Despite only practising for a little over a week, coaches of the Fort Frances Muskie football team have no question that the team is ready for Thursday’s game against Sturgeon Creek of Winnipeg.
“They will be ready,” said Muskie football coach Todd Calder. “Most of the guys on the senior team have a good idea of what they are doing out on the field,” he added.
“If you would have asked me two days ago if I thought the team was ready for Thursday’s game I would have been hesitant but after what I saw at last night’s practice, I am confident and really pleased,” enthused Greg Allan, who also helps coach the team.
But head coach Bob Swing said he isn’t sure how the team will do on Thursday because it is still to early to tell.
“At times, it will look like a chinese fire drill out on the field–games like this give us an idea of where we are and where we need to go,” explained Swing.
“It would be nice if we had one extra day before the game . . . I would be more comfortable,” explained Allan.
Mark Mercure echoed Allan’s comments noting that the next two practices are really important for the team.
“The senior guys are going to get more time in the game and the coaches will work the younger in–to see how they do,” he explained.
Calder stressed that the next few days at practice will be used to work on a few plays and execution of the plays.
“Most of the guys remember the plays–it is just seeing if they can remember how to run them,” noted Calder.
Allan noted that this is a good learning experience for both the players and coaches, adding the Muskies certainly will be heading into this game with basic defensive and offense skills.
“Obviously in the game there will be some kinks that need to be worked out–for us [this game] is seeing what we need to work on, not about winning,” he stressed.
Calder explained that this Thursday’s game will be used to decide where the players that are on the sometimes fine line between the “A” and “B” teams.
“There are a few players that are sitting on the ‘A/B’ squad border — we just want to look at them because we [the coaches] need to see if we should put them on the ‘B’ squad to give them more game time or put them on the ‘A’ team and use them in that way,” explained Calder.
“This is a totally ‘feel out’ process–it depends on timing and fitness and we just hope that no one gets hurt,” explained Swing.
Calder also noted that the team at this point is fairly balanced.
“Right now, we are fairly balanced . . . we have got a couple of younger players in a few of the positions but we are not going to worry about them,” he stressed.
“We will probably give up more points this game but we will get quite a few–our offensive is strong but our defensive need time to get,” noted Mercure.
“The only nice thing about this [game] is that the other team is in the same boat as we are,” said Swing.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
