Annual Monday night football sessions have begun for the Kernels, but their coach has had to make some alterations due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Under South Dakota High School Activities Association and National Federation of State High School Associations recommendations, there is a limit of 25 outdoor participants per session, which means there are three one-hour sessions each Monday. There are also no footballs or blocking pads used for sanitary purposes.
Mitchell is still in Phase 1 of a three-phase plan, and on Monday, the school board opted to table moving into Phase 2 -- which would allow up to 50 people outdoors -- until the June 22 meeting. Still, VanOverschelde remains optimistic about full participation when the first date of fall practice rolls around on Aug. 13.
“You listen to the conversation and you see some of the (COVID-19) statistics that are coming out with the state and what’s happening in our own county,” VanOverschelde said. “It looks like we’ve been successful (battling COVID-19) and grown in a lot of knowledge and understanding. Hopefully the calendar and the timetable work out that high school will be played in the state of South Dakota this fall.”
Without equipment, Mitchell -- which went 5-5 in 2019 and lost in the Class 11AA semifinals -- has geared summer sessions toward proper footwork, stances and other techniques in an attempt to eventually ease into more football-oriented drills when permitted.
Eventually, however, equipment will be a must in order to prepare for a potential season in the fall. While basketball players have been able to use balls that are personally distributed and immediately sanitized following workouts, quarterbacks and wide receivers are unable to work on passing drills.
VanOverschelde said blocking pads could be used, but it would be necessary to sanitize them after each individual repetition, reducing the efficiency of the practice.
“It would definitely set us back in our preparation, our timing and the things we do as a team,” VanOverschelde said. “But we’re relying on our players to be working individually. We put out the driveway drills, we have given them homework assignments like throwing a football or handling a football. We’re planning on getting the footballs back out later in June and get to where we need to be.”
Football is considered a high-risk sport for COVID-19 spread by the SDHSAA, but seven-on-seven football is in the moderate risk category. Seven-on-seven events are typically rare for Mitchell, but there are possibilities to attend some in July if the school continues to move through the recommended phases.
A team camp planned in June was canceled, but the usual middle school and lineman camps are tentatively scheduled for August and the VanOverschelde hopes to attend the annual Dakota Wesleyan University team camp, which is currently postponed. Should DWU opt not to host its camp, VanOverschelde has some contingency plans just in case, which includes the possibility of hosting a team camp with area schools.
With the coaching staff returning intact, VanOverschelde doesn’t believe his team will be set back too much with implementing and learning offensive and defensive schemes, compared to the installation of a new offense last summer.
“I think we benefit from that known system,” VanOverschelde said. “You always want to start your summer where you left off in the season and our summer is all about trying to look at things that we want to implement or are new. There isn’t any doubt that we benefit from a known system and we can hit the ground running.”
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June 10, 2020 at 07:00PM
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Kernels optimistic about possibility of upcoming football season as summer workouts begin - The Daily Republic
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