A later start for fall sports tryouts
Fall sports have always kicked off the athletic year, but for the first time in BVNW’s history, tryouts and practices began after school started.
Fall sports have always kicked off the athletic year, but for the first time in BVNW’s history, tryouts and practices began after school started. According to athletic director Steve Harms, this is the first time he has ever seen a season start after school resumes in his thirty five years of working in education.
While tryouts are starting a full week later than in previous years, Harms said the KSHSAA calendar is set up so there is still the same number of practice days before the first games.
As an old coach, Harms said he always enjoyed the practices before school started. Harms said he remembers when there was a time of a full two weeks of practices before school. According to Harms, the practices allowed for a more relaxed schedule with time to orient the athletes, get them prepared for the upcoming season and get them conditioned.
Head football coach Mike Zegunis said because many teams have summer conditioning and work outs, it should not affect programs too much. According to Zegunis, the football team went through a nine week program in the summer to condition, lift weights, and work on some football skills.
“Our receivers were catching passes and our quarterbacks were throwing,” Zegunis said. “We even had a chance to walk through offensive plays and stuff like that. We also did seven on seven and had camps. Just a variety of things that keep us busy all summer.”
After talking to several coaches about the change, Harms said many like the idea of starting school first because they are not so tired from practices.
“The way the coaches seem to think, it benefits programs by starting school and letting them see kids before practices start,” Harms said. “They can get orientated a little bit and get a little more under their feet with the organization of their classrooms and their teaching area.”
According to Zegunis, he cannot say whether he likes or dislikes the change in schedule just yet. However, Zegunis said having tryouts a week after school starts allowed him to check out equipment and do some other things in the first week because he did not have practice.
“It’s different,” Zegunis said. “I’ve been doing the same thing for over 21 years and so when there’s something different it’s kind of tough to swallow and it’s been kind of nice being able to see the students in the hallway before practice has actually started.”
Senior quarter back Jacob Rominger said the football team does two-a-days for five days as their tryouts. While the team may lose energy for school because of conditioning in the morning, Rominger said the positives outweigh the negatives with the schedule change. According to Rominger, one benefit is taking a burden off the parents of freshman players, only requiring parents to make two trips to school instead of the usual four to drop off and pick up their athlete.
“I like [the change],” Rominger said. “I think we get a lot more work done now. It’s only the first day, but we got a lot of conditioning done this morning so I think it’s going to be a good turn out. We’re focusing on the morning practices having a lot more conditioning and then team practices in the afternoon. We need to be a well conditioned team, especially if we have people playing on both sides of the ball. It will put us in the position to compete better during games.”
Harms said BVNW is looking forward to the start of fall activities and athletics. According to Harms, the fall season sets the tone for the rest of the year, and he is eager to see how it goes.
Rominger said he believes the football team has a very good chance of winning the EKL and making a run at state. According to Rominger, the team has a lot of returning players and a lot of offensive weapons they can utilize. On the defensive side, Rominger said the team will be able to hold teams to minimal points so the Huskies can pull off a win.
“I’m most excited for the fans, the school, and the community coming out to watch us play,” Rominger said. “Especially just running through the tunnel and everyone going crazy and seeing everyone in the stands. That’s one of the best feelings in the world.”
