The first day of football practice is always special. Even in a time where teams can practice for most of the summer, that first day and week signals the real countdown to the start of the season.
One thing that hasn’t changed is that kids are kids. While some have worked to stay in shape for the season others come into practice needing every minute of conditioning. I’m learning as a father of a nine-year old you can tell a child something but sometimes, they just must find out themselves the hard way.
I’ve been to a few practices in the first couple of days on the Missouri side and I’ve seen teams getting good work in. Some moments are sharp, and the team may look like it is ready to put the pads on and play the game and other times practice can come to a screeching halt as mistakes are made.
The one thing about football is thinking about what you need to do in the middle of a play makes you one step slow to make the play. The more you practice and make decisions into reactions the more the game slows down.
Football practice is hard. A few years ago I was talking to a retired head coach who played football and baseball in high school. I told him my son would practice baseball everyday if I let him. He said of course he would, baseball practice is fun. You go out shag some fly balls, take some grounders and swing the bat.
He went on to say most really don’t like football practice because it’s hard. It’s what makes getting to play in that game on Friday night so rewarding.
He was right, football practice is hard but there are numerous rewards that hard work in practice bring. That’s football and that’s why it’s a great sport.
