“The sequel is coming,” Broncos athletic coordinator Brian Cope said Tuesday.
Lake Belton athletics officially kicked off its second season on Monday with 450 student-athletes showing up for the start of ELITE Camp.
“That doesn’t even include a senior class yet,” Cope noted. “Our kids are excited about being here, our coaches did a phenomenal job yesterday and I’m really proud of all the Broncos.”
Camp is free to students looking to learn and improve their skills and is available to multisport athletes as individual sports skill sessions stagger throughout the week.
From 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. you can find Lake Bronco athletes from the 9th through 11th grade among the various workout stations on the football field before breaking off to their individual sport skills training in the later half of the morning.
The first day alone saw 300 high school students come out to start their summer training in football, basketball, volleyball, soccer, baseball and softball.
“Just with the high school group, we saw 10 more show up today than yesterday,” Broncos boys basketball head coach Zane Johnston said. “If they keep coming and keep bringing their friends, it is contagious, they are going to want to keep working and keep getting better.”
Students entering the seventh and eighth grades at Lake Belton Middle and North Belton Middle schools also have the opportunity to learn and grow in their desired sports as 150 student-athletes showed up for the middle school camp from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Monday.
The camp itself has gone through a few changes since last summer.
Belton Independent School District is in Scenario 1 which is, “the closest to a pre-COVID-19 school environment,” according to the district website.
“Our kids are out here working and we have not had to say, ‘Put your mask on, spread out’ so it’s good to be back to the new normal,” Cope said.
The change in facility and restrictions has also helped with the skills groups, like basketball as Johnston noted, “When we had skills last summer, I think the most we had was 40 kids in [the middle school gym] at a time and this year we have 45 or 48 kids in here today.”
Now able to run the camp in their home facilities, the Lake Belton coaches are focused on adding to the next chapter of Broncos athletics.
“They are hungry,” Johnston said as he watched the incoming freshmen boys run drills in the Broncos small gym. “They want to play football, they want to play basketball, soccer, baseball and all of that, I think it is exciting and I think this is going to be a very good freshmen group.”
By the end of summer, Johnston hopes to see these incoming student-athletes buy-in to what it means to be a Bronco.
“Just understanding what we want here at Lake,” Johnston said. “We want to be really good, we don’t want to settle for average so these guys being here and seeing what our new sophomores and juniors are doing, and the work that they are putting in, like I said, it’s contagious.”
He added, “You are either going to buy into it or you will get left behind, but I think these guys so far have been telling me that they do not want to get left behind, they are going to do what it takes to be a part of what the upperclassmen have already started building.”
Lake Belton athletics officially kicked off its second season on Monday with 450 student-athletes showing up for the start of ELITE Camp.
“That doesn’t even include a senior class yet,” Cope noted. “Our kids are excited about being here, our coaches did a phenomenal job yesterday and I’m really proud of all the Broncos.”
Camp is free to students looking to learn and improve their skills and is available to multisport athletes as individual sports skill sessions stagger throughout the week.
From 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. you can find Lake Bronco athletes from the 9th through 11th grade among the various workout stations on the football field before breaking off to their individual sport skills training in the later half of the morning.
The first day alone saw 300 high school students come out to start their summer training in football, basketball, volleyball, soccer, baseball and softball.
“Just with the high school group, we saw 10 more show up today than yesterday,” Broncos boys basketball head coach Zane Johnston said. “If they keep coming and keep bringing their friends, it is contagious, they are going to want to keep working and keep getting better.”
Students entering the seventh and eighth grades at Lake Belton Middle and North Belton Middle schools also have the opportunity to learn and grow in their desired sports as 150 student-athletes showed up for the middle school camp from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Monday.
The camp itself has gone through a few changes since last summer.
Belton Independent School District is in Scenario 1 which is, “the closest to a pre-COVID-19 school environment,” according to the district website.
“Our kids are out here working and we have not had to say, ‘Put your mask on, spread out’ so it’s good to be back to the new normal,” Cope said.
The change in facility and restrictions has also helped with the skills groups, like basketball as Johnston noted, “When we had skills last summer, I think the most we had was 40 kids in [the middle school gym] at a time and this year we have 45 or 48 kids in here today.”
Now able to run the camp in their home facilities, the Lake Belton coaches are focused on adding to the next chapter of Broncos athletics.
“They are hungry,” Johnston said as he watched the incoming freshmen boys run drills in the Broncos small gym. “They want to play football, they want to play basketball, soccer, baseball and all of that, I think it is exciting and I think this is going to be a very good freshmen group.”
By the end of summer, Johnston hopes to see these incoming student-athletes buy-in to what it means to be a Bronco.
“Just understanding what we want here at Lake,” Johnston said. “We want to be really good, we don’t want to settle for average so these guys being here and seeing what our new sophomores and juniors are doing, and the work that they are putting in, like I said, it’s contagious.”
He added, “You are either going to buy into it or you will get left behind, but I think these guys so far have been telling me that they do not want to get left behind, they are going to do what it takes to be a part of what the upperclassmen have already started building.”
By Felisa Cárdenas
