Night 2 of practice

I guess I should start out with Taite's diagnosis. Of course Chris had it figured out before going to the Dr. office (he researches EVERYTHING on the internet!) and it's some disease ~ it sounds worse than it is. Basically, kids grow so fast and if their tendon (in this case Achilles) becomes detached at all, it won't heal until there is no running/strain on it. So, we left it up to him (Dr. said the same thing); if he can play with the pain, then he can play. If it gets to be too bad, then he can quit. We are trying icing it and ibuprofen to reduce the inflammation. Hopefully it gets to be tolerable because he was devastated when Chris told him he might have to reduce activity.

This afternoon I was shocked when Chris called at 4:30 to see if we'd be ready to go to practice in a little bit (it starts at 6). The boys had just had a snack and so we got ready to leave for practice. After circling the driveway a couple of times for things we forgot, we arrived at the school about 5 so we could carry everything down to the practice fields (water cooler, board for drill, duffel bag, bag with warmer clothes and Kleenex for Bray and I). The reason for this early arrival was so that Chris could see when others show up so he isn't late arriving after parents. Surprisingly enough, there were some that arrived starting at 5:30. (I do have to say one thing here: This practice field is right behind a row of houses and I am amazed at the number of people who cut through other peoples' yards to get to the practice field!!! There is one empty lot that people have commonly cut a path through, but these people don't walk down to that empty lot, they just cut. I would be livid if people were doing that on my place!) Anyway, I'll get back to the story at hand. . .

Here are some pictures from tonight. This is where they practice their tackling form on a dummy. I apologize for the fuzziness, but Taite is in the green shirt about the hit the dummy. Coach Stemper is bent over and you can see his face right next to the dummy and Coach Heinz is holding the dummy up. Chris said that when he demonstrated this one, he almost knocked himself out! His hat went flying and everything :~)

This one is called the Board Drill. The boys are liked up as if on a line and they each have a job (offensive and defensive) and on "HUT" they either try to push the one guy to the end of the board or they try to "schuck" off the guy to get to the runner (I had to point out to Chris that I didn't think the boys knew what "schuck" meant so he had to explain a little more). The purpose of the board is so they get used to having a wider stance. (Oh, did I forget to mention that if they step on the board, then they are done?)

Here is a picture of the kids lined up for stretching/warm-ups. I have to laugh because Chris and I have a discussion about using the terms that the boys will know. For example, for warm-ups, he tells them to get into lines (we know that would mean spread out into different lines so you can stretch and such), but the boys get in a nicely formed tight line as if they are walking down to the cafeteria. I would say spread out on the painted lines on the field, but I'm not a coach, so they go to specific points on the field and name off the boys so they can stand in these spots and won't hit anyone else while stretching.

Here is Taite chilling by the water cooler before practice began. As you can see in the background, no one has arrived yet on any of the other fields.

Here is a video of the Monkey Rolls (I think they are called). I missed out on the coaches demonstrating this one, so I made sure to get Taite's group trying it. Chris expected it to be a mess, but he said that even in high school it will still be a mess. Chris' group is to the left of the frame and you can kind of see them running the drill too. The guy helping in Taite's group is a dad who volunteered to help out at practices, if he's there.

I have to admit that tonight I was kind of watching another team and how they were coaching and I am so proud of Chris (you can see this "other team" in the background during the video). The coaches and helpers on Chris' team get into things. They are just as sweaty as the kids and the boys LOVE IT!!! In fact in the one running/foot drill, they ran a relay and the one group was short a man, so Coach Stemper filled in and made the kids run to beat him ~ there was no "letting the kids win"! During plays and drills, our coaches are walking through everything, they are giving good feedback and things to work on (in a good way). The one other team didn't do so much of the involvement and there was a lot of just whistle-blowing and not so much coaching ~ more yelling, I would say. . . Then their (the bad coach team ~ I'm not biased ~ hehe) practice went over about 10 minutes as they made the boys run hills. Remember, they are only 4th grade!!! Can you tell I am a proud Football Mom???

The only downside to the football practice are Brayton's allergic reaction. He gets all stuffed up and can't breathe after playing in the grass with his friend Andy (whose brother plays FB). Brayton loves the playtime, but he pays for it when we get home. Even after a shower to was off the pollen and such, he still can't breathe very well. Andy's mom said he suffers from the same thing, but that doesn't stop their enthusiasm when playing! In fact, when Taite was done with practice tonight, he couldn't wait to play tag with Brayton, Andy and a few others. :~)