The Path to the Endzone

We're Moving

Path to the Endzone has officially moved to it's new home.  Check out the new post at http://www.kykarma.com/endzone

Ol' Fashion Fun

Practice last night was a hoot.  After warm-ups and circuit drills, we ended up running the D-line and backers, versus the O-line and backs. It was mainly for the offense to work hard on their blocks, pulls and traps (something they were extremely weak at last season), but the defense had a great time mixing it up in there with a whole lot of bumping, pushing and general all around manhandling to get our stunts off.  It was a shame we couldn’t go full out.. as that drill would have been a blast that way. Hopefully Sunday will cooperate with us enough so that we can get outside and really start mauling!

I have to give our O-line guys some props, things are looking much better on that side of the ball this year.  It was pretty rare last year that an O-line guy would actually make a block on us linebackers, unless we were running stunts, and even then we were often missed. But yesterday, in just the short half hour we ran the drill, I can recall at least 4 occasions when I wasn’t even on a stunt that someone managed to get out to me and put on a block. Not that it stopped me of course, but it’s still impressive to see them big girls moving like they should!

Hacking season

The flu bug officially hit the house hard last week, and practice on Thursday just had to be missed. Luckily not too much was missed as the Gym turned out to be in use, so they ended up just doing some chalk talk in one of the classrooms. I did manage to drag my butt to practice on Sunday. I was still pretty limited in what I could do, but was glad I came as we added another defensive set and a few more stunts in.

We’ve switched up our practice schedule again, with hopes of getting outside next Sunday. I know a lot of us on defense are looking forward to getting back into some serious hitting action. We’ll finally get to see what some of these new girls are made of. Of course we are also waiting to hear about final cuts which should be coming any day now. Not that too many should get bumped, and I know defensively we look very much set, with maybe the possibility of actually trying to add one or two defensive lineman. Coach has pretty much stated that starters won’t really be named until after the preseason games, so the questions surrounding all that will have to wait another month.

Of course we also found out that our games are most likely not going to be played at Fern Creek like we originally had planned. Apparently, after the verbal agreement from their athletic coordinator, the guy up and quit his job and the new guy hasn’t been so willing to work with us. I sure hope we can get things figured out and fast, as the season is fast approaching and I just hate the whole “stuck in limbo till the last minute” deal.

moving right along!

It’s been close to a month and things have been progressing along quite nicely! We finally got everyone into pads last week and have been knocking into each other ever since. Since we are still inside in the gym it hasn’t bee full throttle yet, but it’s been fun anyway. We have added in our complete defensive set now and are pretty much working on fine tuning the stunts. I’m sure we will add more as time goes on, but it’ll be nice this year to have a core set that we know better then the back of our hand!

Because of scheduling issues, this year we have been blessed with having 2 practices a week scheduled on back to back days.  I don’t know why this bugs me so, but last year I found it nice/easier to deal with when you always had a down day between each practice day.  It gave you that day to let body recover from what ever abuses the coaches could dish out.  It gave you that day to get your home life on track and get set for the next practice.  This year, I’m finding things a little more out of whack right now.  That second night, I feel much more sluggish and a little spacey.  The joints are so achy that the thought of running cut drills about makes you want to bolt out the door.  One more shuttle sprint and my ankle thinks it’s going to collapse.  Not to mention the home life juggle, after two days of being out of the house.. things are in dire need of serious attention.  Problem is my body is so worn out that it doesn’t want to cooperate.  Even finding the motivation to get in a little off-day conditioning is a bit hard.  I’m sure I’ll get it all figured out soon and in the end it’ll be no big deal.  But right now I feel a bit whiney after completing two back to back practices where the coaches decided to sprint the devil right out of us.  My knees hurt, my shins are on fire.. even my back is bugging me.  SO pity party for me time!!!

Thankfully starting next week we are switching to a Sunday, Wednesday, Friday schedule which should help a ton with the aches and pains.  Part of the change is to get us set for a schedule once the season starts, and the other part is to finally get us outside on Sunday. I’m so looking forward to getting off the gym floor and onto some real grass!!

Ticking of the Clock

WOW... time sure flies when you’re having fun!!  It’s been almost two weeks of practices since I last posted, but it almost doesn’t feel like it.

Practices have been pretty much going at about the same pace each night.  Warm-ups, circuit drills, tackling fundamentals, skill specific drills, then defensive unit drills and then a quick offense against defense walk thru. Most everything is going at ¼ speed since we still need to work the steps and fundamentals and we still are not wearing pads yet. It really doesn’t feel like we are even working that hard, yet by the time I get home, the body is usually aching pretty good.

As far as the defense goes, we’ve been adding stunts left and right to our base defense and having fun with it. Most of them are pretty much modifications off of the stunts we ran last year and so we’ve been picking them up rather quickly. A couple of them though are pretty risky “bet the house” type stunts that leave one or two players covering the majority of the field.  The scarier thought is it seems to be me that is often left with the “monstrous” task. We actually have introduced man coverage, which is not something we ever really dealt with last year. I have to admit being a bit skeptical about it, we were actually very good against the pass last year playing nothing more then a cover 3 zone and I wonder how well disciplined we can be to maintain a good man coverage.  I guess time will tell, and it doesn’t mean we necessarily have to use it.

