Young Valley athletes got some valuable training this summer, aimed at helping them perform and stay healthy while they compete in athletic competitions locally and beyond.

The training, provided in the form of speed camps run by Mount Si High School strength and conditioning coach John Zanas, look to prevent many of the injuries that have popped up in youth sports in recent years, costing many athletes promising sports careers.

Zanas said his camps, which he has run for the last six years at Mount Si, 15 overall, achieve several goals.

The camps get youth in condition for the season, “but really the big thing, I think, is the team building perspective — knowing that everybody you’re lining up with has been working hard over the summer,” Zanas said.

The camps are divided into age groups, and are geared for boys and girls at older age levels.

“For the younger kids, they’re all together, because [the way] they develop mentally, they are fairly similar,” Zanas said. “When we get into middle school, girls won’t work out with guys, so the only way to get girls out is to do their own camp.”

“We have a real consistent stretching program, which is actually the same thing we do Friday nights before we play,” he added. “All year long, our stretching regimen is fairly similar, and it’s really trying to work on the areas where, especially, kids this age are tight or restricted. Those are ways that we can prevent some injuries.”

“We do a lot of working with bands and we do a lot of core work,” said Wildcat sophomore to-be girls’ basketball player Jori Braun.

Among the other Mount Si athletes participating is girls’ soccer star Nikki Stanton. A senior this fall, she has been recovering from knee injuries. For her, Zanas’ camps are a real workout.

“I am doing the most challenging exercises I have ever done,” Stanton told the Valley Record by e-mail. “I’m feeling muscles that I didn’t even know exist. So in other words I’m (going to) come back stronger then ever.”

Zanas welcomes questions from parents regarding teen sports injury prevention and training. He can be reached at his practice, Peak Sports & Spine Physical Therapy on Snoqualmie Ridge, by calling (425) 396-7778. Zanas suggests that parents should do their own research on these issues.

“There’s a lot of different resources on the Internet to go look at youth fitness,” he said. “With the epidemic of diabetes and obesity in our country, there’s a lot of good information out there on how to prevent some of that.”