Lumberjacks make strong showing in boot camp
By Russell Payne

The Jacks hit the ground during the recent boot camp sessions held at Diboll. The coaches closely examine all aspect s of the athlete's performance.

Sports EditorRecently the Diboll Lumberjacks have been going through, what Head Football Coach Gary Martel calls the "Lumberjack Maker Program."

The program is more commonly known to the athletes as boot camp, which the Lumberjack head man clearly has designed with the rest of the coaching staff to build up the Lumberjacks in the competitive arena.

The Jacks are divided into several groups that work as teams and are expected to hold one another accountable and build a true sense of team.

The groups were allowed to come up with their own team names.

The program is designed to develop leadership skills, strengthen mental awareness and work to condition athletes to ready themselves for the upcoming football season.

There are five expectations from Martel and his staff that are demanded of the Jacks, especially those expecting to be playing football next season.

They are to be focused on the objective, work hard, and never complain, to be coachable and handle adversity.

One of the four varsity platoons takes a moment to celebrate their performance during boot camp drills.

All of these expectations are intended for the Lumberjacks to meet their main objective, "to develop a sense of Team, Mental Toughness, and Mental Discipline in all sports."

This process is achieved through activities in the weight room, running drills and through mental tests designed to build better, smarter student athletes on the playing field.

The mental and disciplinary skills also are certain to carry over into the classroom as that comes before any kind of play for Martel and his staff.

The Lumberjacks have had two straight playoff appearances under Martel and this season the Jacks lost some strong senior leadership.

"We graduated some great leaders, we hope the Lumberjack boot camp helped develop some better leadership for the upcoming year," Martel continued, "we tried real hard to improve our Leadership capabilities."

"I feel we are faster than last year and have good strength after this off-season," Martel continued, "we can be as good, or better than last year if our senior leadership keeps improving."

Diboll athlete's completed running drills like this one during the recent Lumberjack Boot Camp.

Aside from building leadership skills the boot camp also helped the team to develop needed discipline and learn the expectations of the coaching staff.

"As the Head Coach I was very pleased with the last two weeks of boot camp and competition," Martel stressed.

The Jacks had to make a commitment to push forward and earn that right to wear the red and white this upcoming season.

"We had some spirited sessions and even had a day in the rain," Martel remarked.

There was a definite sense of growing amongst the young men that competed in this program.

"No one quit even though the coaches pushed them to the breaking point every day," Martel said.

That retention will make a major impact on the Diboll program.

The Lumberjacks are currently stockpiled with 26 seniors, 26 juniors, 28 sophomores and 40 incoming freshman competing for a spot on the football team.

There is also a focus on the future with over a hundred seventh and eighth graders expected to come out next season.

"Our numbers look good for next year: Hopefully we can find some great Friday night players from this group," Martel hopes.

The Jacks started spring football drills this past Monday.

"It looks like we have retained a lot of information from last year," Martel said.

Now with spring drills underway the Lumberjacks will begin the first major steps toward developing the team and game plan for next year. It will continue with the summer program for all Diboll athletes that Martel instituted last year.

The Iron Jack program will help to build the conditioning, running and lifting skills needed for the Lumberjacks and Lady Jacks athletic programs in all sports areas.

"Our players have to stay involved this summer and get in our 'IRON JACK PROGRAM,'" Martel said.

Martel invites the public to come by from 11:00-12:00 for the varsity period, and from 2:55-3:45 for the 10th grade and 9th grade athletic class. The 7th graders go at it from 7:55- 8:35 in the morning.

Perhaps the most important lesson that has and will be learned through these workout programs comes from a quote the Diboll Coaching staff has driven home to these young men, "You win with performance - You lose with potential!"