After the whistle blows: Coaches continue to coach off of the field.

As summer quickly approaches, classes, school activities and sports are coming to a close, allowing both students and teachers time off during the summer months.
Once that final bell rings on May 27, many teachers will not receive paychecks again until school reopens in the fall or coach their sport until the next season begins.
However, some of the coaches of teams at GBHS find both creative and productive ways to spend the hottest months of the year.
In order to earn a little bit of extra cash during the summer months, a few of the varsity coaches run summer camps for the sport that they coach.
Steve Fischer, GBHS varsity boys’ and junior varsity girls’ soccer coach runs both a camp for GBHS soccer players and another for youth players in the area. “It is nice to have a little bit of extra cash in the summer,” Fischer said, “It is not the primary reason, but it is a nice benefit.”
Although Fischer and other coaches at GBHS run camps that earn profit, the main goal of the camps is to benefit their school programs.
“When I’m running a community soccer camp for younger kids, I get to know the players and parents before they get to the high school level, and it’s nice for them to get to know us,” Fischer said.
By running camps for younger players over the summer, athletic programs at GBHS gain recognition as well-developed programs that they want to be a part of by running drills and meeting the coaches, youth athletes get a sense of what it is like to play on a specific sports team at GBHS, and what the atmosphere of the sport’s coaching style and administration are like.
Like Fischer, GBHS varsity basketball coach Jason Sitterud also runs camps to support his program, and help them financially at the same time.
“We hold a summer basketball camp for kids from kindergarten to eighth grade in the summer to help raise money for our program,” Fischer said.
Ernie Cooper, GBHS varsity football coach, also holds camps to benefit his program.
“We put on a Junior Grizzly Youth Football Camp,” Cooper said. “The money made goes to pay for our senior football retreat in Santa Cruz.”
Even though coaches at GBHS run programs outside of their coaching duties, the coaches make it clear that extra coaching is not about making more money.
“It give me something to do. I love the summer, but it’s nice to have something to keep me busy,” Fischer said.
All of the coaches at GBHS have experience in their specific sport, both playing and coaching, and have a multitude of knowledge to share with young athletes hoping to improve their game.
“This fall will be my thirtieth year coaching high school football” Cooper said. Fischer played twelve years of semi-pro soccer and has coached for thirty one years, and Coach Sitterud “has coached at every level over [his] last thirteen years of teaching at GBHS.”
In addition to having camps for younger kids, and promoting their programs, coaches run camps for high school students to get ready for high school season and tryouts.
“Essentially what the camp is about is we teach them a few skills, but primarily to (prepare them) for the tryout,” Fischer said. “We are going to teach you the drill, give you the grading criteria, and we are actually going to do it, and make suggestions and comments so that when you come back for tryouts in August you know what we’re looking for.”
Overall, the sports programs at Granite Bay benefit greatly from having camps during the summer. Younger students get to see what it will be like to play in high school, and high school students can prepare for their sports’ upcoming seasons.