“We are joining the OC, which has been a big headline,“ said Bolivar football coach Glen Johnson.
Johnson is the new coach in the Ozark Conference, and he’s already making an impact this spring.
“Coach Johnson over at Bolivar hit me up and said hey do you want to do a competition of some sort? And our kids were like oh it’s on let’s go, so the competition juices got to flowing,“ said Waynesville football coach Joe Haynes.
The idea of this competition is that two OC teams go head to head in a workout of the day – meant to resemble a football game.
“It represents basically four rounds, 12 reps, which is the symbolism of four quarters, and 12 minutes per quarter,” Haynes said.
The athletes from each team held accountable by posting a clip of their work out with their times, and the coaches fill out their lineups.
“We choose the top 11 from our schools, and then you take those 11 and pick the top 11 out of those 22 and you were awarded a point for each kid that makes the top 11 and then you have a winner,“ said Johnson.
And the coaches have found that this conference competition has added a little extra accountability.
“I think just the fact that it gets posted and they see it on Twitter and they see where they rank it kind of drives that competition especially when we’re up against other teams that we’re gonna play in the fall. It’s a big motivator,“ said Kickapoo football coach Nate Thomas.
As far as the overall winner goes —
“Everybody’s taken an L at least once,“ Haynes said.
It’s not about who wins now; it’s all about getting better for when they meet under the Friday night lights.
“Our kids have performed really well, really the whole conference has performed really well. At the end of the day we keep saying we’ve all gotten better, so that’s a positive,“ Johnson said.
While the pandemic is keeping everyone apart, the Ozark Conference is getting stronger together.
