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Bulldog Yoga

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By Pixie Sulser

“Stand like a proud warrior,” Emily Maehler instructed the Ramona High School football team.

And she wasn’t talking about a fighting stance or even a fierce mentality. She was leading the Bulldogs in a morning yoga class, an element new to this year’s summer football training.

“Yoga is great for strength, flexibility and injury prevention,” said head football coach and Athletic Director Damon Baldwin. “Many professional athletes, professional sports teams and college programs are incorporating yoga as a regular part of their fitness routines, so when Emily shared an article with me about the University of Utah’s incorporation of yoga into the training routines of the school’s football and baseball teams and asked when we could get started in Ramona, I was all for it!”

Maehler, who is an English teacher at the high school as well as a certified yoga instructor, approached Baldwin about bringing yoga to the Ramona football team after her mother forwarded an article highlighting how the University of Utah implements yoga with its athletes. Maehler is an alumnus of the University of Utah, where Ramona High graduate Christian Drews plays football.

Baldwin and Maehler decided to introduce the Bulldogs to yoga one day a week during the summer football practices. She leads the junior varsity and varsity teams as well as their coaching staffs in a one-hour session of yoga every Thursday morning.

“After the first day, I felt great all day,” said Baldwin. “After playing football in college and the NFL and just getting older, I have aches and pains, but the yoga left me energized and feeling really good.”

What did the players think of adding downward dog and child’s pose to their routine?

“Once they knew it was harder than they thought, they really respected the practice,” said Baldwin.

“I think the yoga is amazing,” varsity athlete Keyno Crichlow said enthusiastically. “I feel more flexible, and I can really see how it is good for sports. It’s also something a person can do as they get older.”

The experience has been so successful that Baldwin asked Maehler to be an official member of the Bulldog coaching staff and to lead the team in yoga sessions every Saturday morning during the season. The team used to meet the morning after a game to lift and review game film. They will now replace the lifting with yoga as a way to stretch and help their muscles recover from the game.

The benefits of yoga for football players, or any athlete, include increased flexibility, mobility, stability and mental focus as well as injury prevention, said Maehler. The mental side is something Maehler and Baldwin would like to incorporate more of as they move into the fall season.

“Right now, we have been more focused on the physical aspects of yoga, but as the athletes become more comfortable with the poses, we would like to increase the mental benefits,” explained Maehler.

“So much of any sport is about mental focus,” added Baldwin, “and yoga is a great way for athletes to learn how to focus their minds and be present.”

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