John Raffel, jraffel@pioneergroup.com

Pine River football coach Terry Martin supervises a conditioning session at his practice field last week. (Pioneer photo/John Raffel)

Pine River football coach Terry Martin supervises a conditioning session at his practice field last week. (Pioneer photo/John Raffel)

Pine River football coach Terry Martin supervises a conditioning session at his practice field last week. (Pioneer photo/John Raffel)

Pine River football coach Terry Martin supervises a conditioning session at his practice field last week. (Pioneer photo/John Raffel)

Pine River coach likes progress team is making

LEROY Pine Rivers Terry Martin is like a lot of football coaches, doing as much as he can under state guidelines when it comes to conditioning, and trying to get his team ready for the fall football season in case there is one.

Martin and his players were on the practice field late last week. It wont be until next week or later, when the MHSAA announces what its planning on for the fall season. The immediate future of football is expected to be determined at that time.

Were going Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays right now for an hour, Martin said last Thursday at a conditioning session at the Pine River practice field. In June, we went two days a week for three weeks and in July well go three days a week until the end of July. Its all high school players, nine through 12.

The Bucks had their first Thursday of conditioning with about 30 players. Its usually in the low 30s.

Mainly were doing conditioning and agilities, Martin said. At first, we thought this would be a hindrance and disappointing but its been really good. Weve been able to focus on a lot of footwork and technique. The coaches are setting up cones and things they can move around. Theres no contact. The quarterbacks throw the ball over the fence and then they have to go and get their own ball. Theres no sharing of equipment or anything like that.

Pine River is in the Grand Rapids region, just a few miles south of the Traverse City region. The GR region has more restrictions on athletic programs currently than the TC region.

Everyone to the north is a step ahead of us because theyre allowed to do some work, go inside and use the weight room in small groups, Martin said. At first, we thought this would be a drag, but its worked out.

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Pine River coach likes progress team is making - The Pioneer