‘Fun time’ is just beginning for fall sports
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| Princeton assistant coach Jesse Snyder takes the hands-on approach during a linemen’s drill in Wednesday morning’s first practice of the 2009 football season. The Tigers will continue doubles the rest of the week. (BCR photo/Kevin Hieronymus) |
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The Princeton Tiger football camp cheered for the PHS cross country runners as they ran down Central Avenue past the practice field Wednesday morning, offering words of encouragement to their classmates and friends.
Conditioning sergeant Andy Berlinski said, ‘Guess what? You are going to be running just like them.”
A Tiger gridder quickly responded, “Are we in trouble?”
“No, it’s fun time,” Berlinski replied.
It was fun time, indeed, all around Bureau County as area athletes and coaches across the state answered the bell for the 2009 fall sports season.
Berlinski informed the players they would do conditioning once a day.
“We gotta be in better shape than the other guy,” he told them.
The Tigers started off with 10 squat jumps before running a 10-yard sprint. At the other end of the line, coach Jesse Snyder greeted them with 10 push-ups or 10 mountain climbers before sending them on their way.
Quarterback Brik Wedekind led the cadence to signal the next sprint. If anybody jumped, they had to move back for the five-yard penalty and do it again.
Head coach Dave Moore said he had about 60 gridders in camp — “about 30/30” between the F/S and varsity levels. One welcome sight for Wedekind and the running backs was the return of senior lineman Seth Woolley, who did not come out a year ago. He will be the biggest lineman on the squad.
The PHS camp will huddle up again from 8 to 10 a.m. and from 6 to 8 p.m. through Friday. The first day for pads will be Saturday, with the Tigers running from 8 to 10:30 a.m. They’ll take a refreshment break for watermelon and go at it again, Moore said.
Blue-White Scrimmage is Aug. 21. First game comes a week later at Rockridge.
• New Tiger Cub: PHS coach Steve Amy and his wife, Staci, became parents for the first time with the arrival of their son, Cooper Michael, on July 21. The proud papa said Cooper has already received his first singlet from his grandmother, who raised three bouncing grapplers.
Hall football/volleyball
SPRING VALLEY — Jason Bland ran his first day of practice as the new head football coach of the Hall Red Devils, succeeding Gary Vicini who he played for 18 years ago at Hall. In Red Devil Gymnasium, Dani Zellmer opened volleyball practice with the Lady Devils, also succeeding the coach (Demi Salazar) she played for in high school at Putnam County.
Bland’s said Wednesday’s first practice went well, although “I hate taking the shoulder pads off for 3 days after wearing them all summer.”
The new Red Devils skipper said his “numbers are pretty decent and we have a couple of kids on the team that I wasn’t sure if they would play. We had 25 guys healthy and able to practice.”
Bland said he would push practice times back to 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. on Thursday and Friday heading into Saturday’s full pads.
— Kevin Hieronymus
Bureau Valley volleyball
MANLIUS — Coach Vicki Litherland’s Bureau Valley Storm volleyball squad got to work bright and early Wednesday morning with a 7 a.m. practice for the freshman, followed by a 9 a.m. session for the sophomores and varsity.
Litherland said the Storm had 12 freshman, 13 sophomores and 15 varsity recruits for the first day of practice.
Litherland said she and her troops were “very excited” about getting the 2009 volleyball season underway. The Storm will start off their fall campaign with a home contest against Princeton on Sept. 1.
— Kevin Hieronymus
Bureau Valley football
MANLIUS — Coach Jeff Ohlson and the Storm started off their football season with the first session of two-a-day practices 3:15 p.m. Wednesday afternoon in Manlius.
We’re excited to go,” Ohlson said. “It’s warm, finally the weather’s like a normal football year, and we’re ready to go.”
Ohlson said that the Storm football program had nearly 70 recruits to start practice, and that his squad is eager to kick off the season after last years’ quarterfinal appearance.
“I think these kids have been waiting since the start of last season to get rolling again,” Ohlson said.
Bureau Valley will kick off their 2009 slate with a home contest against Riverdale on Friday, August 28.
