Renovating a bathroom never used to be a spring priority for Matt Lowe.
However, during this unprecedented time, with his Powell High School football program sidelined for quite a while by the COVID-19 pandemic, the veteran head coach said he made about a dozen trips to a big box store to get necessary supplies.
“I didn’t do a lot of the work,” he said of the construction project. “But I was there to oversee it.”
The errands were just part of the job.
High school football, like almost everything else in Tennessee, was suspended in mid-March. That shut down Powell’s conditioning program right before spring break. After spring break, the Panthers would have had their 12 spring practices.
An edict from the TSSAA curtailed any team activities until the start of July. However, the governing body relaxed its mandate and allowed counties some leeway. Starting May 26, Knox County allowed high school athletes to return to workouts on a limited basis.
How that translates into the future beyond the start of July is still an unknown.
“Once you get into July, everything goes so fast,” Lowe said, referring to the preparations for the season that is scheduled to begin Aug. 21 at Greeneville. “Everyone’s in the same boat.”
Lost opportunities
Lowe is preparing for the third season of his second stint at Powell. His first run lasted six years, then was interrupted by five at The King’s Academy.
In other words, he’s been around a while.
The Panthers are coming off a 12-1 season that ended in the Class 5A quarterfinals with a 31-14 loss to West. Several key players from that team graduated, including quarterback Walker Trusley. Finding his replacement, and recognizing what other young players were ready to contribute, is what spring practice normally is all about.
“Spring is such a great time to get back to basics,” Lowe said. “It’s a huge competitive period within your own team. Who’s going to take that step up?”
Lowe said last spring more than 40 colleges sent coaches to those practices to evaluate potential recruits and invite the younger players to summer camp. Pandemic restrictions not only kept the visits from happening, but also eliminated summer camps at all the colleges.
“The opportunity to identify good, young players was lost,” he said. “That could have an impact on how recruiting is done. There’s a lot at a standstill.”
Time to grow
He’s not sure what it will look like, but Lowe is convinced high school football will happen this fall.
“Everybody needs it,” he said. “How many different sports benefit from a Friday night high school football game? So much depends on it.”
While they’ve had some time on their hands, Lowe and his assistant coaches have done what comes naturally: Talk football.
“Coaches love to talk football,” Lowe said. “Our staff has been involved in some virtual clinics where they’ve studied and learned football at a high level. We’ve all had a chance to grow through this.”
Adding to the anticipation of being back on the field is the opportunity to show off some new uniforms. Lowe went through an exhaustive process to get his program to be one of 200 in the country that will wear Jumpman uniforms, Nike’s Jordan brand, in the fall.
“What we’ve missed most through all this has been consistency,” Lowe said. “We are used to having a routine for our kids to work. That’s not possible now.”
Lowe said the players were given a workout schedule to follow before they were given the green light to return to those limited workouts. It was up to them to make it work.
“Hopefully, this time will help us appreciate what we have,” Lowe said. “When we’re finally able to get back to it, it will be a glorious and joyous day to spend time together and just hang out in the weight room and locker room. That’s where teams are made. It’s that time together that we’re missing.”
"football" - Google News
June 04, 2020 at 05:07PM
https://ift.tt/3dsGarL
Powell football aims for fall return after lost time, player departures - Knoxville News Sentinel
"football" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2ST7s35
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Powell football aims for fall return after lost time, player departures - Knoxville News Sentinel"
Posting Komentar