- April 29, 2024
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Jaden Sao (left) and Kevin Gilpin watch each other doing pushups at the Matanzas football team's Red, White and Blue Workout. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Kelin Scott (center) does air squats with a partner with Landon Hasten in the background doing the workout with his partner. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Coach Matt Forrest explains the workout to the Pirates' players. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Peyton Ellis, Chaden Vickery and John Tietje listen to coach Matt Forrest describe the workout. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Matanzas players buddy up to do the Hero Workout honoring a soldier who died in the line of duty. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Jayce Rajai, Dylan Vanderbur and Brady Putis listen to coach Matt Forrest explain the significance of the Red, White and Blue Workout. Photo by Brent Woronoff
The annual Red, White and Blue Workout is one of the toughest of the year for the Matanzas High School football team.
It marks the end of the Pirates’ first phase of summer workouts. Each year on the Friday before the Fourth of July they honor a service member or first responder who died in the line of duty with a CrossFit Hero Workout of the Day.
On the morning of June 30, the Pirates honored 1st Lt. Derek Hines, who died in 2005 when his Army unit came under attack in Afghanistan.
Coach Matt Forrest read Hines’ biography to the team before the workout. The U.S. Military Academy graduate was born on July 9, 1980, and grew up in Massachusetts. After graduating from West Point, he completed Ranger and Airborne School.
The buddy workout — sharing the total reps with a partner — consisted of a buy-in of 50 pushups, sit-ups and air squats; 25 100-meter shuttle runs in 25 minutes; and a cash-out of 50 air squats, sit-ups and pushups.
The workout was designed by Robert Kinney, a former battalion commander and trained coach. The 50 repetitions of three exercises in the buy-in and cash-out commemorates Hines’ service in the 2nd Battalion (Airborne) 503rd Infantry Regiment, “the Rock.”
“To be able to do what you do is very special, and it doesn’t come without a price,” Forrest told the players before the workout. “You may not have paid it, but someone paid it for you.”
Many of the players wore red, white and blue shorts, T-shirts and hats. After the workout, the team played Pirate Ball, which is Ultimate Frisbee with a fooball instead of a disc, and enjoyed a hotdog cookout.
The players have a week off before beginning their second phase of summer conditioning.
