Why We Do What We Do..... the timing of Spring Practice

When the KHSAA allowed football coaches to move their spring practice window to later in the spring, many programs chose to move their practice dates to April or May.  That gives them better weather and allows college coaches to visit and watch practice. We have continued to do ours immediately after basketball and here is why:

1- if there are injuries, we have more time to recover before the season begins.  By going early, we get the most opportunities for live contact. I think live contact is very beneficial, but it is tough to get live full-speed reps, and take the ball carrier to the ground, once you get to August. In preseason and inseason, we try to go live but stay on our feet. But, I think we do benefit by TACKLING to the ground in the spring.  I like the extra recovery time that our bodies have available.

2-By going early, our track guys can get back to track immediately. And, they can do both. If it were later in the spring, they could not do both. And, some kids would pick spring football over track... I don't want that to happen. We went early last year at Mercer and our guys went on to win a state title in track.   And, this is still HS. We want our guys to do everything while they can. 

3- It breaks up the offseason best. Outside of the weightroom and Perfection workouts, our guys have a good break from football and their bodies recover until July 10th. They also have time and the opportunity to watch Hudl and review what was new to them in the spring. We can hit those problem areas as needed between now and July 10th and have more flexibility in doing so.

4- Even though college coaches miss our spring practice, they can still come during the evaluation period and watch our guys run routes, throw, do drill work, etc.  Most of the time, they can still see what they want to see. 

5- Our high profile basketball athletes have a very active spring in April on the AAU circuit. I do NOT want them to have to pick between spring football and AAU basketball if I can help it. Basketball is important to them and I get that. You can be great in both, and I am good with working with a kid that wants to do both at a high level. We have a Mr. Basketball candidate on our team that has been to every single spring practice, worked hard, and had a great attitude. I am thankful we have him and I am going to work with him. 

We finish tomorrow with our spring scrimmage. We are banged up a little bit and we have had some very cold days. But, overall our time has been productive and we have had some very much needed live reps, 11 vs. 11.   Besides, it is spring time in Kentucky.  Some times March weather is better than April weather.  It is suppose to be cold!