Nike SPARQ Training

Nike is sponsoring a training program called the Nike SPARQ Training Football Academy, which focuses on improving Speed, Power, Agility, Reaction, and Quickness. 32 different high school football teams are currently participating in this program, including Mater Dei High School of Santa Ana, CA. The program is specifically designed to make better athletes by training the specified athletes in an off-season training program. Two Mater Dei Monarchs that are taking part in this program are juniors Fred Eggert and EJ Dorame. These two athletes have been training since January and have already received their initial SPARQ rating and are training very hard to improve themselves.

Aspects of the program include “working on speed and agility and ways we can apply that to the game of football” says Dorame. It takes a certain motivation to improve their skill within this intensive program. “I just want to become the best player I can be with the gifts I’ve been given” said Eggert. They are preparing for the second set of ratings by doing certain drills such as “the timed forty and drills that will compare all players. We also train at Velocity with coaches that work specifically for the combine” said Eggert.

This training may help improve the players’ skill, but it doesn’t come without a few challenges.

“The conditioning is intense. My challenge is having the stamina to do workout after workout to the best of my ability even if I’m tired,” said Dorame. This training has also benefited the boys in specific ways. Dorame says that it improved his forty time and made him a more dynamic player as well as improving his flexibility and speed. “We are doing this training to prepare for the combine” said Eggert. The Monarchs hope that the training will benefit their playing and take them to CIF next season, which is always their ultimate goal.

_{Article by Emily Crane and Photography by Christine Zirneklis.}