While offseason may imply a break for athletes following a grueling season, “rest” is the last word found in their vocabulary.

“Offseason workouts are focused on building strength, stamina and injury prevention,” EHS JV girls soccer coach Abby Federman said.

Athletes of all sports use this time to work toward their success for the next season and bond as a team.

“Getting together and giving the guys that are going to be new to varsity a chance to get used to the way we work [is my favorite part],” junior football player Brendan Dickman said.

Besides team goals and bonding, the athletes use this time to better themselves as well.

“Every year I want to increase my speed as well so I have a better chance when it comes to running the ball come game time,” Dickman said.

There are no games during the offseason, which allows coaches and trainers to push their players to their limits with daily workouts.

“Our girls have the opportunity to do strength and conditioning with me off campus at various locations in town year round,” coach Federman said. “We work out two to three times a week summer and fall… [I also] run pre-season strength and conditioning at EHS three times a week.”

EHS softball, girls basketball and field hockey utilize their offseason time to go off campus to train with a professional trainer at the YMCA.

“The head trainer Bo creates the workouts and types it out and then creates muse [a workout broken up by short exercise intervals with music]…” senior softball and field hockey player Jennifer Werner said. “Each workout is a minute or so long and then 30 seconds to switch workouts and then 13 minutes of cardio on the treadmill.”

While they may be great conditioning, these high intensity workouts can pose as an athlete’s worst nightmare.

“It is really hard and I want to die during some workouts…,” Werner said. “…even though they are awful, I truly like going to get in shape and hang out with teammates.”