Blackman football ‘making some memories’
MURFREESBORO – Four days of two-a-day practices later, Blackman football coach David Watson gave his team an afternoon off to play and bond as a team.
The Blaze were treated with pizza, snow cones for lunch and inflatable water slides, a row of cornhole boards and human-hamster balls to play in after Thursday’s morning practice as a way to celebrate the end of the first week of practice in full pads.
“It was just a little fun, a little team bonding,” Watson said. “It was just something fun for the kids. I think high school is all about making some memories.
“This is just a reward for them.”
Blackman scrimmages Franklin at 5:30 p.m Friday at The Inferno in its first work in full pads against another team.
Watson said he picked up the idea from former Oakland coach Thomas McDaniel who did it his last couple of years at the Murfreesboro school and continued it at Christian Brothers.
Watson and the Blaze coaching staff surprised the team by having the inflatables set up on the opposite side of the high school from the football fieldhouse.
“He told us we were moving desks,” said Matthew Leifheit, a Blackman senior offensive lineman. “I was like, ‘I don’t think we need 170 kids to move some desks.
“This is definitely a reward for our hard work. I felt like we had a great week of practice.”
Players challenged each other and coaches to games of cornhole while others took turn climbing up inflatables and diving down into water. Others squeezed in the large plastic balls and raced each other.
“I heard the air compressors, and I wondered what was going on,” Blackman junior Joeseph Sewell said. “Then we just saw (the inflatables), and we just took off running.”
Sewell said his highlight of the day was the human ball. He challenged teammate Tony Ochoa to a race.
“We were watching a video on Twitter on it the other day,” Sewell said. “We were like, ‘We need to do that.’”
Senior quarterback Miller Armstrong said the coaches’ reward was welcomed and unexpected.
“It was a nice surprise after a hard week,” he said. “We have fun even in the hard work having to get up early and practice in the heat.
“But this is definitely more of a team-bond experience. It’s been a lot of fun.”
Reach Tom Kreager at 615-278-5168 and on Twitter @Kreager.
TODAY’S FOOTBALL SCRIMMAGES
MBA at Siegel, 9 a.m.
Eagleville at Huntland, 9 a.m.
Spring Hill at Riverdale, 4:30 p.m.
Franklin at Blackman, 5 p.m.
Smyrna at Centennial, 5 p.m.
Stewarts Creek at Page
La Vergne, Pearl-Cohn at Goodpasture