At BG, athletes work very hard all year round. They train, condition and build their bodies up to the point where they can play their sport. For example, senior Matt Brunelli is an athlete that trains hard to play baseball each spring.

“ I want to get the best out of [him],” head baseball coach William Montemayor said. “ I think that’s my job as a coach. To push [him] to limits [he] didn’t think that [he] could reach.”

The team has changed a lot from last season to this season, in the way they play, as well as the new roster that has changed much after last year. Hard exercise and work has been the cause. According to Men’s Health magazine, the modern history of sports conditioning dates from the creation in the 16th century of an athletically-minded society and a world embracing of exercise.

“ Conditioning Athletes is important because you have to build strength and endurance to be successful in the sport you are in,” current physical education teacher Tim Miller said.” I no longer coach here,but I think that during the year it’s okay to have some periods of rest and recovery.”

There are many good exercises around but the Romanian regimen is the best, imported from Eastern Europe. The workouts have a good movement and feel productive, according to Montemayor. There are several different workouts to choose from.

Athletes like Brunelli use the two-stage theory to exercise their bodies. The first stage is about off-season and during the regular season. This is a stage of growth.

“I can only speak from what I used to do in the baseball program. We used to do two days of strength training and two days of speed and agility,” Miller said ”Over time our record improved as a result of that.”

The second stage is for recovery after the season. This is a time for athletes to try to keep up the amount of work they did over the past year over the offseason. This is harder.

The baseball team has accomplished lots of things, including big gains in strength training. The younger members of the team have been using the two-stage theory to improve and keep up their pace of play in upcoming seasons. The theory helps them deal with adversity.

“There’s always ups and downs in each season,” Brunelli said” We just have to stick together.”

As the season continues, the team will face lots of difficult opponents, in the conference and out. According to Montemayor, BG has the potential to triumph over the MSL, but this triumph is a preview of the triumph of BG over all of Illinois.

“Prospect is always good in the MSL east, so is Hersey,” Montemayor said. ”Elk Grove is the defending champ of the East.”

The team hopes to successfully return to the playoffs with their changes in fitness, and possibly win a championship. But first, Brunelli is setting his sights on closer goals.

“I think it would be cool to get 20 wins this year because previous years we’ve had 20 wins each season,” Brunelli said.