Two-a-days: A time for survival
The weeding-out process at Hilliard and other area high school is under way as football teams point for the openers on Aug. 30
By Steve Blackledge
Dispatch Sports Reporter
At 0800 hours sharp, the Hilliard High School football team, 79 strong, emerges from the stadium locker room amid a dense fog eager- make that ready- to tackle a daily mid-August ritual.
“This will be the hardest day in all of two-a-days for them,” said head coach/drill sergeant John Sines with a mischievous self-satisfied grin.
“It’s the day after opening day. Everybody’s sore and tired. I like it. I can start to separate the men from the boys today, the ones who will play on Friday night and ones who will play on Saturday morning. Let me see who can hack it.”
Over the next six hours, he got a much better idea. None too soon, with the first game on Aug. 30.
8:09 - The players run a team wake-up lap around the track before calisthenics.
8:21 - Conditioning progresses into a series of 40-yard dashes, followed by 100s.
Sines: “ Fellows, we’re running 40s, not 35s. I’m not an idiot. We can just move the starting line back 5 more yards if you want.”
8:40 - Strategy, philosophy, techniques and lots of Xs and Os are discussed in individual position meetings.
“This is my favorite time of year,” Sines said. “There are no outside distractions. It’s pure football. You get to teach. This is why coaches get into this business- to teach.”
9:10 - Everything covered is simulated in walk-through drills on the track.
“You learn something about two-a-days wherever you go,” said first-year defensive line coach Larry Wolf, former head coach at Academy.
“In all my years of coaching, I’ve never been associated with a team that had the hurry of using two-platoon system before. It’ll take some time getting accustomed to having my griup of guys and working with them every day.”
9:45 - As action shifts to the practice field, four assistant coaches engage in good-natured, chest-beating regarding their alma maters: Capital, Otterbein, Ohio Wesleyan and Wittenberg.
9:50 - Three-on-three drills get spirited. Gaining the upper hand becomes a pride issue among players and coaches alike.
Sines: “ What are you doing on your back, number 69? You’re just let down your whole unit!”
10:00 - As the sun finally breaks through, players break off into specialty groups.
10:12 - Wolf: “Aw, come on! You wouldn’t have broken a dozen eggs with that hit.”
10:20 - Sines: “Number 69, that was one hell of a block. You just blocked the wrong guy and took out two of our own linemen.”
10:35 - An injured player is on a golf cart with trainer Pam Fugitt. Sines seeks an explanation.
Fugitt: “ It’s a hip flexor of the knee.” (Actually, it’s bursitis).
Sines is not amused. “In all my years of coaching, I’ve never even heard of a hip flexor before,” he says. “We had about 25 of ‘em last year.”
11:15- Offensive and defensive backs converge for passing drills.
“ I guess that means it’s time for us to go assemble with the pachyderms,” says Wolf, referring to the offensive linemen.
11:45 - Time to break for lunch.
12:10 - A loud roar emanates from the locker room. One suspects that a younger player is enduring some sort of initiation.
12:20 - An equipment salesman and former college special teams coach, Steve Reese, enters the coaches office only moments before the afternoon session is to begin. Sines summons defensive coordinator Gene Keel to pick Reese’s brain about a specific punt-block scheme.
I’ve bought a lot of stuff from this guy before,” Sines said. “He wants my money. I want his knowledge. I don’t want to let him get out of here without getting something from him. Even though you work real hard on special teams, at this level you don’t have a true specialist teaching it. I think it’s worth our time to listen to this guy. He’s got some really unique ideas.”
12:35 - The players and coaches are a few minutes behind schedule and, worse, no one has brought footballs. Sines, who has carefully scripted every minute through the remaining of preseason workouts, isn’t happy.
12:50 - As temperatures continue to climb, tempers begin to shorten.
1:05 - They’re sore, they’re hot, they’re dyin’ like dogs right now,” Sines says. “If you can make ‘em do it when they don’t feel well and they don’t want to do it, you can teach them a mental lesson.”
1:20 - Sines gathers the troops and challenges them to prove their manhood:
“I know you’re dragging right now, but this is how you’ll feel in the fourth quarter, and we will not lose any games in the fourth quarter this year. The more tired you get, the harder you’ve got to concentrate. I don’t want to see any laziness or any mental breakdowns. If I do, everybody runs.”
1:50 - Peeved by a players quick lip, linebackers coach Brian Nichols explodes.
“ Don’t you ever mouth me again! Go run around both fields.”
2:05 - The 11-on-11 offense vs. defense matchups highlight the afternoon.
“I guarantee you nobody will dog it in this drill,” Sines says. “Every coach is watching this closely to see who steps, and the players know it.”
2:30 - After six hours of swim moves, post patters on and cross bucks, the toughest day of basic training is finally over. Some players trudge toward the locker room, others are slated for weight conditioning.
A few players, old and young, share their thoughts on two-a-days.
“The thing that really kills you about two-a-days is the length of it all,” senior running back Durance Mitchell said. “Sure, you dread it. Nobody likes this time of summer, but we all know how important it is, especially from a mental standpoint.”
Two-a-days are everything that sophomore quarterback Brad Shriver anticipated they’d be, maybe even tougher.
“They always tell you that it’s the hardest thing you’ll ever do, and that’s just the way it’s been so far,” he said. “For a young guy like me, the hardest part might be in learning everything.
“I can tell you this much: The coaches wouldn’t make you go through all of this stuff eight hours a day, six days a week if it wasn’t good for you.
