The sounds of squeaking shoes and coaches’ whistles could be heard as all the local fall sports’ teams in the state of Missouri stepped on the court or field in the first official regular season practice on Monday.
Most coaches say during their first day of practice it brings a sense of optimism and hope as coaches and players dream about what their season may bring in the way of championships and titles.
Each player will enter the fall sports before the school year even begins in mid-August after a long summer and try to regain the form they possessed during the camps and workouts over the last three months. But for sports like football, that can’t go full pads until later in the week because of a state mandated rule, it’s all about teaching the fundamentals. Coaches such as St. Vincent football coach Tim Schumer felt like the team had to take a step back to go forward.
“We were just in helmets on the first day of practice,” Schumer said. “So it was all about sharpening our fundamentals every day at practice and doing the little things correctly. Later in the week we will put the pads back on and get into the meat and potatoes of everything.”
St. Vincent returns an experienced squad with eight starters coming back on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball.
With that experience comes an understanding of what Schumer likes to do in the passing game and on defense. Couple that with camps littered throughout July and the Indians won’t be starting from scratch once the pads go on later in the week.