Marble Falls athletes to resume Forge
CAPTION: Oliver Hernandez (left) and Madden Hernandez lifts kettlebells as part of the weightlifting session. Staff photos by Jennifer Fierro
After enjoying a week off, the Marble Falls Independent School District athletic department returns for several more weeks of Forge ’26, the department’s summer strength-and-conditioning program.
Athletes will be on the artificial turf at Mustang Stadium or in the weight room soon after sunrise.
It’s the final push before fall training camps begin for football and volleyball. Volleyball begins Aug. 1 and football follows Aug. 3.
“You need to be here in July to build up that base of work and be consistent heading into school because we’re not going to just start over like we haven’t been doing anything when we get here in August and September,” strength-and-conditioning coordinator Karl “Beef” Bielfeldt said. “We’ve been going. If you haven’t been here and you’ve had the opportunity to be here, you’re playing catch up to everybody else, and we’re not going to hold back. Obviously we’ll always be smart about it. And we’re always going to take care of the athlete, but we’re definitely not going to lower our expectations for the program just because they chose not to be here this summer because at the end of the day, there’s too many examples across the country, in the state and local to us where a kid made a choice and they were there. And they did whatever they needed to do to be there.”
The summer program consists of weightlifting and agility sessions with conditioning peppered in. After the sessions end, athletes break into sport-specific groups to work on those skills with coaches of that sport.
Bielfeldt said he designed Forge to ensure Marble Falls athletes are building up to those practices in August.
“I set things up for the weight room and what we’re doing on the turf, everything is leading you to be ready to handle scrimmages and the non-district (contests) and put you in a point where you can compete and dominate in district and get you to November and December,” he said. “So I’m definitely not going to say, ‘Hey, we’re going to peak in August,’ because that’s too early. We need and we want to peak and be at our ultimate best when it’s gold ball time. But again, if you’re having to do all of that at camp and when games are starting up, you’re too late. You’re definitely too late.”
The coordinator offered some insight on the value of time to the Marble Falls Middle School athletes.
“You never get time back that you think you’re going to get just because if you haven’t taken advantage of the opportunity that you had in front of you today, then that opportunity is gone – it may or may not come back and present itself again,” he said. “When we come back, we’ll have 12 opportunities to get yourself better and get yourself ready. For the older guys, sophomores through seniors, there’ll be player-led (sessions) so they’ll have 16. But that week is football camp (July 27-30) for freshmen and middle schoolers, and that’s after summer Forge is done. So we’ll find out real quick if the older kids are really dialed in because they’ll show up and they’ll lead the workout while we’re taking care of installations and stuff for the freshmen and middle schoolers.”
As he thought about what’s ahead, Bielfeldt noted athletes will learn plenty the next few weeks.
“That’s a life skill and something hopefully you learn early,” he said. “If it’s really that important to you, then you’re going to find a way, and so that’s one of those things we’re going to appreciate about kids. If wearing ‘Mustangs,’ wearing ‘Marble Falls’ on your chest or on your helmet, or wherever it may be, is really that important to you, you’re going to find a way.”
CAPTION: Zanelly Gutierrez performs an agility that includes a couple of stops, plants and goes.