“At least, that’s what you have to keep thinking out there.”
By Steve Blackledge
Dispatch Sports Reporter
At 0800 hours sharp, the Hilliard High School football team, 79 strong, emerges from the stadium locker room amid a dense fog eager- make that ready- to tackle a daily mid-August ritual.
“This will be the hardest day in all of two-a-days for them,” said head coach/drill sergeant John Sines with a mischievous self-satisfied grin.
“It’s the day after opening day. Everybody’s sore and tired. I like it. I can start to separate the men from the boys today, the ones who will play on Friday night and ones who will play on Saturday morning. Let me see who can hack it.”
Over the next six hours, he got a much better idea. None too soon, with the first game on Aug. 30.
8:09 - The players run a team wake-up lap around the track before calisthenics.
8:21 - Conditioning progresses into a series of 40-yard dashes, followed by 100s.
Sines: “ Fellows, we’re running 40s, not 35s. I’m not an idiot. We can just move the starting line back 5 more yards if you want.”
8:40 - Strategy, philosophy, techniques and lots of Xs and Os are discussed in individual position meetings.
“This is my favorite time of year,” Sines said. “There are no outside distractions. It’s pure football. You get to teach. This is why coaches get into this business- to teach.”
9:10 - Everything covered is simulated in walk-through drills on the track.
“You learn something about two-a-days wherever you go,” said first-year defensive line coach Larry Wolf, former head coach at Academy.
“In all my years of coaching, I’ve never been associated with a team that had the hurry of using two-platoon system before. It’ll take some time getting accustomed to having my griup of guys and working with them every day.”
9:45 - As action shifts to the practice field, four assistant coaches engage in good-natured, chest-beating regarding their alma maters: Capital, Otterbein, Ohio Wesleyan and Wittenberg.
9:50 - Three-on-three drills get spirited. Gaining the upper hand becomes a pride issue among players and coaches alike.
Sines: “ What are you doing on your back, number 69? You’re just let down your whole unit!”
10:00 - As the sun finally breaks through, players break off into specialty groups.
10:12 - Wolf: “Aw, come on! You wouldn’t have broken a dozen eggs with that hit.”
10:20 - Sines: “Number 69, that was one hell of a block. You just blocked the wrong guy and took out two of our own linemen.”
10:35 - An injured player is on a golf cart with trainer Pam Fugitt. Sines seeks an explanation.
Fugitt: “ It’s a hip flexor of the knee.” (Actually, it’s bursitis).
Sines is not amused. “In all my years of coaching, I’ve never even heard of a hip flexor before,” he says. “We had about 25 of ‘em last year.”
11:15- Offensive and defensive backs converge for passing drills.
“ I guess that means it’s time for us to go assemble with the pachyderms,” says Wolf, referring to the offensive linemen.
11:45 - Time to break for lunch.
12:10 - A loud roar emanates from the locker room. One suspects that a younger player is enduring some sort of initiation.
12:20 - An equipment salesman and former college special teams coach, Steve Reese, enters the coaches office only moments before the afternoon session is to begin. Sines summons defensive coordinator Gene Keel to pick Reese’s brain about a specific punt-block scheme.
I’ve bought a lot of stuff from this guy before,” Sines said. “He wants my money. I want his knowledge. I don’t want to let him get out of here without getting something from him. Even though you work real hard on special teams, at this level you don’t have a true specialist teaching it. I think it’s worth our time to listen to this guy. He’s got some really unique ideas.”
12:35 - The players and coaches are a few minutes behind schedule and, worse, no one has brought footballs. Sines, who has carefully scripted every minute through the remaining of preseason workouts, isn’t happy.
12:50 - As temperatures continue to climb, tempers begin to shorten.
1:05 - They’re sore, they’re hot, they’re dyin’ like dogs right now,” Sines says. “If you can make ‘em do it when they don’t feel well and they don’t want to do it, you can teach them a mental lesson.”
1:20 - Sines gathers the troops and challenges them to prove their manhood:
“I know you’re dragging right now, but this is how you’ll feel in the fourth quarter, and we will not lose any games in the fourth quarter this year. The more tired you get, the harder you’ve got to concentrate. I don’t want to see any laziness or any mental breakdowns. If I do, everybody runs.”
1:50 - Peeved by a players quick lip, linebackers coach Brian Nichols explodes.
“ Don’t you ever mouth me again! Go run around both fields.”
2:05 - The 11-on-11 offense vs. defense matchups highlight the afternoon.
“I guarantee you nobody will dog it in this drill,” Sines says. “Every coach is watching this closely to see who steps, and the players know it.”
2:30 - After six hours of swim moves, post patters on and cross bucks, the toughest day of basic training is finally over. Some players trudge toward the locker room, others are slated for weight conditioning.
A few players, old and young, share their thoughts on two-a-days.
“The thing that really kills you about two-a-days is the length of it all,” senior running back Durance Mitchell said. “Sure, you dread it. Nobody likes this time of summer, but we all know how important it is, especially from a mental standpoint.”
Two-a-days are everything that sophomore quarterback Brad Shriver anticipated they’d be, maybe even tougher.
“They always tell you that it’s the hardest thing you’ll ever do, and that’s just the way it’s been so far,” he said. “For a young guy like me, the hardest part might be in learning everything.
“I can tell you this much: The coaches wouldn’t make you go through all of this stuff eight hours a day, six days a week if it wasn’t good for you.
“At least, that’s what you have to keep thinking out there.”