SACO — Ask any teen-ager what they would like to be doing at 7 in the morning during summer vacation and most would probably answer sleeping.

Why, then, were nearly 100 Thornton Academy student-athletes jumping and stretching and skipping and squatting and running and sweating Monday morning at the school’s athletic fields?

Additional Photos

Nearly 100 students at Thornton Academy are taking part in a free summer performance training program sponsored and run by Saco Bay Sports Physical Therapy. The students are meeting twice a week at 7 a.m. for exercises similar to those done by candidates for the NFL. Photos by John Patriquin/Staff Photographer

Rick Sirois, the former athletic trainer at Thornton Academy, put together the program with Mike Hersey, an assistant lacrosse coach at the school. Katie McCrum, center, is among students participating in a planks exercise.

Meghan Agger, who plays basketball and softball, leads a group through the agility ladder during one of the workout sessions at Thornton Academy.

Why, because they could, of course.

Twice a week, the students gather for a summer performance training program sponsored and run by Saco Bay Sports Physical Therapy. The program was offered free to Thornton students, who underwent baseline testing – exercises similar to those in the NFL Scouting combine: the 40-yard dash, vertical leaps, broad jumps, a medicine ball toss, agility drills, core stability drills – in mid-June and will meet twice a week for six weeks.

Nearly 130 students signed up for the baseline testing. And the first three sessions have drawn about 100 student-athletes each morning.

“I’d probably be trying to do stuff on my own, but it’s hard in the summertime,” said Meghan Agger, a senior at Thornton who plays basketball and softball. “It’s good to get an early start on it so you have the rest of your day, but you did get your workout in.”

The program was the brainchild of Rick Sirois, the former athletic trainer at Thornton, and Mike Hersey, an assistant lacrosse coach at the school. Both work at Saco Bay Sports Physical Therapy and were trying to come up with a program that would help the school and serve as an outreach program to the community.

“We tried to put together a quality program that was at no cost to them,” said Sirois. “They just had to be committed, willing to be here. Based on the data we have, we’re going to try to clean up any faulty movement patterns they might have. Obviously we’re trying to make them a little faster, more agile, a little better at lateral movements. The foundation of our program is kind of based on change-of-direction and making sure their fundamental movements are correct.”

Sirois said the school had never had a program like this and Saco Bay Sports Physical Therapy jumped at the chance to develop it.

“This is our community outreach thing for the year,” said Sirois. “We treat a lot of these kids as patients. While we like seeing them, we want to decrease the risk of injury.”

The turnout was much greater than expected. And, Sirois said, many have joined since the program started, via word of mouth. “We’re not going to turn anyone away,” he said.

The program is set up so that students of various sports work in groups. Football players train with lacrosse and hockey players, basketball players with soccer and field hockey players.

“We have a slogan, ‘One team, one mission,’ ” said Hersey, who is a strength and conditioning specialist at Saco Bay. “Whether you’re a field hockey player, a lacrosse player; whether you play football or ice hockey, ultimately, our goal is to make Thornton Academy successful in all sports, boys and girls.”

On Monday, there were 13 groups of athletes, ranging from four to 11. Each had its own “coach,” whether an athletic trainer, physical therapist or school coach.

For 75 minutes, the students are put through a strenuous workout that includes running, plyometrics, lunges, squats, jumps, skips, stretches and many plank drills. Those are drills where the athletes lift themselves off the ground on one arm and hold the pose for a specific time period, a combination of strength and agility.

Those seem to be the hardest for many athletes, especially the “weighted” plank drills, where athletes would lift themselves off the ground onto their elbows, and another athlete would push down on their shoulders.

“I’m definitely getting better coming here,” said Lauren Leskowsky, a sophomore who plays basketball. “It’s helping me with my strength and endurance.”

The program doesn’t involve lifting weights but includes strength training, done mostly with resistance bands. “It’s all body weight and bands,” said Sirois. “I’ll tell you, we may not be using weights, but by the end of the morning these kids are toast.”

Tyler Danley, a senior football and hockey player, can attest to that. Sweat dripped off his nose and brow, and soaked his shirt from his workout, which included a unique style of push-ups. One athlete would grab another’s feet and hold them in the air while the other performed push-ups.

“Very difficult,” said Danley. “But I’ve got to believe it’s going to help.”

Danley likes the fact the program is designed to help all athletes of every level.

“Everything we do, it’s not going to help just one set of kids, it’s going to be good for everyone,” he said.

Eric Marston, the Thornton girls’ basketball coach who was in charge of one of the groups and often joined in the exercises, shared that sentiment.

“I think this is phenomenal,” he said. “It’s a great opportunity for kids to improve their speed, agility and quickness, and doing it for free is fantastic. It’s great that these guys and girls are working for a common goal.”

Sirois said the program is built to gradually get more difficult. If the first two weeks were about introducing the athletes to the drills, the last two are going to demand much more from them.

“That’s when we really crank it up,” he said.

Agger is looking forward to that. If she’s going to get up early, she wants to be tested.

“It was hard (getting up) at first,” she said. “But once you start to see the results, it will be a lot easier to get up.”

Staff Writer Mike Lowe can be contacted at 791-6422 or at: mlowe@pressherald.com

Twitter: MikeLowePPH

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