By Erik Harris, sports editor
TRUSSVILLE — The Trussville City School Board on Monday, Jan. 25, 2021, approved an agreement with the city of Trussville in regards to facility usage.
The agreement was put in place to facilitate better understanding after the Trussville lacrosse teams were denied usage of Hewitt-Trussville Stadium. TCS Superintendent Pattie Neill says the decisions regarding facility usage will be made by several individuals, including school principals, coaches, athletics director Lance Walker, facilities coordinator Barry Davis and more.
“Who are the decision makers,” Neill asked. “It’s the whole team. It’s our whole team. It’s all of us.”
Those individuals will have to sign off on usage requests in order to grant access to different school facilities, including Hewitt-Trussville Stadium, the HTHS auditorium, classrooms, gyms and more.
On Monday, the school board also recognized Hewitt-Trussville strength coach Brandon Herring, who was recently recognized as the Strength Coaches Association State Coach of the Year in Alabama. Head football coach Josh Floyd and Walker were both on hand to congratulated Herring on Monday night.
“(Strength and conditioning) is something that is very important to our football program,” said Floyd. “When I came here seven years ago, that was one of the most important things that we tried to instill. Coach Herring has done it for the last few years and he’s done a great job. The main thing I appreciate about him is he’s a student of it; he keeps learning. He’s an expert in his field and we’re luck to have him.”
“One thing that’s impressive about this award to me, coming from the national strength coaches association, is that he was nominated by his peers, so I think it just shows how much respect he has around our state and around our country,” said Walker.
Herring works with many students across Trussville schools, including football players, softball players and track athletes. Now in his third year with the program, Herring believes his athletes are beginning to blossom both in the weight room and on their various fields of play.
“It’s just now getting to a point to where we want it to be,” said Herring. “Strength and conditioning is a marathon, not a sprint. It takes some time and I think we’re starting to bear some fruit from what we’re doing—our injury rates have plummeted.”