Inspiring Initiatives at Central Catholic

James Bendele, Ministry Lead of Marianist Encounters at Central Catholic High School, San Antonio, TX, sends us these stories.

Train The Mind – With Coach Lyn McDonald at Central Catholic High School

An estimated 31.9 % of adolescents have some form of anxiety disorder. Therefore, athletes need to learn the tools to cope with stress on or off the playing field.

Coach Lyn McDonald addressed the challenges of anxiety to over 200 athletes right before Thanksgiving Break. Tools on how to cope with anxiety were shared in a way to understand the value of implementing certain tools. For example, gaining control over a situation, imagery, mindfulness, and cognitive reframing are some of the positive mechanisms that may be used. Student-athlete mental health issues can arise from the stress of the balancing act they have to navigate each day. It’s known that a student-athlete must focus their time and attention on studies, life's challenges, rigorous training, social life, work, and other interests or school activities.

As a Certified Mental Performance Consultant, McDonald actively consults with multiple teams, clubs, coaches, and parents. He works with the Texas Center for Sport Psychology and Train the Mind. Lyn is a strong proponent of mindfulness and the benefits it can provide to student-athletes in their sport, as well as all other domains of their life.

Cross Country Coach’s Love for the Outdoors Fuels Team Success

OP Schnabel is a gem of a park. It can be found on the far northwest side of San Antonio, bordering the scenic Texas Hill Country and the Leon Creek Greenway.  There is no entrance fee, and the program is open to the public year-round.  It also has miles of hiking trails and is home to a diverse range of plant and animal species.

Coach Gary Brimmer started running there way back in the 1990s.  He would frequently meet up with other runners for workouts, and the park became one of their favorite spots in all of Texas.

Once Coach Brimmer came to Central Catholic as a cross country and track coach, he knew he also wanted to start up a summer running camp for the boys at OP Schnabel.  In 2009, this vision became a reality.  Summer Running Camp at OP Schnabel gave Central Catholic runners a chance to train throughout the summer.  At that time, the majority of high school cross-country coaches did not regularly meet up with their teams over the summer.  So, Coach Brimmer opened up the camp to runners from other schools, as well.  Over the years there have been athletes from most of the schools in the greater San Antonio area who have participated in summer running camps.  Moreover, some of the athletes are from other sports entirely (such as soccer)!

The camp still takes place every summer and lasts six weeks, and while most of the runners are from Central Catholic and Providence (the all-girls school next door to Central), there will still be runners from multiple high schools due to the fact that the camp has such a great reputation.  According to Coach Brimmer, the camp has two main goals - “To help prepare for the upcoming cross country season AND to get teenagers outdoors for a few hours.”  He is a strong advocate for getting kids outdoors.

Over the years, one of the byproducts of training at OP Schnabel is that the kids experience nature in a very real and personal way.  They will see the effects of flooding one year and drought another. They will see sunrises.  They will see blooms.  They will see wildlife.  And, unfortunately, sometimes they see the effects of littering.  However, Coach Brimmer does a great job of teaching the kids to pick up trash all around them. 

Now, every summer during the first week of camp, it’s very common for the residents of the neighboring subdivisions to welcome the runners and coaches back.   Oftentimes, they will grab their water hoses and spray the kids down when they run by on those overly warm mornings.  The camp has become a part of their summer, as well!

During the cross-country seasons, the Central Catholic team will still have a few practices somewhere in the great outdoors.  This past season, the team would routinely run along the San Antonio River and the Olmos Creek Basin.  In fact, one of the current members of the team, sophomore Tommy Murray, is setting up his own 5K in the Olmos Creek Basin as part of his Eagle Scout project!  

In addition, last year, several of the boys started meeting up regularly to train at Hardberger Park (another northside park in San Antonio).  Some of the boys from the team even started meeting up to go fishing!  Clearly, Coach Brimmer’s love for the outdoors had become contagious, and it was awesome to see. 

All of this running at OP Schnabel (and other parks) has also directly led to team success.  The varsity squad made it to the podium at the state meet for four consecutive years (from 2020 to 2023), with state championships in 2021 and 2022.  This year’s squad might have come up a tad short, but they were still district champions, and four of their runners (Adam Lozano, Marcus Cecconi, Thomas Hanes, and Leo Bendele) were all-district.

At the end of the school year, when the dust from track season and final exams begins to settle, these Central Catholic boys know they can look forward to running through the wilderness all over again at OP Schnabel Park.

Here are a few of the pictures I took on the trails at OP Schnabel this past summer while the campers were running.  I hope you enjoy them!

Photos: 1. Texas Spiny Lizard hanging out on the side of the trail; 2. Turk's Cap in bloom; photos 3, 4, and 5. A stroll through the bamboo forest; 6. White-tailed bucks - their antlers are still in velvet during the summer; 7. An OP Schnabel sunrise