Dual-sport athletes ready to do both
Vacaville Christian High’s Cabezas, Martinez to play football, volleyball in overlapping seasons
For many years the NBA has employed load management, a system that seeks to have a team’s most important contributors playing at optimal health in the biggest moments for many years.
Now with the California Interscholastic Federation compacting multiple sports into two seasons rather than three because of the coronavirus, that concept has become important to high school athletes as well.
Load management monitors how much athletes train, perform and rest and ensures that the balance of each of these is appropriate for their age and skill level.
Vacav ille Chr istian High School’s David Martinez and Gabe Cabezas may have to employ load management when volleyball and football start up in late December, as both athletes hope to play both sports. The two activities overlap, with football practice starting Dec. 7 and its season ending on March 20 and volleyball’s first official practice on Dec. 14 and the season ending on Feb. 26.
VCS Athletic Director Donna Hagans is requiring a meeting with parents and athletes to confirm that they will be allowed to
play multiple sports. She is also asking each student to designate one sport as primary and the other as secondary.
Neither Martinez nor Cabezas have made a final decision on the latter point, but both are gung ho about playing both sports.
T heir head football coach, Manny Tarango, welcomes their enthusiasm but is also realistic about the challenges.
“Playing one sport is tough, it’s demanding, with practices and personal dedication in the weight room, at home, academics,” he said, “But to do two is not quite often heard of nowadays. It’s not that the kids can’t perform athletically. Our main concern is making sure they can perform academically.”
Both Martinez and Cabezas are excellent students, but there are only so many hours in a day.
“You’re going to have an athlete that’s going to work from 4 to 6 at football and then run over to volleyball practice from maybe 6:30 to 7:30 to kind of get the scheme of things and then get home, rest their body and do their homework, and then repeat (the next day),” noted Tarango. “Then we as football coaches say, ‘Hey, you have a volleyball match on Wednesday, so we’re going to limit maybe how many times you tackle or how many reps you take at receiver on Tuesday because we want you to be fresh on Wednesday.'”
That will take coordination between Tarango and head volleyball coach Carla Borges, something all the VCS coaches are prepared to do. Both sports are having training sessions now, but football practice is limited to three days a week and volleyball to twice a week.
“Our whole premise is getting kids to the next level,” Tarango said, “and the only way we’re going to be able to do that is making sure that they’re prepared academically. If we can all agree and if Donna ( Hagans) can see everything in front of her and say, ‘Okay, I believe this individual is going to be able to carry that,’ then that’s the approval side from an academic standpoint.”
Before each football practice, all the players have a one-hour study hall together. And VCS has hired a tutor for them and its other student-athletes.
“We have a new coach on our staff, Cassie Taylor, who is our academic advisor,” said Tarango, “and she is doing a phenomenal job spending those extra hours before and after school to ensure that these guys are getting the proper tutoring that they need.”
He thinks Matinez and Cabezas will be able to balance sports with academics
I think that these two young men are mentally strong enough and they have a tremendous amount of support in us,” said the coach. “If they get stuck or build a bit of pressure, I think that our relationship with them is significant enough for them to be able to say, ‘Hey coach, I need more help,’ and we’ll be ready if that opportunity occurs.”
The football practice regimen will increase to four days a week in November and five days a week in December in preparation for the team’s first game in January.
Cabezas feels optimistic about the two-sport challenge.
“The way the coaches are handling it right now makes me feel confident in how great it’s going to be when we actually go into the full motion of things,” he said. “They’ve got a real good system going on.”
But he also acknowledges that it may be more daunting for some studentathletes than others.
“Because I’m a senior, I have a very easy schedule,” he said. “But I could see how it could be difficult for the guys that take four or five AP classes.”
Martinez is a junior and has a heavier academic load. But he has a 3.8 GPA and said, “I think it will be more challenging but I don’t think it’s a challenge I won’t be able to handle.”
This will be Cabezas’ third year playing varsity football.
“He’s a great young man and a great teammate,” said Tarango, “very strong in the weight room, works very hard. He’s been a starter on the offensive line the last two years.”
Martinez is a defensive back and has been a starter since his freshman year when he had more than 90 tackles. Last year at strong safety he had over 100 tackles and also played on the offensive side of the ball as a slot receiver.
“You want to talk about probably the best overall, rounded athlete,” said Tarango of Martinez. “He’s matured a lot more and is really dialed in on preparing his body and keeping his academics up and being a mentor to the freshman.”
This will be Martinez’s second year starting on the volleyball team. He is an outside hitter. Cabezas has played on the junior varsity volleyball team for three years. This will be his first year on varsity, where he will probably be used mostly on the front line. He says he loves football and volleyball equally.
“The coaching staffs for both teams are amazing,” he said. “They really want to see you succeed and get to that next level. But also just the chemistry on the teams. My football team, it’s not just a team, it’s like a brotherhood. I see those guys like my second family… And then for volleyball, same thing. I love all of them to death.”
As long as state, county and Vacav ille Unified School District conditions allow, the multi- sport-atthe-same-time experiment will launch in December.
“Ever ybody ’s in uncharted waters,” Tarango said. “It’s just a different time. And it’s our job as the leaders of these programs to be able to make it right, not for ourselves and our egos, but to make it right for our student-athletes so they get the maximum ability to play all their sports that they enjoy.”
The Reporter will be featuring multiple-sport athlete features leading up to official practice in December. For ideas on local players, email msieger@thereporter.com.