Ironwood High School Football Program 2018 Summer Program/Start of Season Mission Statement: The Ironwood Football Program seeks to cultivate a committed student-athlete who acts with ethical character on the football field, in the classroom, within his family, and during his post-secondary life. WORK TO WIN! A Note from Coach Curtis: As we look to the immediate future of Ironwood Football, we are excited about the trajectory of the program and know there is great promise. Our coaching staff s philosophy is rooted in a quality student-athlete experience that combines academic success and personal growth while building a fiercely competitive football program. We have had three straight seasons with exceptional freshmen football teams. The 2017 team won 7 games; the 2016 team won 8 games, and the 2015 team won 7 games (out of a total of 9 games). Our current juniors earned a great deal of playing time during the 2017 varsity season and are already hard at work in our off-season program. Our immediate goal is clear: Prepare to win the 2018 5A Northwest Region. Winning is certainly a priority in our program, but we don t desire to win the wrong way. We adamantly choose to have the courage to win-the-right-way! You will not find members of my coaching staff prowling the sidelines of youth football games hoping to influence athletes to attend Ironwood. My coaches will not make phone calls or use social media to encourage students to attend Ironwood. We know that we can and will win if the 8 th grade students who attend our feeder schools come to Ironwood and invest in our program. We want the 8 th graders of Desert Palms, Desert Valley, Copperwood, Heritage, Marshall Ranch, and Sahuaro Ranch to choose Ironwood, and if we can make this a reality, the future is extraordinarily bright for Ironwood Football. Since the school opened in 1986, Ironwood has played in three State Football Championship games; however, we have not yet won the ultimate prize. To those who are interested in MAKING HISTORY and being part of a program that is focused on a culture of relentless effort, competitive excellence, and TEAM, we invite you to make Ironwood your school of choice. GO EAGLES! Contact Information Ian Curtis (Head Football Coach) icurtis@pusd11.net (Feel free to e-mail me.) Ironwood High School (Front Office) 623-486-6400 Mark Borkowski (Athletic Director) - MBorkowski@pusd11.net Mike Suman (Athletic Trainer) msuman@ pusd11.net Kathy Holmes (Athletic Secretary) KHolmes@pusd11.net
IMPORTANT 2018 Summer Events and Dates for IRONWOOD Football Players (COST = $50.00 per player for the entire summer. Pay in the IHS bookstore.) SUMMER Strength Training Location: Ironwood High School s Weight Room (Meet on the track to begin each day) Dates: From Wednesday, May 30, to the end of summer break (closed on Memorial Day and the week of July 4 July 10) Days: Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays TIMES: ALL INCOMING FRESHMEN: 7:00am to 8:30am COST: $50.00 (checks made payable to: Ironwood High School) Bring cash or check to Ironwood s bookstore. SUMMER Speed Training NOTE: We Location: are closed Ironwood s Memorial Main Football Day and Field the and week Track (bring of July sneakers 4 July and 10. cleats) There are no football activities Dates: on From these Tuesday, days. May 29, to the end of summer break. Days: Tuesdays and Thursdays TIMES: INCOMING FRESHMEN: 6:00PM to 8:00PM (EVENINGS) Cost: The $50.00 fee covers strength and speed training. SOME OTHER ITEMS TO CONSIDER All players must wear girdles (integrated pads hip pads, tail pad, and thigh pads) under their practice pants and game pants. You can purchase a five-pad girdle at a local sporting goods store or online. Make certain the girdle has integrated hip pads, thigh pads, and a butt pad. Don t purchase practice pants that have built in pads. Buy a padded FOOTBALL GIRDLE that you can wear under your pants during practices and games. Note: There are full girdles that have hip pads, tail pad, thigh pads, and knee pads; this type of girdle will work, too.
THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IS HUGELY IMPORTANT! We no longer use paper forms to clear athletes for participation. Instead, we now use Register My Athlete. This is an online program specifically designed for Ironwood athletes. All clearance information will be submitted online. It is simple to use, and accounts only need to be created one time in the student s high school career. Parents can go online at any time to keep information updated or upload physical forms, and athletes can choose sports they want to try out for. HERE IS THE ONLINE SITE: https://home.registermyathlete.com/login/ You may get started ASAP! All Ironwood football players must complete the online process before they will be allowed to participate in summer workouts on in-season participation. There are multiple items that must be completed, so please get signed up and started on this process ASAP! I also want our future student-athletes and their parents to know that I want Ironwood football players to participate in a host of activities during their years at Ironwood. We love to have players in our program who are also participants in other sports, clubs, and activities on our campus. You will never hear a football coach from Ironwood tell a member of the football team that he should only play football. We want our athletes to be involved in our campus and to strive to become extraordinarily well-rounded individuals. Coach Curtis
FOOTBALL EQUIPMENT HANDOUT Note: The online athletic clearance process must be completed prior to getting equipment. I will login to the Register My Athlete site; if it shows you ve completed the process, you ll get your gear. No Online Clearance = no football gear! EQUIPMENT DISTRIBUTION: SATURDAY, JULY 21 o Seniors: 8:00 to 9:15am o Juniors: 9:30 to 10:45am o Sophomores: 11:00am to 12:15pm o Incoming Freshmen: 2:00 to 5:00pm Everything will be provided (free of charge) to the players except for three items: a padded girdle, a combination lock, and football cleats. You can purchase a five-pad girdle from most of our local sporting goods stores, or you can order it online. Be certain the girdle has built in hip pads, tail pad, and thigh pads. Also, bring a combination lock with you. Each player will be issued his football equipment and will be assigned a locker in which to keep the equipment. YOU MUST HAVE A COMBINATION LOCK TO SECURE YOUR EQUIPMENT! Please don t use a keyed lock. Generally, players cannot wear their own helmets. However, if a player would like to do this, he must bring the helmet to Coach Curtis. The helmet will be inspected to see if it meets the requirements to be worn during a high school football game. The helmet color and facemask color must match the helmets that we already have in stock. All helmets must have a certification sticker that shows they were reconditioned in 2018.
Football Season Practices FIRST DAY OF PRACTICE: Monday, July 23, at 4:00PM o FOOTBALL PRACTICE BEGINS BEFORE THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL. The first football practice (for all levels) will be held on Monday, July 23, at 4:00PM. Be sure to wear your helmet, shorts, padded girdle under your shorts, t-shirt, and cleats. Get to practice early so you have time to get into the locker room and get dressed for practice. We will not wear full pads until the sixth practice of the season (Week 2). The first week of football practices will begin at 4:00PM and last approximately two and a half hours. (Practice start times are largely dependent on outdoor temperatures, so the start time may need to be altered if we re experiencing especially hot weather.) Additional information will be passed out in the weight room throughout the summer. If you re in the weight room with us all summer, you ll be far ahead of those who don t attend. We start installing our offensive and defensive schemes during the summer, so it s important for you to attend. MAKE THE COMMITMENT! Feel free to contact Coach Curtis with any questions that you might have. icurtis@pusd11.net