Name: High school football: Coaches adapt without traditional spring practice
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High school football: Coaches adapt without traditional spring practice

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Sent weekly directly to your inbox!Please subscribe to keep reading. You can cancel at any time.Loading&amp;hellp;{{title}}{{description}}{{banner}}(renews at {{format_dollars}}{{start_price}}{{format_cents}}/month + tax){{tagline}}{{special_title}}{{html}}You are the owner of this article.You have permission to edit this article.© 2022 Lee EnterprisesShare ThisHigh school football: Coaches adapt without traditional spring practiceShare thisIn a normal year, state high school football teams would have been conducting spring practice during the past two weeks, and some would have continued into this week before heading to team camps and 7-on-7 leagues.But the COVID-19 pandemic has shut down Oklahoma high school athletics since mid-March.However, most Tulsa-area school districts are planning to begin allowing for a resumption of conditioning drills and weightlifting, and in-person contact between coaches and players on June 8, under close medical supervision and disinfecting requirements.“June 8 — hurry up and get here,” Broken Arrow coach David Alexander said. “We’ll be ready to go.”Alexander’s comments are shared by most other area coaches eager to be back with their players.“We’ve been missing being around our kids,” Bixby’s Loren Montgomery said.Added Lincoln Christian’s Jerry Ricke, whose team is coming off the Class 3A state championship, “We’re excited to get around our kids and get ready for the season.”Said Union’s Kirk Fridrich, “To get everyone back together will be a lot of fun.”Although coaches couldn’t be with their players in a traditional spring practice on campus, there was still plenty of preparation going on this month. Most coaches tried to do as much as they could with their players in virtual meetings.“We tried to treat it like spring practice,” said Blankenship, who has led the Rams to two 6AI state titles in the past three years. “We would have a brief team meeting, then the offenses and defenses would go into separate rooms and then players would go to their position coaches.”Added Montgomery, who has coached Bixby to five 6AII state titles in the past six years, “With Google Classroom, we were able to get some installs done virtually and our video playbook sent out to our kids.”But as helpful as technology has been to stay in contact with his players, Collinsville coach Kevin Jones said, “It’s not quite the same doing it over Zoom or FaceTime. We’ll be excited when we get the kids back and will use every precaution.”The time not spent on the field also gave coaches an opportunity to do some other preparations they might not have had time for otherwise in the spring, such as extra time scouting their 2020 opponents or even their own team.“We want to make sure we haven’t fallen into any predictable patterns,” Montgomery said.Ricke has organized his team’s video library. At Broken Arrow, Alexander spent more time this spring than usual giving updates, once a week, to the Tigers’ Booster Club in Zoom meetings.Blankenship has been a coach for over 35 years and coached six state championship teams, but this year will present unique challenges.“A lot of times you’ll see things and remember what you did when you faced a similar situation previously,” Blankenship said. “But this is unlike anything we’ve ever experienced.”Barry Lewis 918-581-8393Twitter: @BarryLewisTWSent weekly directly to your inbox!Voting ends at 10 a.m. Tuesday.{{title}}{{summary}}You don't have any notifications.Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device.Topics

Sent weekly directly to your inbox!Please subscribe to keep reading. You can cancel at any time.Loading&amp;hellp;{{title}}{{description}}{{banner}}(renews at {{format_dollars}}{{start_price}}{{format_cents}}/month + tax){{tagline}}{{special_title}}{{html}}You are the owner of this article.You have permission to edit this article.© 2022 Lee EnterprisesShare ThisHigh school football: Coaches adapt without traditional spring practiceShare thisIn a normal year, state high school football teams would have been conducting spring practice during the past two weeks, and some would have continued...

High school football: Coaches adapt without traditional spring practice

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