blake Gonzales crushed the competition with a bench press of 505 pounds, securing the win for his squad.
To no surprise ,Gonzales walked away from the squat competition in first place with a 700-pound squat; 200 pounds more than second place.
On Friday, the reign of Gonzales’ weight lifting supremacy was ended when Kyle Davis won the clean competition with a weight of 335 pounds.
After the weightlifting portion of the event was finished, the team moved to the basketball skills competition. Matt Blanchard won the three-point shootout becoming the first person to ever do so in back-to-back spring Olympics. After a semi-disappointing dunk contest, running back JT Evans, the shortest competitor, was named champion with a two hand jam off an alley-oop.
The Olympics carried into the first week of April. The Dodgeball contest took place April 3 where team Flores and Streb reigned victorious. Later in the week, teams will compete in the tug of war, agility course, quarterback and field goal challenges, as well as agility tests such as the 40-yard dash and 3-cone drill, plus a vertical leap test.
“To me, it is an opportunity to get to see guys on the team do things together and compete in events that aren’t just football,” said head coach Lenny Wagner. “It also lets the guys see their teammates that they might think are third or fourth string players, to be not just that; but to see that teammate as the one that’s really good at dodgeball, or the one that can dunk a basketball exceptionally well. That’s what it’s all about.”
When asked why he enjoys the spring Olympics, running back and event captain Zach Hugh says, “at the end of the competition there’s a winner, but in a sense there is no loser. Looking past the competition aspect of it all, the Spring Olympics are a team building experience where players get to show off their hard work and compete with their friends.”
