South Eugene Summer Practice

View the photo gallery of the practice HERE

Watch the practice and interviews HERE

We visited South Eugene, home of the Axemen, after western Oregon experienced smoke from the fires in Spokane. The team had not practiced in a few days due to the smoke. The team had two workouts on that day and the morning workout was a threshold run at a park near the high school. Coach Jeff Hess led the practice with assistant coach Jim Bloomer. Coach Hess shared information about his program:

How often does South Eugene practice in the summer?

We begin practice the second week of July and meet four days a week (M-T-Th-F), adding some Saturdays in mid August.

What are some of the highlights of the summer?

Our annual team camp is definitely the summer highlight. Locations have changed over the years, and recently we've had to do a lot of fire dodging, but once we're there, the time is invaluable for team building, a smattering of challenging training, and just having a good time together.

What is the team looking forward to in the fall?

We will be hosting an invitational this October 3rd, featuring seven varsity flights, modeled after the previous format at Eisenhower High School's Sunfair Invitational in Yakima. We're excited about that, along with our first trip of the year to Spokane for Bob Firman. NXR is always a highlight, so the second trip to Spokane will be fun and motivating as well. 

How does South Eugene build team culture?

We have several activities at camp centered around team culture and identity. We share food as often as possible: team dinners, pastries and Kenyan tea after many morning sessions, potluck breakfasts on occasional Saturdays. Our team handbook - a combination historical retrospective, scrapbook and training manual - connects the current teams to their predecessors, the work we do and why we do it, and their role in adding to the story.