practice in the piedmont

[mhsalum 31]

Area football practices 'heat up'

By Andrew Stevens and Matt Becker

Bulletin Sports Writers

 

With exactly one month to go before the first official game is played, area high school football teams are in full swing. Martinsville, Bassett and Patrick County all started their practices this week. Magna Vista is in camp this week and will start its practices on Monday.

 

It's been business as usual for each team, but the one thing no one could have predicted was the weather. With temperatures nearing triple digits every day this week, coaches have had to decrease field time and increase water breaks.

 

Bassett Coach Jay Gilbert has cut his outdoor practice time from five hours down to three.

 

"The last two days, we've broken at 11, and gone inside and done weight training and conditioning," he said. "When it gets this hot out, you have to do more indoor stuff."

 

For the players, who try do their best to be ready for any situation, the weather is always an x-factor.

 

"You can't prepare for the heat," senior Jerry Brown said. "All you can do is stay hydrated and take regular water breaks."

 

Patrick County, which started school on Thursday, is avoiding the blazing heat of the midday sun altogether and holding its practices at night.

 

"Practicing in the (evening) helps," Cougars Coach Brad Dalton said. "But we're keeping an eye on them and making sure they're OK."

 

Dalton is one of two first-year coaches in the area, and a lot of his focus is on making a smooth transition.

 

"It's been smooth so far," he said. "A lot of our offensive and defensive schemes are the same as last year."

 

The other new face on the sidelines this season will be at Magna Vista, where John Curia will don the headset for the Warriors.

 

"Since I'm new, there's a lot of terminology, so we've really been spending a lot of time trying to teach that new terminology," Curia said. "This is just our second day out here, so there's a little bit of confusion. Plus, we're teaching the coaching staff too."

 

The learning curve will have to be short for the players, especially the seniors, who have to learn an entirely new system.

 

"It looks like it's going pretty good so far," said senior Jonathan Williams. "I hope it just continues that way, that's all. I hope we don't have any bumps in the road."

 

Since they're still in camp, Curia doesn't know how many players will show up at the first day of practice. He said he won't cut anyone, but if Thursday was any indication, there could be some stiff competition for playing time.

 

"Today we just worked with quarterbacks and receivers, and we had over 30 kids just for those positions," Curia said.

 

Gilbert does know how many athletes he'll have, and he's excited about it.

 

"We had 127 sign up, but not all of them wanted to get out of bed at eight in the morning," he said. "We're down to 106 right now, and we're going to keep them all."

 

Gilbert said those athletes will be divided between varsity and JV, and hopes that enough interest might even lead to the creation of a 9th-grade team.

 

Martinsville has a little more than 70 athletes right now, about half of which will end up on the varsity team. The Bulldogs are also cutting back on their field time, trimming up to an hour off their practices the last two days.

 

But the story at Martinsville this year is not numbers or the heat. Nor is it a new head coach, although it will be next season. This is the last year that Taylor Edwards will work the sidelines for the Bulldogs, ending a career that has spanned more than two decades.

 

"It's just business as usual right now; I'm as excited as ever," he said. "I don't think it will even dawn on me until the season is over."

[Bulldog 82 11]

It looks like Bassett continues to have good turnouts for their team. Martinsville's numbers seem to be about the same. I hope the dogs can win the district this year and if they stay away from injuries I believe they can. The Bulldogs have a lot of good players but not much depth. Staying healthy will be the key for them.

[mhsalum 31]

in my opinion - this has the potential to be the best bulldog team since the teams of the late 90s to around 2000 that made it deep in the playoffs. the speedy athletes, as always, are there...there should be a lot of experienced good-sized kids to go along with that speed. hopefully this year it won't take them 2/3s of the season to finally put it all together.

[Bulldog 82 11]

I hope your optimism about the Dogs having a great team proves to be true. They open against Graham so they should find out what they are made of pretty early. I notice their schedule has six home games, I hope to attend 2 or 3 of them. It will interesting to see what the new MV coach does with the Warriors this year.