Bainbridge Middle School Bearcats seventh and eighth grade football players began working in their campus weight room and on their campus practice field Monday in preparation for the upcoming season.

They will continue workouts each Monday and Thursday at 6 p.m. through July.

In the weight room, they are doing bench presses, which strengthen the arms and upper body, and squats, which strengthen the legs and hips.

They are building endurance and speed on the practice field by running agility drills around strategically placed cones and running sprints.

Coach Heith Maxwell, who is coordinating workout activities with Coach David Kirkland and Coach Chip Ariail, says it is important that the young men come out and get their work in.

“The more work we get in during the summer the more it will benefit us during the season.’ Maxwell said.

This fall will mark the second consecutive school year that the Decatur County School System’s seventh and eighth grade athletes in all sports will be together at one school, the former Bainbridge High School on College Street.

Previously seventh and eighth grade athletes were at Hutto Middle School, which now just goes through the sixth grade, and West Bainbridge Middle School, formerly West Bainbridge High School, which is no longer open.

“Having the seventh and eighth grade athletes together on one campus is a tremendous advantage,” Maxwell said. “It builds team unity.”