Of course my body seems to have hit that first brick wall of the season. The body has been aching like crazy the last couple of practices and the mind starts doing that debate of whether you really want to do this or not. The shins pretty much burn 24/7 right now and doing shuttle runs makes me want to scream with pain each time I pivot on the line. The knees are so creaky and sore that after sitting in a 2-point stance for almost an hour, you have to argue with yourself about whether you can get up off the floor. Just 20 minutes of tackling drills have found me laid out on the floor trying to stretch out the lower back so the muscle spasms stop. Thankfully, the desire to play far outweighs whatever pain manages to come, and at least this year, I have the joy of knowing it will soon go away once the body has adapted.

Of course Sunday’s practice is cancelled due to the Superbowl, so a night off and hopefully a good party to go to may also do wonders for me as well!

Repetitions

Sunday’s practice was pretty much more of the same.  Started off with warm-ups, then into conditioning, and then broke it down into offense and defense.  More tackling drills, then reviewing the base set and our responsibilities.  He started covering the secondary stunts, which of course has me learning the new defensive calls and hand signals.  Thankfully the old memory was still intact and most of it came back pretty quickly.

We also added in work on our pursuit drills, which the order has me a bit befuddled on the rationale.  But after several repetitions, I was able to get my timing better, so as to have a slow release while watching the backfield and still hit the intended target.

Its funny going through these drills this year, now that I have a much better idea of what I’m supposed to be doing.  Everything is moving much slower this year, based on the fact that we have more time, and already knowing the basics has allowed me to be a bit more relaxed about it all and spend more time working on the fine tuning. 

So far I’m pretty happy with the defensive group.  Most of the new girls are coming along very nicely and seem to fit in really well.  I have to admit it’s a bit fun being able to actually answer a lot of their questions with a bit of knowledge.  There are still a lot of questions and speculations as to where everyone will eventually fall as far as positions go.  Supposedly the answers should be coming soon, but soon could be another couple weeks away.

The Monster

Practice last night was a big change of pace.  In some ways slower and others much faster.  We started off breaking the offense and defense down again then headed to the chalk board to learn the basics of the schemes.  Not too surprised to find out we are shifting from the 6-2 defense we ran last year to the more traditional 4-3 defense.  Of course I got a chuckle hearing the DC’s name for the middle linebacker.  Monster.  Only he would come up with a name like that over the traditional “Mike” used by most.  Of course the ribbing on my inability to tell my right from my left started almost immediately, as the Middle linebacker is going to have to make all the calls, and everyone is pretty much assuming that’s my job.

After chalk time we all got back together and ran through warm-ups and conditioning drills.  They turned it up a notch and kept it pretty intense for about 40 mins.  Then we broke down into our defense position skill groups to start walking through our basic sets and areas of responsibility.  The middle linebacker is going to have to fill some pretty big shoes, so I know I need to drop this excess weight and fast, or I may not last too long.  Coach, I think, was trying to throw some subtle hints that I’d better keep the intensity high if I wanted to keep the starting middle linebacker job.  He had one of the new girls rotating in on that position and learning the basics for calling the plays.  Of course she doesn’t have near the weight or strength I do to throw around, but she is a hair faster and can probably last longer... at least for right now. 

Though towards the end of practice I got a few more props for the way I played on my ankle last year, so I know he knows just what I can bring to the table.  I just need to prove I haven’t lost it

The Weight of it All

Practice last night started off on an interesting note.  They decided to weigh-in all the returning players (The new guys got weighed in at try-outs).  This is where I have to admit that during the off-season, thanks to the ankle, the move, and the stress about the old house, I manage to put on a good chunk of weight.  More then I’m actually willing to admit to here.  When I stepped on the scale, the Defensive Coordinator about blew a gasket!  He of course had to relay the info to the Offensive Coordinator and I had to endure a good 30 mins of ribbing over it.  I overheard part of the conversation with the OC saying something along the lines of “Well, maybe you can use her as a solid nose guard now.”  The DC replying, “Well I guess well see if she’s lost a step or two”.  Then the OC shot back “Well, give her to me, I’ll still use her as a blocking, short-yardage fullback!”  The DC didn’t reply but shot him a look that could kill!!

We started off practice with the usual warm-ups, then broke off into the usual circuit drills, and then once again into specialty groups.  I have to admit, I’ve had about enough of the specialty groups right now.  Then break us out into QBs, Lineman and everyone else.  The everyone else group has been stuck running receiver type drills, and for someone who knows good and well she’s not going to be a receiver, it was old and tiresome.  Not to mention that the group was so large, that you spent more time standing around then really doing anything.  On occasion we would throw in some CB type drills which I could get into... but last night wasn’t to be the case.  But I figured I’d be a good player and try to pick up a few pointers as to what to watch for to keep from getting beat. 

