LAKE COUNTY - Before Friday nights under the lights, student athletes across the valley have to pay their dues running the gauntlet of the dreaded opening day practices. Football, volleyball, soccer and cross country each have their own versions of these mini-boot camps intended to whip everyone in shape.

“We need that world cup soccer shape where they run, run, run,” Mission football head coach Peter Hamilton said.

Football, more than any other sport, conjures up images of players straining under the hot summer sun. However, as more awareness about players being pushed too far in the sun has strengthened, water breaks have become much more plentiful during these practices.

If a kid wants water, the coaches let him have water, Ronan head coach Jim Benn said.

“We will check the heat index every morning,” Benn said. “If a kid is not feeling well we don't make him play. The warrior mentality has to die.”

Arlee head football coach Scot Palmer said his team gets scheduled water breaks every 15 minutes. They also keep tabs on the kids' weights and they preach hydration.

“If you're thirsty,” Palmer said. “It's too late.”

The all-important focus on safety and health by area football coaches hasn't made the conditioning drills any easier though.

“You can't have enough conditioning in eight-man football,” Palmer said.

And the player's are quite aware of it.

“It's tough being a little out shape,” Ryan Rablo, a freshman at Ronan, said.

Coaches can definitely tell the ones that have been working during the summer and the ones that aren't in shape, Mission volleyball coach Kendal Anderson said.

“Just by what I saw this morning, they're going to need [conditioning],” Arlee volleyball coach Brian BigSam said. “They're the ones that asked for [two-a-days.]”

The Polson boy's soccer team knows a thing about condition as head coach Jess Kittle runs a morning practice called “The county fair” since they named each conditioning station in the practice after a fair ride.

“It's not just running, we're trying to have soccer-related movements,” Kittle said. “These kids are in great shape for an average person but theiy're not in soccer shape.”

Get through 10 County Fair practices and you get a t-shirt. Just make sure you can handle puking a little.

“I remember everyone saying 'you're going to die' to me as a freshman,” senior Sean Hart said. “I was kind of excited for this, we've been hydrating, our bodies are ready for this.”

Cross-country, a sport that's core value is conditioning, takes a slightly different approach.

“The season is so short, if a kid gets injured their season is half over,” Ronan cross country coach Gail Decker said. “ We generally go fairly easy.”

Like the other sports, Decker said there are the kids that are in good shape and then there are the ones that are beginners. The first few practices will be three to four miles runs with warm-ups and stretching.

Decker had something special planned for this year to kick off the season. The Ronan cross country team undertook a 100-mile relay starting Wednesday night at 7 p.m. in Charlo and ending Thursday morning in Big Arm State Park.

While not running her players from town to town, Polson volleyball coach Jan Toth runs two weeks of her two-a-day practices to get her players up to speed with the program.

“We run two pretty intense practices and try to basically get the kids ready for they should expect,” she said.

There's also a very practical reason why volleyball coahces have two practices and the brisk pace of them.

“We don't have enough time,” Charlo volleyball coach Sheryl Kain said. “We've got to work through it.”

Kain usually has her Vikings' volleyball practices focus on conditioning in the morning when the gym is cooler and then focuses on individual game skills during the afternoon. Tempo is important and a common theme among sports teams in the area trying to get the kids back into the swing of things.

“You get to the drill, work hard at the drill and move on to the next one,” said Ronan volleyball coach Naomi Mock.

Seniors in all sports have a bit more understanding of what it takes to get through the two-a-days.

“I feel pretty good, I've been waiting a whole year,” said Arlee center and senior Curt Seidel. “You've just got to be prepared.”

Thinking about the light at the end of the tunnel can be a big help.

“It's also a mental thing,” said Polson soccer senior Trever Moll. “A good attitude goes a long way.”

But even being prepared doesn't totally clear them during practice.

“I know what to expect but it's still hard the first few days,” Arlee senior Damon Cordier said.

And during those intitial practices, teams try to keep things simply.

“We try to get back to the fundamentals,” Palmer said. “All coaches know you got to start from square one.”

Even though Ronan players are familiar with the scheme that Benn has in place, he still says the team has to shake off the rust in the first few practices.

“We're just trying to get off the ground,” he said.

Hamilton said that he wants to employ his base packages from the play book before the kids can start hitting after the state-mandated three practices.

“With all the pads on, it's hard for them to focus,” Hamilton said.

Volleyball players are also given the basics to begin with.

“A lot of the girls want to come in and just hit. I don't let that happen,” Mock said.

Defensive and setting skills are something that Mock and her coaching staff likes to focus on.

A large majority of the drills for Kittle's soccer practice doesn't even involve a soccer ball until the second week.

“We're going to do nothing but improve,” Kittle said. “I  want to see who steps up.”

This all happens in just over a dozen days of practice.

“You have two weeks, you have ten main practices,” Moll said. “It's cutting it close.”