>> THERE’S NO FOOTBALLS PERMITTED AT HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PRACTICE IN THE STATE RIGHT NOW, BUT AS SUMMER WORKOUTS BEGIN ACROSS SOUTH CAROLINA, UPSTATE COACHES ARE GETTING CREATIVE, ADHERING TO THE PLAYBOOK WHILE WORKING TO IMPROVE, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, KEEPING EVERYONE HEALTHY. >> I FEEL REAL SAFE, AND I’M PRETTY OLD, SO IF I FEEL SAFE, I THINK EVERYBODY FEELS PRETTY SAFE >> MASSIVE FIELDS, MINIMALLY FILLED, THAT’S LIFE IN PHASE ONE FOR HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL TEAMS ACROSS THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA. >> I’M JUST GLAD THEY’RE SHOWING UP. WE CAN’T HAVE BUT 9 OUT THERE, THEY WILL GET WINDED, THEY WILL GET TIRED. >> THEY’RE IN BETTER SHAPE THAN WE THOUGHT, NOW WE’VE HAD A COUPLE THROW UP OUT HERE, BUT THAT’S NORMAL, THAT’S EVEN IF WE’RE IN THE WEIGHT ROOM. >> 45 MINUTES IN THIS HEAT, THEY WILL BE IN GREAT SHAPE. >> SCHSL GUIDELINES LIMITING GROUPS TO NINE STUDENTS AND A COACH PER FACILITY, BE IT FIELD, WEIGHT ROOM, OR GYM. >> THE KIDS HAVE ADAPTED TO THE GUIDELINES AND THE PROTOCOLS HAVE BEEN FOLLOWED AND OUR COACHES ARE DOING A GREAT JOB SO FAR. >> PICK YOUR FEET UP. YOU HAVE GOT TO PICK YOUR FEET UP SOMETIMES. >> AT WREN HIGH SCHOOL, THE DEFENDING STATE CHAMPIONS ARE WORKING IN FIFTEEN GROUPS A DAY, WITH LINEMAN SPENDING THEIR 45-MINUTE SESSIONS IN THE WEIGHT ROOM AND SKILL PLAYERS FOCUSED ON FIELD CONDITIONING DRILLS, — >> IT’S NOT ANYTHING TOO DIFFICULT, WE TRY NOT TO OVERTHINK THE PROCESS, GIVE TH TOO MUCH TO DO, WE WANT TO GIVE THEM ENOUGH WHERE WE CAN GRADUALLY WORK THEM INTO SHAPE AND AS THE WEEKS G BY, HOPEFULLY WE CAN ADD ON A FEW MORE EXERCISES. >> THINGS GOING SMOOTHLY FOR DORMAN, AFTER TEMPERATURE CHECKS, WHICH ARE UNIVERSAL AT ALL SCHOOLS IN THE STATE. CAVALIER GROUPINGS HAVE AN HOUR TO SHUFFLE FROM STATION TO STATION IN INTERVALS. FIFTEEN MINUTE KETTLEBELL WORKOUT, FIFTEEN MINUTE POSITION WORKOUT. THEN THE THIRD IS ALL CONDITIONING, THEN THE FOURTH IS BACK TO CONDITIONING. NORMALLY, WE ARE READY TO PLAY FOOTBALL GAME RIGHT NOW. WE HAVE GOT TO BE CAREFUL WITH THAT. >> WITH SOCIALLY DISTANCED SETUPS AND COACHES WEARING MASKS, TEAMS HAVE PUT A PARAMOUNT ON HEALTH AND SAFETY. >> WE HAVE NOT HAD A SINGLE PARENT THAT FELT LIKE WHAT WE HAD IN PLACE WASN’T SAFE >> I’M NOT TOO WORRIED ABOUT CATCHING ANYTHING RIGHT NOW. NOTHING TOUCHED INVOLVED, THEY’VE BEEN DOING A GREAT JOB. >> WE TOLD THEM THAT SAFETY WAS GOING TO BE THE NUMBER ONE CONCERN. I TOLD THE PARENTS LAST WEEK I CAN’T GUARANTEE THEY WON’T CATCH THE VIRUS, BUT I DON’T THINK THEY WILL CATCH IT HERE. >> BUT WITH NO FOOTBALLS IN SIGHT AT THE MOMENT, AND NO TIMETABLE YET FOR WHEN TEAMS CAN MOVE TO PHASE TWO, THESE SUMMER DRILLS ARE ABOVE ALL, A RETURN TO NORMALCY, EVEN IF THERE’S NOTHING NORMAL ABOUT IT. >> I’VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT IT ALL BREAK, REALLY WHAT KEPT ME GOING OVER QUARANTINE. >> HOPEFULLY, WE WILL CONTINUE TO GO IN THIS DIRECTION. IF WE DO THAT, HOPEFULLY WE CAN KEEP THEM HEALTHY AND HAVE SOME SPORTS THIS FALL. >> THE SCHSL HAS YET TO RELEASE GUIDELINES ON WHAT PHASE TWO WILL LOOK LIKE OR WHEN IT WILL BEGIN, BUT THE COACHES WE SPOKE OPEN TO BEGIN BY JULY, WITH LARGER GROUPS THAT WOULD ALLOW TEAMS TO BEGIN ACTUALLY WORKING
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High School football teams adjust to new reality during Phase 1 of return
Updated: 8:24 PM EDT Jun 15, 2020
Massive fields, minimally filled. That’s life in phase one for high school football teams across the state of South Carolina launching summer workouts in the midst of a pandemic.“I feel real safe, and I’m pretty old,” Dorman head coach Dave Gutshall jokes. “If I feel safe, I think everybody feels pretty safe.” “I’m just glad they’re showing up,” adds Wren head coach Jeff Tate. “We can’t have but nine out there, they will get winded, they will get tired. But if they’ll go hard for 45 minutes, they’re gonna be in great shape.”“They’re in better shape than we thought,” Gutshall says of his team. “Now we’ve had a couple throw up out here, but that’s normal, even if we’re in the weight room.”With South Carolina High School League guidelines limiting groups to nine students and a coach per facility, be it field, weight room or gym, teams are making their own decisions about the most efficient ways to practice. At Wren High School, where the defending state champions have been joined by members of the middle school squad, the Hurricanes staff have split a surplus of 100 students into 15 groups. For now, their 45-minute sessions are spent in one facility, with lineman bulking up in the weight room and skill players focused on improving conditioning in field drills. “It’s not anything too difficult, we try not to overthink the process, give them too much to do,” Tate said. “We