Of course while standing around waiting for this to end, I caught the Defensive Coordinator and the Offensive Coordinator playing Rock, paper, scissors.  Knowing the history of the fighting over a few of us players, I got quite a chuckle that it had resorted to that in order to decide some of our fates.  I couldn’t resist teasing them a bit, so when we broke for water, I went up and asked who won.  The OC smiled real big and replied, “I DID!”

Thankfully they kept the skills group short and then starting the sorting of offense and defense.  Most things did not come as much of a surprise.  I, of course, ended up in the linebacker group once again.  This time, there were 5 of us, versus the two we had last year.  Guess coach learned his lesson after I went down with my ankle and the other linebacker went down with her shoulder.  Actually she was sort of one of the surprises.  She was actually sent to the defensive line group.  Apparently, he’s decided to slightly modify her role and use her more as a wide-out defensive end on a more pure pass rush type situations.  Of course this has my interest really piqued, as it already changes the formation we had been using last year.  Coach also managed to wrangle a few of the new girls who look like good candidates.  Looks like they should fit in well and hopefully they will work out to make the defense that much better.  Of course, coach re-iterated that no one has a starting position yet… he’s such a liar!!

We spent the rest of the evening going over his defensive philosophy and what he expects from all of us and what we should expect from him.  Pretty much the usual coach’s hype.  He did state that part of tonight’s practice will be spent sitting in front of a chalk board while he goes over some of the basics.  Could be a bit of a bore, but a necessary evil to get the new girls all up on the terminology of football.

Ode to Armstrong

Well, the first week back is over and I have survived.  Actually I faired quite well physically, and while some technique needed a bit refreshing, all and all I felt pretty good about where I’m at right now. 

As far as the team, it looks pretty interesting.  The lineman types seemed to have doubled in numbers, which is very good to see, as we need to find some serious upgrades and add some depth.  I’ve only seen a couple of possible LB prospects so far and honestly am not even remotely worried about losing my spot anymore.  Someone may surprise me in the next couple of weeks, but right now, just hoping we can find some decent backups.  As far as overall numbers go, I’m not feeling to overly optimistic about the size of our team.  While Sundays practice had a really good showing (somewhere around the 60 mark), Monday and Wednesday we were down around the 40-45 numbers.  This is before the splitting of offense and defense, before the pads and the hitting, before the serious play crunching with antsy coaches getting into your face.  I think we will once again be short of the 53-man roster limit, and the issue of being cut is going to become a mute point.

Of course the real disappointing news was the loss of one of our Defensive ends to the facts of life.  My Buddy Armstrong is moving away because of her job and had to quit the team.  She was a funny character, and one you would NEVER expect on a football field.  Not an athletic type, never played sports, she came out for football looking for something I think even she wasn’t very sure of.  But she had charisma that just could not be denied.  You had to love her.  For everything she lacked physically and mentally she made with heart and character.  She made practice fun, even after she became the Defense coaches’ whipping boy.  You could hear them yelling her name all across the field at least every 10 mins in practice and yet she always had a smile and she always did it better the next time around.  She also ended up being my riding buddy to the games last year... and made the trips feel very short and enjoyable instead of a bundle of nerves.  She will be missed and I wish her all the best!  Of course, the Defense coordinator has decided he may have to use me as his new whipping boy... So I may actually miss her more then I know!

And So It Begins, Again

You would think after a year of trying to iron out all the kinks, that we could finally have things running a bit more smoothly.  But alas, that is not to be.  The Chaos that so frustrated me last year, seems to be back in full swing. 

The practice last week turned out to not be so much a practice as a team meeting.  Time to get the paper work filled out, sign our lives and rights away and get the yearly pep talk.  Amazing coach managed to speak for almost an hour and a half without really saying much of anything at all.  OK, I’ll take that back, he made good points about the team being more committed.  About people showing up to practices and being accountable.  I hope some people who whined about playing time took notice.  Other then that it was the usual coach’s dribble.  More intended for the new guys, then for those of us who have heard it many times before.  Of course then there was the discussion of practice, where and when.  Nobody really knew.  The plan we initially had had fallen through right before the holidays and coach was scrambling to find a place and time that would work.  We left the meeting not knowing when we would meet again.  It wasn’t until Thursday that we finally got the answer, and Sunday would start the fun.

The turnout Sunday was pretty good.  Looked like close to 60 bodies were there, both new and old.  The skill levels pretty much ran the gambit.  Some of the new girls seem to be pretty cool and should find a nice fit on the team.  There are others I wonder if we will still be seeing them in 3-4 weeks time. 

The practice itself was pretty much like how we started last year.  We were run through a series of agility type drills for the first half, and then broken down into skill levels.  Lineman, QBs and then pretty much everyone else.  Some more position type drills that actually required a football and we were done. Coaches were having fun riding those of us that had been around pretty hard, while taking time to evaluate the new talent as well. 

The boot camp, I have to admit paid off pretty well.  While the practice was a workout, I never felt like I was really pushed too hard and had no trouble keeping up on everything.  A few minor aches today from the pushup and sit-ups we did, but other then that, I actual felt pretty good after all was said and done.  The true test may come tonight as we are scheduled for back to back practice Sunday and Monday for the entire month, but I’m not feeling to overly concern right now.