By Rich Chrampanis
The return to sports remains unknown thanks to the nation’s ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, but athletes have the challenge of keeping their competitive edge for when it’s time to get back on the field. So when the doors were closed on Reach Your Potential Training (RYPT) in Tinton Falls, owner Bobby Smith and his team quickly adjusted, providing local athletes with virtual workouts to keep them focused.
“What we always try to preach to these kids is right now we’re making lemonade out of lemons,” Smith said. “Obviously, I would love to have them in our facility and pushing them. Now that we have this opportunity, what we can do is change up the time. We are training a different energy system to make sure that they are going to be nice and fit not only physically but mentally when we do get back out on the field.”
Seniors Jack Chamberlain from Red Bank Regional and Shannon Tringola from Red Bank Catholic are two of RYPT’s athletes who have taken advantage of virtual training. Chamberlain was the starting quarterback for the last two years at RBR, winning 14 games and leading the Bucs to back-to-back playoff appearances. Chamberlain is set to take on the challenge of college football at Monmouth University.
Tringola was a first team All-Shore field hockey selection and is preparing for Division I competition at Drexel University in Philadelphia.
“I think it’s helped us physically, but I think it’s helped us a lot mentally too,” Tringola said. “These times are very hard. For the time that we are here working out, it’s a nice mental escape. I think it’s helping from all aspects.”
Smith, a recent Monmouth University Athletics Hall of Famer for football and javelin, brings a genuine passion and energy to his job that draws elite athletes in like a magnet. Those traits aren’t lost during virtual training; Smith still brings the fire to Zoom video conferences that allow him to watch his athletes doing their drills.
“My son had a virtual Zoom class with his karate instructor,” Smith said. “I said if my 6-year-old son can do this and he got a lot out of it, I know that our athletes can get a lot out of it. We had the lights set up, a script of how we exactly were going through this hour-long session and it felt just like they were at RYPT and we tried to give them the same experience and serve them the best that we could at their homes.”
It’s a trying time for high school athletes who are all in different situations, from spring athletes missing their seasons to underclassmen who have critical recruiting cycles taken away from them. Tringola’s high school athletic career is done, but she’s not done leading the young Casey athletes.
“I have heard from a lot of people that they are looking at recruiting for playing in college and they’re telling me they are very stressed out,” Tringola said. “I just keep telling them that if you work hard now it will show later when you get back out on the field and the coaches will not forget. Everyone is going through this, not just athletes. I just keep telling them to work hard when we’re in this time and it will show when we get back.”
The jump from high school to college athletics is significant. No matter how long the shutdown lasts, Chamberlain and Tringola will continue to prepare for the next level.
“I’ll forever be grateful to RYPT and their staff,” Chamberlain said. “They care about their athletes a lot and it’s been proven in these unprecedented times. Taking the time when they could be with their family, they go into RYPT and get the Zoom calls ready because they know our seasons are important to us and we’re putting the work in the best we can.”
The article originally appeared in the April 30 – May 6, 2020 print edition of The Two River Times.
