BDHS Football Working Hard In Unique Times

With the calendar flipping to July 1st, high school football coaches are allowed to have direct contact with their players as they begin preparations for the 2020 season.  Working through COVID-19, coaches will be dealing with a unique set of guidelines as they try to get their work in and also keep players and coaches safe.

Beaver Dam High School’s football team has their contact days scheduled for July 13th to the 16th.   Head coach Brock Linde says that this year’s contact period will look totally different than a traditional one.  Normally they would be installing their offense, defense and special teams during those days, working through individual drills and culture building.  Now with current guidelines from CDC, National Federation of State High School Associations and WIAA, the preliminary plan will be to push workouts into smaller groups of players.  They might even end up splitting the team into two groups. He says that it will be almost impossible to go 11 on 11 and run normal drills.

Linde says the priority when they meet as a team will most likely shift to getting back into shape, and working on agility, speed and overall athleticism.  He says they can also do more chalk talks to help with the install of their schemes.   Linde adds they can also use the time to work on the core culture and vision for the season, as that can be done without a whole lot of risk of physical contact.

With real training camp set to open up in August, he’s not quite sure what will happen with regulations when those dates hit and he has no idea what the season may look like at this point.  Right now, it looks like the WIAA will leave guidelines for play and practice up to local health, government and school officials.  Linde says he can’t see the guidelines changing much between now and then but locally they will figure out the best and safest way to get kids together.  He says kids need that interaction with others as the try and get them physically active and competing again under the umbrella of being as safe as humanly possible.

So far this offseason, coach Linde says that he’s been pleased with the commitment his players have been showing to work out on their own in these unique times. Once the fields opened up in Beaver Dam, some kids have chosen to workout out in small groups.  He says players have also been working on their strength and conditioning at Sports Advantage inside the Family Centre Ice Arena where they have done a good job of keeping the facility clean and safe.  Linde thinks that will leave the team in a good place physically when they do meet again as a team.

Linde says he thinks that once training camp starts, he thinks they will have over 100 kids participating in football at the 9th through 12th grade level this season.  He says its been an interesting offseason with a lot of confusion and uncertainty but they are trying to push things forward to create the best version of Beaver Dam Football as they can.

Click the link to hear more from Beaver Dam Football Coach Brock Linde

If you have a question about this story or have an idea for a future local sports story, please email Wade Bates at ddsports@goodkarmabrands.com