Bear River’s JV football team has been tackled by bad grades.

In response to student athletes’ poor grades at the quarter, Coach Tanner Mathias tests their stamina by adding one 40-yard sprint for every D and F that stand on the progress reports. Coach Mathias said the extra conditioning is an opportunity to better the team, not an outright punishment.

“The extra conditioning affects the whole team in a positive way in my opinion,” said Coach Mathias. “Sure not all the kids have bad grades, but the kids still play in the games and as a whole our team is still not in great shape. I think the 41 widths of the football field we ran over the week was meant as a reminder. Honestly it was the easiest week of conditioning we have had. But the time-consuming nature of it and constant reminder that grades are important was the reason we did it.”

While Varsity Coach Scott Savoie doesn’t use the conditioning tactic, he doesn’t frown upon it either. Coach Mathias acknowledged that some athletes might not like the extra conditioning.

“It was a refocus tactic, very rarely do I punish the whole team for individual mistakes, but grades affect the whole team,” he said. “This week we could have one set of starters and next week we could lose half of them. That affects everyone. … Any athlete that feels it is unfair is welcome to come talk to me about it. But I don’t find it unfair in anyway. 41 D’s or F’s spread across 36 students — in reality it is only 17 students. Most will get those grades up, however if we lose a backup to grades, I need someone to be in better shape so it’s helping everyone in the end.”

Sophomores Alex Duensen, an offensive tackle and guard on the JV team, and Trae Nix, a center tackle guard on offensive line, support the response. Both players reported having some low grades, therefore adding to the conditioning. They took Mathias’s side in the responsibility tactic. Knowing that not all players contributed to the added training but openly embraced it, Nix and Duensen felt it would add to the team’s overall success.

“The extra conditioning does not affect the team all that much, it’s just running,”said Duensen. “I believe it’s more of a re-focus on what is more important. If running is what our coach needs to do to get us to realize that grades are our priorities, then I’ll do it. I don’t mind.”

“Oh yeah! I am totally surprised with the amount of D’s and F’s there are,” Nix said. “Yes, I hold (myself) responsible for one of those 40-yard sprints but, with that said, I don’t take it as a punishment, but as a drill. In the end the extra hard work will help us get stronger and better as a team, and for the next progress reports to come out, we will be ready for whatever Mathias throws at us.”