Along with the thrill of victory, as those who remember the old Wide World Of Sports television series know - and anybody who competes in athletics will concur - at least occasionally comes the agony of defeat.

The latter may be unavoidable, but the agony that coincides with injury may be preventable in some instances for female athletes at Newtown High School, who have spent the summer working hard to prepare themselves to try to avoid both defeat by opponents and being defeated by the injury bug.

Several members of the girls' soccer team participated in the Preseason Training program, run by Newtown High School Athletic Trainer Sabrina Byrne, and sponsored by Newtown Parks and Recreation, at Newtown High School. The training lasted from late June through August 10. Athletes divided into two groups and hit the weights and ran on the Blue & Gold Stadium track for hour-and-a-half sessions three days each week for the last month and a half to strengthen muscles as they gear up for the regular season.

The program is open to all high school female athletes but its roots have strong connection with the soccer program. Marc Kenney, coach of the NHS girls' soccer team, noticed more and more groin pulls and minor strains cropping up. So he and Byrne spoke about ways to prevent injuries and that led to the program being started six years ago. It is optional, but a majority of soccer players participate each year.

"Any conditioning you can do for seven weeks is definitely going to decrease the possibility for injury in the preseason. They're going to be in a lot better shape going into it," Byrne said.

"Players who have done it in the preseason certainly come in fitter," Kenney added. "I think they're fitter and, more important for me, it cuts down on injuries.

Byrne points out that the female build is more susceptible to knee injuries from sudden stops during rigorous exercise - "women are just at higher risk," she notes - but that every fall there are, on average, a couple of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears between the girls and boys. She notes that ACL injuries tend to happen to football players when another player falls on the knee awkwardly, for example.

"There's nothing worse for me as a coach than seeing a player tear their ACL or hurt their knee. It's a catastrophic injury and it makes me sick to my stomach," said Kenney, adding that any measures that can be taken to cut down on injuries are beneficial.

Byrne said that while there may not be many ACL tears, she does treat 40 to 60 injuries between the eight Newtown High sports programs every fall. Most of the injuries include sprained ankles, pulled muscles, hip flexor strains, and concussions, Byrne said.

Kenney has noticed the numbers of minor tweaks and pulls on the first days of practice have declined since the implementation of the program. "I just feel like there's much less of that," he said.

"That's also something I struggled with every year," Bridget Power, one of Kenney's former players, said of minor muscle tweaks impacting the start of the season.

Power, whom the coach says is actually a legend of sorts within the program because of the fact she was in tiptop shape despite not participating in summer workouts, and who earned Most Valuable Player accolades in a state championship run during her days as a Nighthawk, is the new freshman team coach this year. Power worked with Byrne by directing half of the current players out on the track while Byrne guided half the group in the weight room.

"I'm excited to work with Marc because he was a great coach to me. I'm excited to be on the other end of it," said Power, who was also a basketball standout and went on to play on the hardwood at Catholic University of America in Washington DC.

Despite not partaking in the fitness program during her high school days, Power believes it is beneficial and saw how it helped her teammates.

"It's really hard to get yourself to do it. Having the team mentality throughout the summer is really helpful," said Power, adding that working out and being prepared for tryouts is important "because they can be brutal sometimes."

"The intensity of the tryouts and preseason is a shock to the system," added Kenney, whose prospective team members will have their first day of tryouts on August 24.

Returning players agree that tryouts are tough and the program helps ease them into the grind of the tryouts and preseason practices.

"A big part of what makes tryouts so intimidating is the physical toughness of it," midfielder Sarah Houle said. "We're trying to build body strength to a point that we can handle three days of this nonstop fatigue."

Senior captain Cassidy Kortze says the summer training workouts go a long way to help the players individually and collectively.

"It's insanely important. Not only important for our fitness levels which are much-needed during the season, but for getting together to play and work on team chemistry," Kortze said. "Our field is huge and we're constantly running so it's extremely important that we're on a high and equal fitness level."

Byrne's program has evolved over the years.

"We do a lot of plyometrics, agility, speed, and, last year, we started throwing in some weight lifting," said Byrne, adding that the players work on strengthening different core muscles each day. "They're working hard. They seem to be a lot stronger."

Byrne added that all athletes were lifting heavier weights by the end of the program.

"We're not a big team so we're trying to add some muscle in here," Houle said.

"It's been great," Kenney said of the program.

The Nighthawks, once they get through the rigorous preseason stretch, including a jamboree at Treadwell Park on Sunday, August 27, will embark on the regular campaign, beginning with a Friday, September 8, visit to Kolbe Cathedral of Bridgeport, at Seaside Park, beginning at 4 pm. The first home contest is set for Tuesday, September 19, when New Fairfield comes to Treadwell. Newtown's first game under the lights at Blue & Gold Stadium is set for Tuesday, September 26, when Bunnell of Stratford visits for a 7 pm clash.