Coach Flip Naumburg's Journal

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

NOTHING IS OFFICIAL

We had our first unofficial guerilla practice yesterday, and damned if 45-50 of them (players and potential players) didn’t find the right place to be, the ground zero du jour.

YOU NEVER GET A SECOND CHANCE TO MAKE A FIRST IMPRESSION

You really don’t ever get a second chance to make a first impression, do you? Is that a good thing, bad, both, or neither?

As coaches we got a great first look at raw "tryouts" in the scrimmage that is for sure. What can be less seasoned or contrived than day one of the entire year with 25 new kids mixed in with 25 of the usual suspects? Even with all the obvious and newfound unfamiliarity it was a fun and relatively clean scrimmage. I did blow the whistle every time it got too ugly for me to watch, but that was only a few times. I would then reset things the way I liked and on they would play.

My guess is that we will have 50 or so again this afternoon as well, but that 20 of them will be different faces from yesterday’s 50. That chaotic number that changes a lot but also remains the same sort of defines the beginning of fall ball. We won’t even have a real scheduled meeting until Monday. I was somewhat amazed at the first day’s turnout.

CAN YOU SAY STUDENT ATHLETE? I sure as hell hope so.

Right now I want them to go to class and basically prioritize the business of "getting" college life. I did indeed give my "temperance" speech yesterday, day one. The best part of how that went was that captains and coaches followed me up and spoke further and backed me by adding more good stuff to my line of thought and talk. That is always better than a good thing.

After that I also talked just a little about how "we" want to play on the field, and then we went out and started to try and make that style of play happen right away, no joke. The weather was perfect. There was a little rain before practice to wet things down, but it became clear and warm when we played.

DON'T GET ME STARTED

We have one player who apparently wants to torment me. He has another year of eligibility because he did not play at all as a freshman, he is in school now and taking classes toward graduation but is threatening to actually graduate and leave for a real job at the end of this first semester. That is all well and good for him, but what about me? He comes out yesterday and makes a mockery of our defense, looking fit as a fiddle on day one while he was at it. How can I help but think about what it would look like with him as a bullet in our offensive game plan gun?

DO NOT FORSAKE ME – stay and cuddle

So, don’t come out here and show me this kind of passion and skill all autumn, and then turn around and leave me later like I was some kind of one night stand.

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