A typical tennis fitness workout requires sprints back and forth across the court and specific footwork drills, but doing these drills for the eight-month season can get monotonous.
In the past, LSU men’s tennis coach Jeff Brown utilized football and frisbee workouts to keep his players in shape, but this year he’s turned to the world’s most popular sport — soccer.
The Tigers take a weekly trip to the soccer practice fields to break free from the regular workout schedule and improve its conditioning while having a little fun.
Junior Boris Arias said it’s hard work sprinting across the field because LSU doesn’t have enough players to make two full teams, but Arias can see the difference all of that running makes when he gets back to the usual practices.
“When we go back to the tennis court, at least for me, I feel a lot quicker,” Arias said. “We all like it. It’s really hard to run all the time like that, but I like it a lot.”
It was all fun and games when the Tigers first started playing, but now it’s just as competitive as their dual matches in the spring.
“We all got really into it,” Arias said. “Some of us got soccer cleats to play there.”
The Bolivian native is one of three Tigers on roster from other countries. Arias, along with senior Englishman Chris Simpson and freshman Sweden-native Simon Freund, grew up in cultures that embrace soccer.
Brown said the American players can’t keep up with the skills of the international players.
“Boris [Arias] is on the junior national team or something,” Brown said. “Chris [Simpson] has been around it. All the international players I’ve had before, you can tell soccer’s their first sport.”
The Americans may not have the ability to compete, but Simpson said it’s amusing to watch them attempt to keep up.
“Soccer is definitely a lot bigger in Europe than it is here so it is funny to see them try to play,” Simpson said.
When the Tigers hit the pitch, Brown acts as the last line of defense to keep his players from scoring goals.
As goalkeeper, Brown has taken some hard shots from his player, especially Arias. Brown said Arias has one of the strongest legs and almost hit his coach in the head with a shot the last time they played.
“It was a great shot,” Brown said. “Luckily my body was in the right place. I didn’t have time to get my hand up and it hit my shoulder.”
Brown was happy his shoulder saved him from suffering an injury, but he’s even happier none of his players have suffered serious injuries. Simpson said the Tigers play hard, but they make sure to be careful.
“We know that we can’t get injured or anything so we never try to hurt each other when we play,” Simpson said. “If there is an injury, we definitely take precautions about it.”
You can reach Brian Pellerin on Twitter @Pellerin_TDR.