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Busy summer for Mustangs winding down (Photo gallery)
Summer football drills have gone smoother in year two for Shoal River Middle School.
Head coach Chris Sweatt and his staff has been in their digs for a little more than a year. And the transition of players between Shoal River and rival Davidson Middle School has seemed to stop, which wasn’t the case in 2009 when the closing of Richbourg Middle School changed the boundaries between the two Crestview middle schools.
“Last year me and (Chris) Small (Davidson football coach) were actually swapping information as far as where kids were, physicals, fitness forms and that kind of stuff,” Sweatt said. “We were actually meeting once a week saying, ‘I’ve got this kid, you’ve got this kid.’ It was all summer long.
“So it has been pretty nice this summer not having to deal with all the paperwork. It’s nice getting to work with kids rather than having to do all that paper work.”
There have been plenty of players to work with this summer.
“I talked to coach Small and he had about 115 and I had about 115, which is very unusual for us,” Sweatt said.. “In the past, at the most we’ve had 60 kids and now we’re pushing 115. Steady, I’ve got about 80 showing up for summer.
“I don’t know how it’s going to go during the school year, but right now I’ve got about 80 showing up.”
The Mustangs have been working out five days a week from 8 a.m.-11:30 a.m.
A typical day has the players stretching and doing form runs and then breaking off into individual offensive groups of backs, receivers and lineman before coming together and doing team offense where they run through plays. A short period also is dedicated to team defense on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Tuesday and Thursday are the days the defense gets the majority of the work.
Each day ends with a 45-minute session of lifting weights.
Middle school football teams in Okaloosa County do have spring football. But unlike high school teams that can go in full pads most of the month of May, middle school teams can only go in shorts and helmets.
“We do everything the high schools do; we just can’t get in full gear,” Sweatt said. “We have inter-squad and 7-on-7 passing-type things.
“We actually did about two-and-a-half weeks (of spring practice) this year. We did our spring the last three weeks of the school year.”
Sweatt believes that spring practice is more important than the summer workouts for his program.
It is in the spring that players who have never played football are taught the fundamentals of the game, such as a proper stance and where to line up.
When those important details are taken care of, the Mustangs have used the summer to start installing the offensive and defensive schemes they will use in the fall.
“The summer is basically all repetition,” Sweatt said. “Rep the same play. Rep the same play – defense and offense.”
The Mustangs will continue to work in the mornings until school starts Aug. 5 when they will start practicing in the after school.
Shoal River players will get to go in full gear for the first time Aug. 9.
Even with a short summer, all systems are go for the Mustangs as they prepare for the 2010 season.
“It actually worked out football-wise because they moved the season back,” Sweatt said. “Our first game isn’t until Sept. 2. We play a jamboree the week before that.
“Us and Davidson are going to do the same thing we did last year. We are going to play Walton a half on Aug. 20 (at Meet the Teams Night at Crestview High School).”
Editor’s note: We will look at the Davidson Middle School Panthers and how their summer has gone in Wednesday’s News Bulletin.
