Future grid stars begin season under hot sun

Dozens of determined young bullpups stood in a circle on the Schmuck Park ballfields as the sun sets on a scorching August afternoon.

While the sun may have made for a hot afternoon, these young future stars of the gridiron are feeling more heat from their thighs as they practice proper football stances.

“It really burns,” said Chris “Ox” Jones. “But it’s supposed to. You should feel like you’re doing squat thrusts.”

Colfax gridders in the third through sixth grades began practice Monday for this year’s Bulldog youth football season.

John Klaveano is entering his third season in youth football.

“It really makes you a better player,” he said. “It’s a lot of hard work, but it’s also a lot of fun.”

The youth football program is entering its eighth season. It started in 2002, one year after the high school squad booked a state 1A championship.

The program, led by coaches Keith Fulfs and Wayne Gregory, teaches the future of Colfax football the basic skills needed to dominate the field when they reach high school age.

“There’s a bunch of great coaches working with these kids, making sure they know what this game, and what team sports, is all about,” said High School Coach Mike Morgan.

The youngsters work on necessary footwork for guarding speedy receivers, learn how to position their bodies to stand up against charging linemen and, perhaps most importantly, develop the teamwork skills that allow them to support each other throughout their school careers.

“Ox” Jones said the neck strengthening drills, where the young athletes try to push up their heads while another pushes down on them, “kills.”

“My neck is so sore,” he tells a few of his teammates.

Morgan said the early teaching of sports skills has paid off.

“It makes a difference, it really does,” he said. “We’ve begun to see these kids come up through the high school program, and they’ve really got a lot more of it figured out.”

In the opening days of the high school football season, Coach Morgan said he is often taken aback by looking around and seeing his big gridders practice on one field, the junior high team on another and the youngsters playing each other in another section of the practice area.

“At any one time we have grades three through 12 on the field playing football,” he said. “And that’s a wonderful thing for these kids. I can’t say enough how important it is to keep our kids involved.”

Those kids, however, may want a little less involvement during the dog days of August.

As they pull off their helmets for a water break, a few of the players begin to compare sweat stains.

“You definitely sweat a lot more when its hot like this,” said Klaveano. “But it feels good. I know I earned this sweat.”