Lucas Punkari
Aiming to build off the success of last year’s run to the Currie Division semi-finals, Muskie head coach Chad Canfield is hoping to see as many prospective players as possible turn out for the team’s opening practice this coming Monday (Aug. 20) at 6 p.m. at Fort High.
“Some might think that we are starting a little bit early, but all of the programs in the league start their year on this date,” Canfield noted.
“Over the last couple of years, we have seen people start to come out to practice a week after we are underway when the school year begins,” he added.
“And while you wouldn’t think that it would make that big of a difference, it really does.
“If you just take a look at our body of work at the start of last year, when we were late getting started, it makes things a little bit tough,” he reasoned.
Heading into the first night of practice, Canfield is hoping to have 40 players take to the field, with a heavy emphasis on those returning from last year’s quad.
“I know there are a couple of the returning guys that can’t make it out for the first week of practice because of work commitments and stuff like that, which is understandable,” he remarked.
“But we definitely need to have the majority of those guys out there right away if we want to get off to a good start,” Canfield stressed.
Canfield said the biggest need for the team to fill heading into this season will be on the offensive and defensive lines, which were hit hard by losses due to graduation, including team co-MVP Jamon Leonard.
“We have a good returning core coming back, especially in those skill positions, but we really need those lineman,” he explained.
“Those players in the skill positions can’t preform well if you don’t have those big guys on the line, and we have had our senior guys going out there to recruit some people.
“Hopefully, they will show up and we will have plenty of them,” he added.
The Muskies also will be looking to fill a hole in their coaching staff as assistant coach Shane Beckett won’t be returning to the sidelines this fall.
“Shane’s a great guy to have on the staff and he’s going to be a hard guy to replace, but he’s busy with all of the other athletics that are involved with the school,” Canfield noted.
“The rest of the staff is
planning to be coming back, but we are looking to hopefully get a couple more coaches to help out.”
The opening week of practice will run from 6-8 p.m. until the start of the school year on Tuesday, Aug. 28, when the start time will be moved up to 3:30 p.m.
“The first few days of practice will be spent working on the fundamentals so that the new guys can get up to speed with the terminology that we use,” Canfield said.
“After that, we will be very heavily-focused on the offence for the rest of the week.
“And then on the second week of practice, Bob Whitburn will be working a lot with the defence to get them straightened out,” he added.
The black-and-gold will open the 2012 WHSFL season at home on Friday, Sept. 7 versus the Elmwood Giants.
Those who have any questions about the upcoming season, or those interested in helping to coach the Muskies this year, can contact Canfield at 276-2755 or via e-mail at chad_canfield@hotmail.com
