8/10, 8/11 practices

Hello everyone,

We had a couple of offensive practices on 8/10 and 8/11, and started scratching the surface of our playbook. Right now the focus is still on the basics, but I like what I see so far. The QB-center exchange, QB-RB handoffs, running the basic routes, basic blocking technique, and things of that nature have been going well, and that's especially important at this level.

Saturday will be our first full-pads practice, so please have your child go through their equipment and have everything ready to go Saturday morning. Most of the team will be ready for contact, now that they have their hours in, and we will be focusing on proper tackling technique and things of that nature on Saturday.

A reminder that pictures are on Monday, 8/15 - players should dress in full pads with their (black) game uniform and pants, and show up to practice on the varsity game field. Picture packets and ordering forms were previously handed out - if your child does not have one yet, I still have extras. We will also be splitting teams on Monday evening, meaning that the players will know what team they are on starting on Tuesday, 8/16. We originally were going to do this earlier, but due to some players having siblings on other teams (and other reasons), we decided to wait a few days to make sure the 7th/8th grade is settled first so that all siblings are on the same "orange" or "black" team for travel purposes. We don't want parents to have to take one child to Oconomowoc and another child to Saukville on the same Saturday, for example.

It is important for me to remind players and parents that we split teams as evenly as possible, with the primary goal to equalize ability on each team and to allow for maximum playing time for each player. While I understand that players may want to make sure they are on the same team as their friends, or that parents could make more convenient carpool arrangements if their child is on a certain team, I believe it is not in the long-term best interests of the players, the teams, or the program to split teams based on these types of considerations. If you have questions or concerns about how teams are split, please feel free to call or email me.

Thank you, and we'll see you Saturday!