The clientele at the Gold's Gym on Edgewood Drive may be a little younger-looking these days, with a considerable surge in growth courtesy of Fox Creek High School's football program.

Russell Schneider, the school's athletic director and football coach, has joined forces with Brad Martin, the gym's manager, to help make up for the Fox Creek's lack of weight-training facilities.

Schneider noted that the Predators' final game, an Oct. 30 win, left them one win short of qualifying for the playoffs. "Last year, we gave the kids a two-week break, and then we started lifting. Well, this time, we said, 'Forget the two-week break. Football ended Friday. We start football Monday,' so football never ended."

Plans are for the football team to work out Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at a discounted rate. The participation data are encouraging, he said, pointing out that Fox Creek started the 2009 season with about 38 kids on the roster and wound up with about 24. The count is now 38 again, with a few others engaged in basketball.

"They don't want a break, and they're loving being in here, and partnering up with Gold's is a big deal for us because we don't have anywhere else," the coach added. "The (Gold's) guys have been more than generous to us. We can't thank them enough."

Fox Creek, which started the 2009-10 school year in a brand-new campus, has had to improve over the years in terms of its athletic facilities, with its football games usually being held at Lions Field or Merriwether Middle School, baseball at the Bettis Academy facility, soccer at Riverview Park Activities Center and volleyball and softball at Sweetwater Baptist Church.

The previous campus had space that had been altered to accommodate weight-lifting, but there is no such arrangement yet at the new site, where plans for fields and courts are still in the early stages.

Another boost, Schneider said, may come in the form of a schedule change starting in 2010. The Predators have taken severe beatings over the past two seasons in games against larger schools, with Midland Valley and Silver Bluff as the biggest.

Plans are for the Predators to face schools of more comparable size starting next season, possibly providing a confidence booster for the squad.