While the majority of college coaches throughout the country expect their players to attend both summer school sessions and participate in voluntary workouts, Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe expects his players to take a break.
Relax.
Go to the beach.
Get an internship.
(Insert gasp here.)
“You talk about keeping kids in class 12 months out of the year,” Grobe said, “that’s a tough thing.”
Some coaches can't keep them in class for an entire week.
In an all-encompassing sport that has become a year-round business commitment, Grobe’s players are released in mid-May and don’t have to report back until July 1.
Now there’s a recruiting sales pitch.
“There’s some benefit to kids having a chance to go spend some time with their families, and if they’ve got a vacation planned or whatever -- a lot of times the guys go with each other,” Grobe said. “But they just get away from us. I think it’s good for them not only to get away from their coaches, but get away from being in class all the time, be able to sleep in a little bit, wake up late. You might work out at 10 o’clock today, and 3:30 tomorrow, however you want to do it.”
No … pressure??
Coaches aren’t allowed to require workouts during summer school. The strength coach can't report to the head coach which players aren’t showing up, or demand that they do.
Grobe said he doesn’t worry about his players coming back out of shape because he and his staff have a month to get them ready for fall camp. Academics at Wake Forest aren’t usually a problem, as the athletes often graduate in four and a half years, so the extra summer session wouldn’t be as valuable as it might to athletes who need the extra time and structure.
“If we’ve got a kid who really, really wants to go first session, we’ll let him do it,” Grobe said. “But usually by about the middle of the season he’s in bad need of a break. They just don’t ever stop.”
“It used to be they could run home for Thanksgiving, but now everybody is playing that Thanksgiving weekend,” said Grobe. “You get no break until you go home for Christmas break, and if you’re in a bowl game, that’s a short break. There are only a handful of our kids I worry about having that time because I’m not sure they’re working as hard as they need to be, as far as lifting and running and things like that. But the majority of our kids are going to work probably as hard by themselves if not a little bit harder than we would push them.”
That’s probably because they enjoy playing for him.
It’s not hard to see why.