Baseball team commits to Kosama workouts

This season for the first time, the CFHS baseball team is shaking it up a little bit. Even though they are just having practice right now, they are having a change of pace, literally, by having conditioning after practice at Kosama. The entire baseball team now takes Kosama classes instead of their regularly scheduled conditioning three times a week.

Head baseball coach Jack Sole said the idea to have the team attend Kosama together came to him over the off-season when he was talking with a friend who is a fitness instructor. “A Friend who is a Fitness instructor and I were talking about the new trends of conditioning and working out, and we came up with the idea.  College baseball teams have been using this kind of circuit conditioning for a while now,” Sole said.

“We’re doing Kosama to get conditioned for practice so that we can last longer because we have a 40-game season, which is a long season to last, and it helps build our endurance skills,” senior Clint Fletcher said.

“Kosama is just what has replaced conventional conditioning. Instead of running poles, we’re getting full body workouts in a team atmosphere. We aren’t just working our legs out during conditioning now. It’s the whole body,” senior Jared Hylton said.

“This is our first year doing Kosama, and I think it’s helped bring the team together, especially the sophomores and varsity. Because we go [to Kosama] together, it works out nice. I think we’re gaining more team unity,” Fletcher said.

The team’s workout regimen consists of a series of circuits which are designed to force the athletes to use all of their muscles in a workout. “The Kosama studio is designed for high intensity classes and exercise programs built around the same principles used by world class athletes when they train,” the Kosama website says.

It isn’t just the players getting involved in conditioning now either. The baseball team’s coaching staff is also getting into the mix and doing the workouts with the players. “I really feel like Kosama is bringing everybody closer. We’re all working towards a goal, and when we’re there together, it really has a sense of family. Everybody is encouraging each other, but at the same time we’re also competitive with one another, which drives people to do the best they can. It’s going to give our pitcher’s a lot more stamina, and it’s going to make playing hot games this summer that much easier. It’s really challenging everybody’s toughness,” Hylton said.

Despite being hard work, the team says they enjoy the workouts, especially over their previous conditioning drills which consisted of abs workouts and “poles,” which are running from one foul pole to the other foul pole along the warning track. “The workouts are a lot of fun, and I really look forward to them. We get in there, blast music and get to work,” Hylton said.

“I like it more than normal conditioning because I feel like we’re doing a lot more, and I really hope that the organization keeps it up because I think it’ll benefit everyone more in the long run even for other sports, not just baseball,” Fletcher said.

Sole is monitoring the workouts this season to decide if the team will continue their deal with Kosama next season. “Hopefully, this can be an option for us in the future.  We will see how this works for both parties involved.  For now, this has been a great team experience,” Sole said

The Tigers are opening their season with a five-game road trip this week, starting with games on back-to-back nights at Riverfront Stadium, and three more games in Charles City over a three-day span. Junior Michael Kuntz was on the mound last night. Sophomore Brady Corson is getting the nod tonight, while junior Chris Balthazor looks to take the hill Wednesday night. “We really want to make sure we start strong in all of our games this week,” Hylton said. “It’s essential that we establish early leads and don’t try to play catch-up all week long.”