Local sports teams start fall practice

The sounds of squeaking shoes and coaches’ whistles could be heard as all the local fall sports’ teams in the state of Missouri stepped on the court or field in the first official regular season practice on Monday.
Most coaches say during their first day of practice it brings a sense of optimism and hope as coaches and players dream about what their season may bring in the way of championships and titles.
Each player will enter the fall sports before the school year even begins in mid-August after a long summer and try to regain the form they possessed during the camps and workouts over the last three months. But for sports like football, that can’t go full pads until later in the week because of a state mandated rule, it’s all about teaching the fundamentals. Coaches such as St. Vincent football coach Tim Schumer felt like the team had to take a step back to go forward.
“We were just in helmets on the first day of practice,” Schumer said. “So it was all about sharpening our fundamentals every day at practice and doing the little things correctly. Later in the week we will put the pads back on and get into the meat and potatoes of everything.”
St. Vincent returns an experienced squad with eight starters coming back on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball.
With that experience comes an understanding of what Schumer likes to do in the passing game and on defense. Couple that with camps littered throughout July and the Indians won’t be starting from scratch once the pads go on later in the week.

“We are just fine-tuning things at this point,” Schumer said. “We want to time the rhythm of what will work well and what can be improved on and get ready to rock and roll.”
The biggest aspect of the first days of practice for Schumer is playing at a varsity speed.
“We want to make sure we are playing fast and physical and not going through the motions,” Schumer said.
While some teams are going out on the field, others are trying to get the distractions out of the way early. Perryville boys soccer coach Jerry Fulton said that due to lightning in the area on Monday afternoon, his team took care of the mandatory concussion test and other smaller issues.
“It was an odd day because the storms came in and we ended up in the gym,” Fulton said. “We got all the distraction stuff out of the way. We passed out balls and pennies and did some things in the gym. It wasn’t a great day of practice by any means, but we always seem to have two or three of those days every preseason where we have to get out equipment and then there’s media day. We get those kids of days out of the way and go from there.”
Once the Pirates get on the field, it’s about coming together as a team.
“I want the guys to understand their roles and what is expected of them,” Fulton said. “We will make some adjustments from what we saw in the summer and try to prepare for the jamboree.”