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For the last month, the members of the Chambers Academy girls athletic teams have been working in its gym and outside, putting in the work for the upcoming 2020-21 athletic seasons.

They finished their first month of workouts on Tuesday.

“It’s really exciting to see how hard our girls have worked for the month of June and how far we’ve advanced,” Chambers Academy girl’s basketball coach Jeff Hines said. “Our balance is much better. We’ve got girls that are starting to get definition in their arms. All around, it’s been really good for us and our girls.”

At the start of the workouts, Hines and head softball coach Jon Owens’ goal was to build strength everywhere, but especially develop the cores of their players. That has been evident in most of the workouts that the girls have done three times a week since June 1.

Most of the exercises that Hines and Owens have put together use the core in some type of way.

On Tuesday, the girls worked in a circuit, which they did in four sets, working at each station for 30 seconds. Starting at the west side of the gym, girls threw medicine balls to each other, usually throwing the weighted balls overhead like a soccer throw-in. At the end of the 30 seconds, the girls jogged to the next station, which was burpees followed by supermans (where the person lays on the ground on their stomach and lifts both their hands and feet at the same time). They took a break from the core exercises next when they went to step-ups onto boxes. They then went to jump ropes, which they rotated doing one or two-foot jumps.

After 30 seconds, they went to medicine ball throwdowns, where the girls took a weighted ball and threw it to the ground. They finished the set with 30 seconds of crunches.

At the end of the circuit, the girls ran sprints, that Hines called building a house. They started at a baseline. Once Hines started the clock, they ran suicides making stops at the free-throw line, the half-court line and the other free throw line before finishing at the far baseline. The drill was to be completed in 26 or less seconds.

“We can already see the results,” senior Brandalon Rombokas said. “In cheer, we’ve hit stunts that we’ve never hit before. In basketball, he’s had us running up and down the court, which we can handle now. I work at a fireworks stand, and I can notice it when I pick up the bigger fireworks. It’s been long weeks but short days. It’s definitely going to pay off.”

Hines has been impressed with the strides his girls have made in the short time since the start of workouts.

The workouts range from upcoming sixth graders to upcoming seniors. All grades have made significant progress, but Hines is extremely impressed by his younger girls.

“Our junior class is very athletic. Our seniors have worked extremely hard, and I’m proud of them. They’re leading this group, and their leading by example,” Hines said. “But all and all, I would probably say our upcoming sixth graders that have made the biggest jump in our eyes. It’s amazing how far they’ve come.”