Adam Prudhomme
Beaver Sports
Optimism was not in short supply in the NDSS Golden Hawks junior football training camp as the team held its first official practice on Tuesday.
A healthy 31 student-athletes turned out for the practice, which was held just after the first day of school. It was quite the jump for a school that not too long ago struggled to draw enough players to fill out their roster.
“There’s a decent amount of Grade 10s that have come back but there’s also a lot of new Grade 10s that have come out which is exciting to see,” said NDSS Golden Hawks junior head coach Curtis Brown. “We’re seeing a good amount of Grade 9s come out too so we’ve got a pretty good mixture.”
The coaching staff didn’t waste any time, jumping right in with blocking plays as they gear up for the KASSAA season. That too is a variation from previous years, when the first couple of days in camp would be spent explaining the rules of the game and the nuances of each position on the field. For most juniors, high school represented their first exposure to football.
“When we tell kids now to go into a position, they’ve got a pretty good idea where to go and what to do,” said Brown, who coached about half his current team over the summer while with the Loyalist Mavericks. “The football in the last 20 years, the level has come a long ways.”
Not only is the coach encouraged by the number of athletes in camp, but also in the early skill sets they’ve displayed.
Those that played with the team last year will look to pick up where they left off last year, going 4-2. Despite having identical records with that of Frontenac and Holy Cross, the Hawks were left outside the playoff picture by virtue of their head-to-head record.
“We’re hoping this is going to be another building year for Napanee football,” said Brown. “We have some good talent on the team, we just have to mold them.”
The Hawks will get their first game experience on Thursday when they host the Quinte Secondary School Saints for a pre-season match, starting at 4 p.m.
The KASSAA coaches are expected to meet next Tuesday with the regular season schedule for all the fall sports teams to be released within the next week.