The football field house buzzes with excitement as people start flooding in. Players start to get dressed out, while trainers start filling up water bottles, managers work on filling up the equipment boxes and setting up their camera equipment. Head manager junior Kennedie Smith moves quickly to make sure everybody knows what they need to do and when they need to do it. A coach yells that practice will start in a few minutes as everybody readies to take to the field.
Spring football started on Apr. 25 and finished May 23, with their spring game held at the LHS stadium on May 24.
“I like the environment of being a team and the feeling of having a family inside a family,” Kennedie said. “It’s getting back into the groove of football, and you kind of get an inside look of what the team is going to be like in the fall.”
For players, spring ball can be a little like tryouts. It serves as an important time for coaches to assess their skill and improvement since offseason was put in progress.
Spring ball also becomes an opportunity for the entire organization to get closer. Although some athletes might find the pressure-heavy atmosphere of spring ball stressful, freshman Caleb Stevens spent all of his freshmen season recovering from injury. This spring, Stevens has been working to not fall behind his peers. Though after a 1-9 season from the freshmen last fall, Stevens believes that the entire team is making the same effort.
“I feel like I’m playing catch-up, but I’m not gonna let that affect the way that I try my best,” Stevens said. “ Every team has something to prove. If we work together as a team and stay as a family, we will become something of ourselves.”
The varsity football team will be back on the field for the start of their fall season on September 1. Spring ball gives them an opportunity to work on developing the younger athletes who will replace those who have graduated. There’s also a chance to work on enhancing the skills of those returning starters who will be the backbone of next season’s team.
