With August drawing to a close, high school sports are beginning to ramp up for another season.
The Dauphin Clippers football team began practicing, Aug. 9, with an average of between 25 and 30 players.
Incoming manager Jeff Micasew, who is taking over from the retired Cam Bennet, said it is always tough when it comes to the number of players in practice in the summer, because of family vacations and other commitments.
“We’re not going to tell kids, don’t go on vacation because you’ve got practice. But the young kids we’ve got, some rookies, have made a bunch of practices. The coaches have done a really good job of focusing our practices to getting conditioning and learning plays and positional aspects of the game. So it’s worked out really well that way,” he said.
Those rookies, Micasew said, seem to be catching on to what the coaches are trying to teach them. But it’s not just the coaching staff doing the teaching.
“We’ve got some vets that are really showing some maturity and helping these young kids along. I know back in the day, the rookies were kind of just off on the side. Our vets have done a really good job of taking these young kids under their wing and saying, ‘look, this is what you need to do.’ Just being more of a hand up instead of being a nuisance and you’re trying to take my spot type of thing,” he said. “It’s really good to see. From a teacher, educator standpoint. It’s good to see that type of thing.”
The schedule has been reduced to six games per team with the additions of the Falcons Football Club and St. Vital Mustangs, both from Winnipeg.
The Clippers will kick off the season on the road against the Falcons, Sept. 10, at 2 p.m.
The first home game isn’t until, Sept. 22 when the Clippers host the Interlake Thunder at 5 p.m.
Micasew expects the Clippers to be competitive this season.
“Just from what I’ve seen in practice, we’ve got some dogs with some bite in them. So I think we’ll be competitive. And that’s all you can ask for,” he said. “You always go into a season gunning for a championship.”
As much fun as it is to watch the players at practice, Micasew is looking forward to getting the season underway.
“The real fun is standing on the sidelines and watching everyone play and seeing the excitement in the kids’ eyes when they make a good play. It’s always good to see,” he said, adding the coaching staff continues to step up and put the work in to get the team ready. “Hats off to the coaches. As anyone who coaches knows, they put in a ton of work that probably never gets recognized. In June we had conditioning camps and guys were talking about getting plays ready and slotting in who do we think we have here and who we have there. They’re thinking about this long before August. So it’s always a good thing. So hats off to those guys.”
