Practice makes perfect

It was the perfect day for high school football Wednesday.

The temperature wasn't blistering hot, there was a breeze and plenty of excitement in the air.

For the Batavia, Geneva and St. Charles East squads, everyone wearing a helmet or a whistle was ready to kick off the first official day of the 2008 season.

"We are really excited," Batavia coach Mike Gaspari said. "It's just a great time of year. It's a little different today because of all the things we do in the summer, but there's still a different excitement when we start the season as opposed to what we do in the summer."

"I told the kids today this is an exciting opportunity," Geneva coach Rob Wicinski added. "There's a lot of kids who don't do this, and you are. You have the opportunity to play a great game with good people."

Batavia began at 8 a.m., with Geneva starting an hour later. The Saints got off to a later start at 3 p.m. because of conflicts in some of the assistant coaches schedules and because the program wanted to try something new instead of having the players set an alarm early in the morning.

"I thought, 'Let's shake things up a bit.' Maybe going later in the day will be cooler," St. Charles East coach Ted Monken said. "We may fall flat on our faces and have this the worst thing we've ever done, and next year, we'll go back to 8 in the morning, but right now, we are going afternoons and evenings."

Both the Bulldogs and Saints stayed on their home turf, while the Vikings headed to Broadview Academy in La Fox - something they've done for the past 6 years. Geneva welcomed former head coach Jerry Auchstetter, who won 142 games from 1968-1986 and 10 more in 1992 and 1993, back into the program as an assistant.

All teams had permission from the IHSA to practice with pads in the summer. For the first three days official days of practice, they can't do that. Wicinski said the Vikings, who have practiced at the school all summer, needed a change in their surroundings to adjust to the no-pad rule for a few days. That's where Broadview comes in.

"It's a change of atmosphere," Wicinski said. "If we were back home, we couldn't get anything established. It's just a nice atmosphere, plus I'm a bit of a farm boy. I like having the cornfield in the background."

Gaspari said the Bulldogs' padless practices gives them the chance to mentally prepare. Monken said it's awkward at first, but it's the rules.

"There's no real guarantee the kids were here in the summer, so (the IHSA) knows everyone has to have three days of non-contact...this way, every kid is safe," Monken said. No one gets lost in the shuffle."

None of the coaches can predict the future, but even just after one day, they are all optimistic for this season.

"They made a nice commitment this summer," Wicinski said. "I think we'll play our best game the last game."

In his welcome-to-the-first-day-of-practice speech to the entire Saints football program, Monken stated, "The next week and half is not going to be easy," and how the team needs to be, "a family, like brothers."

"I think the kids like the first day of practice better than they like the second day," he said. "But we all look forward to it."

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