want to gradually work them into shape and as the weeks go by, gradually work in a few more exercises.”In Roebuck, things are going smoothly for Dorman. After temperature checks, which are universal at all schools in the state right now, groups of Cavaliers have an hour to shuffle from station to station in intervals. “We start them with weights, they’ve got a 15 minute kettlebell workout,” Gutshall said as he outlined a typical day for his team. “Then they go to field one, where they do a 15 minute position workout. Then the third is all conditioning, and then the fourth is back to position. Usually we’re ready to play a football game right now and we haven’t seen these kids in two months, so we have to be careful that we slowly adjust them.”With social distanced setups and coaches wearing masks at all times during instruction, teams have put a paramount on health and safety. “We have not had a single parent that felt like what we had in place wasn’t safe,” said Tate.“I told the parents last week I can’t guarantee they won’t catch the virus, but they won’t catch it here,” Gutsall added. “We’re doing everything that’s recommended.”“I’m not too worried about catching anything right now,” Dorman senior wide receiver and defensive back Dee Rice-Williams said. “Nothing touch involved, they’ve been doing a great job.”But with no footballs in sight at the moment, and no timetable yet for when teams can move to phase two, these summer drills are above all, a return to normalcy, even if there’s nothing normal about it. “I’ve been thinking about it all break,” Rice-Williams said of returning to the practice field with his teammates. “It’s really what kept me going over quarantine.”
Massive fields, minimally filled. That’s life in phase one for high school football teams across the state of South Carolina launching summer workouts in the midst of a pandemic.
“I feel real safe, and I’m pretty old,” Dorman head coach Dave Gutshall jokes. “If I feel safe, I think everybody feels pretty safe.”
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“I’m just glad they’re showing up,” adds Wren head coach Jeff Tate. “We can’t have but nine out there, they will get winded, they will get tired. But if they’ll go hard for 45 minutes, they’re gonna be in great shape.”
“They’re in better shape than we thought,” Gutshall says of his team. “Now we’ve had a couple throw up out here, but that’s normal, even if we’re in the weight room.”
With South Carolina High School League guidelines limiting groups to nine students and a coach per facility, be it field, weight room or gym, teams are making their own decisions about the most efficient ways to practice. At Wren High School, where the defending state champions have been joined by members of the middle school squad, the Hurricanes staff have split a surplus of 100 students into 15 groups. For now, their 45-minute sessions are spent in one facility, with lineman bulking up in the weight room and skill players focused on improving conditioning in field drills.
“It’s not anything too difficult, we try not to overthink the process, give them too much to do,” Tate said. “We want to gradually work them into shape and as the weeks go by, gradually work in a few more exercises.”
In Roebuck, things are going smoothly for Dorman. After temperature checks, which are universal at all schools in the state right now, groups of Cavaliers have an hour to shuffle from station to station in intervals.
“We start them with weights, they’ve got a 15 minute kettlebell workout,” Gutshall said as he outlined a typical day for his team. “Then they go to field one, where they do a 15 minute position workout. Then the third is all conditioning, and then the fourth is back to position. Usually we’re ready to play a football game right now and we haven’t seen these kids in two months, so we have to be careful that we slowly adjust them.”
With social distanced setups and coaches wearing masks at all times during instruction, teams have put a paramount on health and safety.
“We have not had a single parent that felt like what we had in place wasn’t safe,” said Tate.
“I told the parents last week I can’t guarantee they won’t catch the virus, but they won’t catch it here,” Gutsall added. “We’re doing everything that’s recommended.”
“I’m not too worried about catching anything right now,” Dorman senior wide receiver and defensive back Dee Rice-Williams said. “Nothing touch involved, they’ve been doing a great job.”
But with no footballs in sight at the moment, and no timetable yet for when teams can move to phase two, these summer drills are above all, a return to normalcy, even if there’s nothing normal about it.
“I’ve been thinking about it all break,” Rice-Williams said of returning to the practice field with his teammates. “It’s really what kept me going over quarantine.”
