Published: July 03, 2009 09:09 pm      

Fast-paced summers

Three-sport standout has full schedule

For Kelsey Kirk, and thousands of athletes like her around Georgia, school letting out for the year doesn’t mean there’s relaxation time just around the corner.

“As soon as school ended, it seems like we were back in the gym with basketball practices,” said Kirk, a three-sport standout at Northwest Whitfield High School. “For the entire month of June, we were practicing, going to camps at Vanderbilt and Georgia College and State University or putting on our own little kids’ camp.”

So, it’s understandable why Kirk has enjoyed this week — the Georgia High School Association’s “dead week.” After taking off next week, Kirk returns to her busy summertime schedule with the start of volleyball workouts.

“I really don’t know what to do with myself with the time off,” said Kirk, who turns 18 on July 31. “I was exhausted and needed the break. The past few days I’ve just been cleaning house and going to the pool to relax. (Today), we’re going to have a cookout and a little parade up here, and it’s a good time to catch up on some school work and stuff like that.”

Her participation in track and field took her up to mid-May when she shut down — temporarily, at least — her athletics with the state track and field meet. Northwest’s graduation was held on May 30 and a few days later Kirk and her teammates were back on the basketball court.

“This summer seems a little bit easier and I know more about what to expect,” Kirk said. “My first couple of years at Northwest it was all a little overwhelming, but I’ve learned you have to manage your time.”

Lady Bruins coach Margaret Stockburger puts her basketball players through intense workouts in June before tapering off somewhat in July.

“The week after school was out we practiced Monday through Wednesday, then had two scrimmage games on Thursday and two on Friday,” she said. “The next week we had our kids camp Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. On Friday, we left for a camp at Vanderbilt and stayed there through Sunday. The next week we were at a camp at Dade County for a couple of days, practiced on that Friday and were at Georgia College for a camp the next week through Wednesday.

“This week we were off but we’ll be back next Monday, Wednesday and Friday working in the weight room and we’ll have open gym most of this month.”

Stockburger takes into consideration Kirk splits her time with volleyball.

“She’ll work on weights with us and then practice with the volleyball team,’ the coach said. “She goes with us strong in June and she’s always got a lot of excitement about our workouts.”

Richard Taylor, who has coached Kirk in volleyball and basketball throughout her time at Northwest, points out that volleyball practice begins a week later than usual this summer. That’s because Taylor will be in Charlotte, N.C., next week attending an advanced placement computer science workshop at the Univeresity of North Carolina-Charlotte.

“We’re starting practice on the 13th,” Taylor said. “We’ll be going about two hours Monday through Friday. The next week we’ll be at Georgia Tech for a team camp and that will be volleyball eight hours a day down there. It’s our first team camp ever. We’ve got eight girls returning, all with a lot of experience, and I just wanted to do something a little different.”

The Lady Bruins volleyball camp for girls in the seventh through ninth grades is scheduled July 15-17, and runs from 9 a.m. to noon each day.

Volleyball practice, Taylor said, is an “open gym type thing” and anyone can come to the workouts. He can’t pick a team until Aug. 1 and the regular season opens two weeks later.

“We need this time to get ready,” the coach said. “We can do a lot of team stuff during this time. One of the big things in summer is picking new players for the junior varsity team. I’ve seen the varsity girls a lot and know what they can do.

“I’ll say this, the girls who play basketball, volleyball and softball sure have full summers. Kelsey does three sports and having time off in the summer is rare for her. Her sports overlap. She gets through with one and heads right into the next one.”

Kirk realizes the benefits of an extensive training period and knows her hard work has already paid dividends and eventually could result in a college scholarship.

“It’s designed for us to stay in shape and it helps me improve in whatever (sport) I’m playing at the time,” Kirk said. “We’ll work with weights some days and practice the others. Weights are never easy, but I know for a fact that I’ve gotten stronger.

“My freshman year I was puny, but I’ve worked hard, we’ve all worked hard, and we had very few injuries last season and that’s a result of working in the weight room.”

It’s time for Kirk to start thinking seriously about college and which sport she will concentrate on after her eligibility runs out at Northwest.

“I’ve thought a lot and prayed a lot about that,” she said. “Up to now, I could never choose which one to give up. I like all three and I’ve always felt I could help the team that I’ve played on. If I ever felt I wasn’t paying as much attention and making the team better, that would be reason enough to give that sport up. But I haven’t reached that point yet.”

Kirk was an honorable mention pick on the 2009 Daily Citizen All-Area Track and Field Team. She competed in the high jump, 400-meter run and the 4x400 relay, helping that unit to a seventh-place finish at the state meet. In volleyball, she played middle blocker and rightside hitter, was instrumental in the Lady Bruins winning 37 of 47 matches and earned a spot on the All-Area team.

She played guard on the Lady Bruins’ highly successful basketball team that went 28-3 and reached the quarterfinals of the Class 4A state tournament.

“This is my last summer at Northwest,” Kirk said. “It’s a little more exciting. We do all this summer work for a reason, so you don’t really mind all the practices and stuff.”

For Kirk and her Northwest teammates, offseason workouts have translated into in-season success.