Lucca Giurlani is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Mountain View for AZPreps365.

Mountain View High in Mesa provides players with a high-level training program not only throughout the season, but during the offseason as well.

Coach Joe Germaine walked through a typical Toros practice day during the season and explained the importance of a consistent routine that he wants his team to follow. 

It starts with the end of the school day for most Mountain View students, but for the players they head to a special weightlifting class that the school has provided, along with coaches who function as personal trainers.

“Our weight coaches have done a great job with us,” quarterback Jack Germaine said. “They understand the stuff they're doing pretty well and help keep us ready to go on Friday nights.”

After weights the team moves to meet with the coaching staff before practice. 

“We actually have 5 p.m. meetings and we’ll meet anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes, sometimes an hour depending on what we're trying to install for that day,” Germaine said. “Then we are out on the field close to 6 p.m. for pre-practice work, then we get into our warm-ups, we do a lot of individual work.”

Coach Germaine’s emphasis on individual work before practice through workouts and meetings shows the program's full dedication to help make its players better. 

“Then we kind of get through that phase more into group and team portions of practice where we kind of get more gameplans in,” he said.

While the typical daily routine Germaine presented is straightforward, the focus of each day is different from the last one.

“Saturdays are the days that we watch the game that we just played,” said Coach Germaine. “Once that’s done we kind of put that to bed then Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays are big game-planning days, getting ready for the team we are going to play on Friday.” 

Possibly the most important day is Monday, not just because it’s the first practice of the week, but it’s also a way for the Toros to set the tone by having players push each other to be better through open competition. 

“Sometimes Mondays are a lot of competition for us where we don’t really focus on offense or defense, or really focus on the opponent we’re playing,” Coach Germaine said. “We just want our guys competing, getting after each other. Whether it be blocking drills, tackling drills, 1-on-1s, etc.” 

Another overlooked aspect of high school football training programs that the Toros really focus on is offseason work. Although the Arizona heat in the summer can be difficult to practice through, Mountain View works even harder during this time to prepare for the season so that they don’t start the season out of shape.

“It helps with stamina,” said quarterback Nicholas Fitzgerald. “Throughout summer that really helped to get to where we are at right now and be able to perform how we are performing.”

Between the rigorous offseason and specialized schedule throughout the season, the Toros football program embodies the old saying “practice how you play,” by pushing their players to get better to prepare them for Friday nights.