What a year it's been for the LJHS Football team. Both 8th and 9th grade teams set records for the number of wins in a season (7). Records have been broken in the weight room. And we are going in to summer after having a terrific spring practice.
Summer is a very important time for the football team. This is because we have an opportunity to get better as individuals and as a team. Football is a sport where knowledge is as important as skill. This knowledge of the sport can come from different places. Some kids like to play Madden, watch football on TV, and some begin playing as a child. A lot of kids begin playing football at an early age, sometimes as early as 6 years old. Exposure to football at an early age allows them to learn the sport and the skills needed to be successful sooner than those that wait until later. A lot of our kids at LJHS do not begin to play football until they reach 7th grade. Their knowledge of the sport is behind others that have played earlier. This puts our team at a disadvantage. While we often have very skilled players at every position, their knowledge of the game is behind. This is why we put special emphasis on the summer.
Our summer is divided into 3 parts: Weight lifting, 7 on 7, and team camps.
Weight lifting is good for everyone. Players at LJHS work year round to develop themselves into the best athlete they can be. We pride ourselves in running a top-notched offseason program that makes every kid bigger, faster, and stronger. This commitment doesn't stop during the summer. It takes just 72 hours for muscles in the body to begin to weaken when they aren't being worked. If a kid takes off from weight lifting they will lose much of what they have gained. We don't want that to happen. Therefore, workouts happen throughout the summer.
7 on 7 are competitions that only involve the skilled (fast) players. These players would be the receivers, quarterbacks, defensive backs (corners and safeties), linebackers, and runningbacks. Kids usually wear helmets for safety, but there is no tackling. Also, there are no running plays. The only way to move the ball is by passing. These competitions help kids learn football in a safe and fun way.
Finally, we go to team camps. These aren't camps where we sit by a fire and make smores. At these team camps every player on the team puts on helmets and shoulder pads and competes against teams from all around. The rules are the same during a real game but tackling is not allowed. As you can imagine, going to these are very important to us. Players get to go against players from other teams, increase their knowledge of the game, and increase their skills.
In order for our kids to increase their knowledge, get better at their football skills, and become a better athlete we encourage every kid to make it to all summer activities.
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