VALDOSTA —
Only a few days remain until the Valdosta Wildcats will be able to put on their pads.
Rance Gillespie can’t wait.
Gillespie, Valdosta’s head coach, looks forward to starting full contact practices, and getting ready for the season.
“We’re excited about that. We’re ready to put the pads on and see what we can do,” he said.
Full contact practice begins on Wednesday. Valdosta will head to the practice field early that morning to start working, then will return to the field that night for another practice.
The team’s first official fall practice (in helmets and shorts) was held last Wednesday.
“We had two good days (on Wednesday and Thursday),” Gillespie said. “It’s more of a practice (than our summer workouts were). We’re actually running plays and (practicing). It’s a step up. The thing that I think it allows us to do more than anything is it allows us to transition and start a new phase. So the mentality changes. I think that has helped us probably more than anything else.”
For the first official week of practice, teams must work out without pads (helmets are allowed), and practices can only last a certain length of time. Those are two of the regulations the GHSA has put into place in an attempt to help players acclimate themselves to practicing in hot summer temperatures.
The Wildcats have been holding summer workouts on hot mornings all summer, so acclimating to the heat should not be a problem for the players.
“We just got back from a passing tournament where these kids threw from 9 (a.m.) until 3 or 4 in the afternoon. They were out there with no wet bulb for a long period of time for 6-8 hours. But not everybody does what we do,” Gillespie said. “I figure (the acclimation period) should roll pretty smooth.”
The Wildcats’ coaching staff and trainer Jay O’Brien are paying close attention to the temperatures. There have been a number of heat-related injuries — and fatalities — in the last few years. Valdosta, which sometimes practices in temperatures that approach 100 degrees, takes the issue seriously.
“We’ve been monitoring it all summer,” Gillespie said. “We’re trying to see (the temperature) at different times during the day, even when our kids aren’t out there.”
The coaching staff has been arriving before practice and working until around 5 p.m. each day. In August, as the season gets closer, they will begin working longer hours.
Valdosta will start camp on Wednesday. On days they practice twice, they will practice at 6 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. to avoid the hottest parts of the day. On the days they can only practice once, that practice will be held at 6:30 p.m.
Last week, the Wildcats competed in a two-day passing tournament in Moultrie. They made it to the semifinals before getting eliminated.
“We started out as well as we have in three years (at the tournament). We were undefeated in pool play. It was as good as I’ve had a team play for really a day and a half,” Gillespie said. “Then we had a game come up where we did not play good. We just didn’t play good. Then we came back from that and played good again (in our next game). Then the game that put us out of the tournament, we played OK. We didn’t play terrible. But in those things, you can’t play OK (and expect to win).”
Valdosta’s season opener is Sept. 1, when the Wildcats will travel to Suwanee to play North Augusta (S.C.) in a kickoff classic at North Gwinnett High School.
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Related Photos
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Valdosta quarterback Shelby Wilkes throws a pass during practice last week. Paul Leavy | The Valdosta Daily Times
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Valdosta wide receiver Bradley Felkel breaks away from a pair of defenders during practice last week. Paul Leavy | The Valdosta Daily Times
Discussion
’Cats ready to put on pads
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