These days...summer means football

The barbells are banging and the weights are being thrown around the weightroom. The air is full of footballs as 7 on 7 games are being played at local high schools. Football coaches are running drills for speed, agility, and technique. It's a high energy atmosphere as football camps are rolling throughout Illinois and across the country. We're only in the middle of summer but already football is in full swing. High school association rules allow for much more contact with the athletes than several years ago and the importance of weight training can't be disputed. There is no question that players are bigger, faster, stronger, in better shape, better coached and more prepared than at any time I can remember.

I'm dating myself, but I can recall when I started high school football in 1965, there was basically nothing going on in the summer at our school in Illinois. We weren't very good, and maybe that's part of the reason why. But I suspect that we were not the only ones that had no summer football program. Oh, starting my sophomore year in '66 a new coach was hired and he had seniors lead workouts 2 weeks before the first official practice. It was low key and not well attended or taken seriously by the players. The coach was no where to be seen, I assume because it was against the rules, so there was no coaching. Basically, the season started on the first day of practice around the third week in August. It truly was "hell week" because we were so out of shape. The coaches had 3 weeks to get us physically and mentally ready for the first game in the middle of September. Offenses and defenses weren't as sophisticated and most teams ran the football at least ninety per cent of the time. Passes were thrown now and then to make our opponents think we actually had a passing game. What a difference from today!

Programs now resemble effecient college programs. Whether you agree with the more intense approach or not, that's the way it is now. To be competitive in todays world of high school football, coaches must do what they can to keep getting better. Let's not forget one key ingredient; through it all - HAVE FUN!