Blue Devils hit the weight room

West Memphis athletes get first action after months off for COVID-19 concerns

By BILLY WOODS

WM School District

For the _rst time in a long time the boom from the Blue Devil weight room was heard.

West Memphis football players, a few at a time, pumped iron, shufed their feet through ladders, took turns running and even got a few snaps of position-based workouts at the end.

Monday marked the _rst day of a return to team sports workouts since the COVID-19 pandemic began back in March.

Social distancing was emphasized as weight stations were recon_gured 12 feet apart and position-based workouts were spread even further than that. Masks were used for indoor workouts.

“It feels good to be back and actually doing something,” said West Memphis head coach Billy Elmore. “It’s almost like football, but it’s not totally because of social distancing and mask-wearing. But it’s much closer than we had before.”

Players were split into small groups as they rotated from station to station.

“I’ve been waiting for a long time to get back to the _eldhouse,” said Blue Devil senior Nathan Watson. “I’ve been doing home workouts the last two months. Pushups, sit-ups, squats, doing some drills and running around in my backyard.”

The home workouts and isolation from teammates the last two months made senior Caden Smith a happy man once he walked into the indoor facility on Monday.

“Once you lose something or it gets taken away for a while, you just can’t wait for that moment to come back,” said Smith. “Just being back makes me super excited. My home workouts included waking up at 6 a.m. and going on a three-mile run and then doing my sit-ups and push-ups. I also made sure I did some footwork drills.”

High school football in Arkansas, and particularly in the Delta Region, is all about community. One high school in each community. Thus, football and community are dependent on each other.

The return to football practice, in anticipation of some type of season this coming fall, gives hope to many West Memphians.

“With us being in the South, football is the biggest sport,” said Elmore. “I think in this day and time anything we can do that’s positive is needed. Just getting our kids back out here and moving, that’s de_nitely a positive. There are probably people driving down Broadway and seeing our kids practicing…it’s probably going to make them smile a little bit. I think it’s time for us to reintroduce ourselves back to some type of normalcy, even if it’s slow or not exactly like it used to be.”

The West Memphis Blue Devils were in the weight room and on the football field Monday, getting their first workouts in since the coronavirus pandemic put a halt to all on-campus athletics. Precautions were taken to make sure the students and staff were protected during the drills.

Photos by Billy Woods