Well, our team camp is complete...thankfully we hit that God-sent window of cooler weather (mid 80's) and were able to really push the kids through some intense practices.
Anyway, tuesday (8/2) was the first day of actual full contact in SC...provided that you had three days of practice in shells first. After 3 rough practices on Monday, we woke the kids up at 11:40 PM and made them put on full gear as if they were being punished...even stretched them right outside of our cabins. When they got to the practice field, we hit the lights and had the all too familiar and famous Oklahoma Drill set up (two lines of bags about 3 yards apart which act as boundaries, with a combo of OL/DL, LB, and RB). It is a designed trainwreck.
What occured after those lights came on, I can only describe as absolute primal violence. The first day of contact is full of so much raw energy that even the most timid players are overflowing with emotion. We had 45 minutes of absolute mayhem howling with cracking pads, primitive screams, and kids finding guts and gears they didn't realize they had. Hell, one idiot defensive coach who refuses to accept his gradual aging even got in a solid hit on a ballcarrier that decided to break the traditional rules of Oklahoma and juke. Our session was so loud and energetic that sleeping coaches from other teams got out of bed to stand and watch our kids annihilate one another and then help each other off the ground to go do it again.
School starts tomorrow and so does the regular football grind. Its actually here...and I'm fired up about it...even though my shoulder is still killing me
Anyway, tuesday (8/2) was the first day of actual full contact in SC...provided that you had three days of practice in shells first. After 3 rough practices on Monday, we woke the kids up at 11:40 PM and made them put on full gear as if they were being punished...even stretched them right outside of our cabins. When they got to the practice field, we hit the lights and had the all too familiar and famous Oklahoma Drill set up (two lines of bags about 3 yards apart which act as boundaries, with a combo of OL/DL, LB, and RB). It is a designed trainwreck.
What occured after those lights came on, I can only describe as absolute primal violence. The first day of contact is full of so much raw energy that even the most timid players are overflowing with emotion. We had 45 minutes of absolute mayhem howling with cracking pads, primitive screams, and kids finding guts and gears they didn't realize they had. Hell, one idiot defensive coach who refuses to accept his gradual aging even got in a solid hit on a ballcarrier that decided to break the traditional rules of Oklahoma and juke. Our session was so loud and energetic that sleeping coaches from other teams got out of bed to stand and watch our kids annihilate one another and then help each other off the ground to go do it again.
School starts tomorrow and so does the regular football grind. Its actually here...and I'm fired up about it...even though my shoulder is still killing me
