Back to work

After the mistake that was the Grafton Scrimmage, it was back to the grind for 6th grade orange.


For those of you who have not heard, there was a miscommunication with the Grafton scrimmage. While each team (6th/7th/8th grade) showed up in Grafton by 8AM as planned - and we thank all of our parents for doing such an excellent job getting our team there - it turns out that we were given the wrong date. The scrimmage is actually this coming Saturday, 8/22/09.

Nevertheless, we had all of our players back for our Monday practice. Today we focused on offense, as we will typically do on Mondays, and it was clear that things are coming together. Our 5th graders have a few practices under their belt and are looking more comfortable, the 6th graders are having an easier time remembering the plays, and we did a good job of avoiding mistakes. For example, I don't remember a single turnover from practice tonight. In addition, on one particular play a wide receiver ran his route to perfection, resulting in a broken tackle and yards after catch. He did this after the coaches had been teaching the receivers to run his route a certain way, and it provided an excellent teaching moment for the team.

We still need to work on our aggressiveness. This is not unusual for players who are playing tackle football for the first time. But hitting time is here, and we need to play with a little bit more intensity. Some of that comes from experience, but most of it will have to come from within the players' own minds and from the motivation of their coaches, and that starts with me.

Practice is at the town hall fields all week as the high school teams are using the high school fields this week. Time for the 8/22/09 Grafton scrimmage is the same, 9AM-noon, please be there by 8AM.

At least we all know where to go now, right?

See you tomorrow.