Faith Academy football tackles summer strength and conditioning

CAPTION: Faith Academy football head coach Jay Silvers is encouraged by the number of Flames who are participating in the summer strength and conditioning program. File photo

The Faith Academy of Marble Falls football team is planting the seeds for success for the 2025 season right now by giving up parts of their mornings to participate in the summer strength and conditioning program.

That’s according to head coach Jay Silvers.

“I’ve been highly encouraged,” he said. “Out of 20 players, I regularly have 17, who have been showing up. And the three who aren’t here are on family vacations or at camps. It’s been a big encouragement.”

The program, which is from 8-10 a.m. Tuesdays-Thursdays, started June 3.

Silvers is leading the agility and conditioning portion of the program while defensive coordinator Garrett Cole is handling the strength program.

“(Cole) has a passion for it,” Silvers said. “He likes to get in and work out and grind with them. I wanted to give him that responsibility. He’s done a great job. I figured, ‘why not let him work with them?'”

The head coach believes the reason why the Flames are coming is because they realized how much it assisted them at the start of fall training camp in August. They were able to get into their drill work and playbook faster because they were already in shape, Silvers said.

“They saw the benefits in the workouts,” he said. “It opened their eyes. We’re getting a lot more done and getting better in what we want to accomplish. They saw the benefits of working out and staying in shape.”

Once the track season wrapped up in early May and the academy’s spring semester ended, the Flames had about a month to rest and relax. But once the summer program started, Silvers said the players are demonstrating they are willing to put in the sweat equity that leads to success.

“It was good to let their bodies and muscles rest,” Silvers said. “For six-man (football) — for us — it’s all about conditioning. (Last year) the players saw the benefits of them doing the workouts.”

It also helps that the program’s leaders, including Wade Dillard, Drew Huoy, Sawyer Jones, Adam Merlick and Landon Silvers, are attending the sessions, the coach said.

“These guys have been in the system for years,” he said. “Most have played for me before. These guys have been chomping at the bit to get going.”

After the players wrap up their strength and conditioning work, the sessions end with skill work in the sport. In six-man football, every offensive player is an eligible receiver, and Silvers, who serves as the program’s offensive coordinator, is known for his creative play calling as well as simply lining up the Flames and letting them go make plays using their natural strength.

“Everybody has to know how to run routes correctly,” he said. “Other days, we’ll work on defensive skills. We’re done with strength and conditioning at 9:30. We’ll use the last 30 minutes for route running and one of those days we’ll work on defense or other stuff with them.”

The Flames won the 2024 District 4 Division II championship and ended the season in a loss to Lucas Christian Academy 54-42 in the first round of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools’ Six-Man Division II playoffs.

The Flames’ participation in summer conditioning indicate they believe they can go beyond that.

“This next season will be exciting,” the coach said. “The athletes have a benchmark of knowing how things work. Defensively, we feel like we need to put some guys in different positions. We have our whole offense coming back.”

CAPTION: Faith defensive coordinator Garrett Cole is leading the strength portion of the Flames’ summer strength and conditioning program. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro