Important Items on the Calendar: Lifting: During the month of May every player on the team needs to get at least three (ideally four) great weight room workouts in each week. Coach Petersen has set up a good program at school for the players to utilize if they are not in a spring sport. Players should complete their workout either during their lifting period or before/after school if they do not have a lifting period. During the summer we will lift as a part of our practice time, and during the season each player will be expected to follow the program rolled out in his lifting class during school. Maximizing our potential through diligent work in the weight room is going to be a critical component of our success as a team! Spring Practice: These will be full practice sessions in which we will meet in the classroom to install the playbook, practice on the field to go over what we learned, and build foundational football skills and techniques. We will finish with a lift for those who were not able to get it in during the day. Coach Petersen will not be able to be there because of responsibilities with his teaching job, so we will focus more on offensive scheme and technique for these four practices. The base schedule will be as follows: -3:20-3:50 PM: Classroom meetings -4:00-5:20 PM: On-field practice -5:30-6:10 PM: Lift for those who need it Parent Meeting: We will meet on Tuesday, May 15 for our pre-season parent meeting at Valley from 6:15-7:30 PM. More details to come on the room we will meet in. Please let me know if you have questions you would like addressed during our time together! Summer Practice: These will be full practice sessions with similar components as the spring practices. The base schedule will be as follows: -6:30-8:00 AM: On-field practice -8:10-8:50 AM: Skill players lift while Bigs meet/walk through -8:50-9:30 AM: Bigs lift while Skill players meet/walk through June 4-7 Valley Basketball camp: All football/basketball dual-sport athletes should talk with both Coach Haagsma and Coach Sundberg to determine the best balance of football and basketball for this week.
7 on 7 tournament and Big Man Challenge at NAU June 9: Because of space in the tournament, this will be for varsity athletes only. Some of you likely already know who you are, but I will do my best to have a good idea of who will be going by the end of our time in May. Feel free to reach out with questions. We will likely travel up north together on Friday, June 8 in the late morning or afternoon, stay together at a cabin near Flagstaff, and drive in for the tournament on Saturday morning. 7 on 7 games and the Big Man challenge both begin at 9:00 AM on Saturday and we are guaranteed at least 4 games. Small School 7 on 7 and Big Man Challenge June 15: This tournament is being hosted by Joy Christian and being held at the Glendale Youth Sports Complex. The tournament is specifically for small schools 1A through 3A and we will be taking both a JV and Varsity team in addition to any linemen who would like to participate. Games start at 8:00 AM and we are guaranteed at least 4 games for each team. PM 7 on 7?: This is on a few Tuesdays and Thursday in June. Our hope would be to compete with one or two other schools in a 7 on 7 competition in the evening on these days. We are still in the process of getting these set up with other schools, but wanted it to be on your radar. Obviously we will communicate specifics once we have them. Team Service Project June 19: We will begin together at 7:00 AM and get a great lift in as a team to start the day. Then, from around 8:00-2:00 we will be participating in a service project in the Phoenix area as a team. It is critical that we get beyond ourselves and learn the skills of selflessness and service, so we are going to trade a day of football practice to serve together as a program. More details forthcoming but you can save the day and time! Senior Retreat June 21-22: This will be a time of leadership development, spiritual focus, bonding, fun, vision-casting, and good food for all football seniors. We will leave immediately following practice on the 21 st and will return to Valley by 5:00 PM on Friday the 22 nd (perhaps earlier, more details to come). We will likely trip up to the Flagstaff area and stay in a cabin as a group. Week of June 25-29: We know that many families have trips planned for this time that is awesome! However, for young men who will be in town there will be four lifting sessions offered. Dead Week July 2-6: No football activities, this is a great week to plan family trips if you haven t already done so! Team Retreat July 17-19: We will practice Tuesday morning (7/17) as a program and leave immediately afterwards for our team retreat. We will take all 10 th -12 th graders and will return to Valley by Noon on Thursday. This will be a time of team bonding, fun, spiritual development, and vision-casting. There will be no football practice or workouts just team development. More details to follow, but this is a can t miss event for any young man planning to play Valley football this year! Week of 7/30-8/3: The calendar indicates that we may do a walk through from 9:30-10:30 AM during this week, right after lifting and meeting. This is in lieu of traditional two-a-day practices. The need to conduct these extra walk-through sessions will depend on how we are progressing schematically. We will communicate in the weeks leading up to this regarding if we will indeed hold the walk through sessions.