It has been an isolated summer for this year’s Cavaliers due to the outbreak of  COVID-19, forcing students to keep their distance from one another. This means it has been especially difficult for the Coral Gables High School sports teams to meet up and do their annual summer conditioning. One sport that has continued to condition despite the tough circumstances is the Gables Wrestling team.

Conditioning is generally overlooked when it come to sports, but it contributes a lot to how well an athlete performs throughout their season. An athlete who trains throughout the year does substantially better than one who only trains when their season takes place. This is because their body has been training for the sport year round, rather than an athlete who has stopped training for an extended amount of time and needs to be retrained for when the season comes back. With that in mind, it remains important for athletes to condition, even during these trying times.

“I think conditioning is very important before the season starts because it helps us perform better than we did in our previous seasons. It also helps prevent us from getting any unnecessary injuries before the season starts,” sophomore Justin Bohanan said.

Typically, the wrestling team meets up two months before their season starts to begin conditioning. However, due to COVID-19 they have been unable to get together and work out. Wrestlers have had to work out individually to maintain in shape for when the season starts.

One wrestler who continued to workout despite being in quarantine is senior Fabio Crespo. To maintain season ready, Crespo has been doing a lot of running to keep his cardio up and lifting weights to increase his strength to have an edge against his opponents. His fellow teammates have also been training and they push each other to work harder everyday despite being separated.

“For some of my teammates and I, COVID has not affected the way we condition; we still run on our own, we still lift on our own and push each other to go harder every day,” senior Fabio Crespo said.

Although the team can’t currently practice together, they plan to meet up in the near future and perfect their wrestling techniques so they can crush this year’s competition beginning with the cavaliers preseason classic at gables on Nov. 24.