So I meant to post about my first practice of the season back when it happened, and as I rapidly approach my second practice of the year I figured I'll rehash what went down in my last practice now.
First, I live in Concord. The drive to Keene isn't horrible, it's scenic, it's a nice comfy drive, and this is coming from someone who hates to drive.
Our first practice wasn't in Keene, however. It was out in Rindge, which is south of Keene. The total trip took about an hour and 5 or 10 minutes and wasn't that bad actually. The next time I drive it I think it will go faster.
The girl came with me, and napped for a couple minutes on the way there. It was an indoor facility, really nice. It has indoor carpet turf (the old, bad kind), but it was still a nice facility. They used air to keep the bubble up and open and Jen sat on the other side of the revolving doors and red her book and watched. She was constantly being grilled by people about what we were doing and who we were. If she comes again, I'll have a writeup waiting for her so she can just hand it to them that will answer all their questions so she can sit there in peace and quiet.
We all got our sneakers and shorts on and just hung out for a bit, it being the first time a lot of us have seen each other since out 1-9 season ended last year with a loss to Seacoast. We warmed up a bit with some of the footballs and shot the shit for a bit before taking a lap around the surrounding track. We did our stretches and quick warmup and the Coach talked to us.
Coach mentioned we can play and tryout for any position but he reserves the right to have the final say in where we can best help the team. I've always been 100% fine with that, and I hope others will feel the same. He's just trying to put us in the best position to win. Nothing more. It's time to check the egos at the door and get ready for this season.
After that, we divided into two groups: offense and defensive line, and everyone else. I went with the WRs/TEs/FBs/RBs/QBs because I wasn't about to do drils I'd have no use for. I opted to play some catch with the big boys.
We ran some set patterns and stuff. I made most of the catches that were about 10-15 yards but after that, either the QB thought I was faster than I am or I just didn't run to the ball all that well. I almost made a crazy finger tip catch, but I brought it in too fast and lost the handle on it. I had a lot of fun. We did that for a while and then ran Pro Sets and formations.
A couple times guys were bragging to the new rookies about how great they were and how other people sucked on the team. Of course the guys they were bagging on weren't present. I hate cowards like that, and I'll look to nip that right in the ass when that happens again because that type of attitude is cancerous. If you can't say it to their face, don't say it at all.
Shortly after, we were done, set to come back at 7pm this coming Sunday. Jen and I hit Moritomo for some sushi stuff afterward, which I already posted about in a previous entry.
I'll try to keep better notes this practice as I'm interested in logging all of the practices and games for this upcoming season.
