First day of fall prep practice

Darn right. One school I used to cover started doing this in the early 1990s and made it a tradition. It was exciting for everyone. I haven't heard of anyone else doing it.

 

I'm also in NC, and practices for all fall sports in the county I'm in have been put on hold for a couple days due to the excessive heat. The weird thing is, the first regular season football game is next friday. I doubt it's going to be much cooler.

 

The heat is a good idea. Talk with trainers about how they keep the players safe. Also, several coaches now have their starting 22 set coming out of spring practice, so why not a story on what the coaches hope to accomplish in the fall before the regular season opens. We used this one last year and got much better things to write about than the, "We're excited..." crap.

 

I don't understand why more schools don't practice at night. For the most part, games are played at night, why not practice then?

 

Some of them do. Three of my area teams scrimmage on Friday nights under the lights between now and when the regular season starts to get into the habit of playing on Friday nights.

 

One way to avoid the coach speak on it's just great to get started again is to pick and choose which schools you go out and visit.

Make it about a good story at a particular school. Today, Free Press had a story about Tyrone Wheatley coming back to coach at his alma mater and how he was more interested in being the track coach and got talked into doing football.


Hit 4-5 schools, write 10-12 inch stories, have a nice photo package and it's a nice overall package.

 

A couple of teams in West Texas still do it.
I hate two-a-days. I drove 320 miles today and only visited four schools for interviews, practice shots and mugs, plus I have three more days of driving left. At least I will get a hefty expense check.

 

Gotta left those West Texas coverage areas/districts.

Sorry, but I don't envy you.

 

Couple years ago, one of the guys at my shop ran through a practice with one of the perennial best team in the area.