Joey Payeur
The coach-to-player ratio was a little higher than Mike Cuzzolino would have liked, but he’s counting on it being the first step of a long and hopefully successful journey.
Only 15 players made it out Monday for the first evening of what will be a three-week Muskie spring football camp at Fort High.
“We’re not concerned with the low numbers at all,” said Cuzzolino, who is entering his third season as head coach.
“There’s soccer going on right now and we’ve got kids who would be out here who are practising with Team Northwestern Ontario at the Football Canada Cup [in Winnipeg this summer],” he noted.
“As well, there’s a school trip [to Italy] happening.”
Cuzzolino said it’s not unusual for the players to trickle in for spring camp at the start of the training sessions.
“We’re shooting for between 25 and 30 players to be out here eventually,” he remarked.
“I think it’s a pretty realistic expectation.”
The Muskies are coming off a 2-5 season which saw them finish ninth in the Currie Division of the WHSFL, then lose to the St. Norbert Celtics in the first round of the inaugural 4th Division playoffs.
It was essential to Cuzzolino to get spring camp underway as soon as possible to try and narrow the gap between the Muskies and the higher-end teams in the division.
“We decided to go a week longer than usual,” he noted.
“Most schools in Winnipeg just run a two-week spring camp, but they also get one or two exhibition games in there, as well.
“We don’t get that option so we decided to go with an extra week of practice,” Cuzzolino said.
“We just want to get the interest level up before we break for the summer.”
Cuzzolino wants improvement in every area of the field, but had his eye specifically trained on the offensive line—a place near and dear to his heart as he still plays in the trenches with a senior men’s gridiron team based in his hometown of Sault Ste. Marie.
“We lost four of our five offensive line starters from last season,” he noted.
“[So] we’re looking to build at the position and see if we can get some of the big bodies in the school to come and help out.”
While Cuzzolino wants to try players out at different positions during the spring camp to see where they might fit in best down the line, he said the most important goal of the three weeks is for them to have fun.
“We haven’t been able to be out here since the end of October,” he remarked.
“The place we want to be as coaches, and hopefully they want to as players, is on the field.”
The camp runs from 6-8 p.m. each weekday until June 3.
For more information, contact Cuzzolino at Michael.cuzzolino@mail.rrdsb.com
