Our Hardknock coverage has begun, Get ready because football is coming quickly and there isn’t much time left for these boys to get in shape. That was clear on Day-1 where Coach Galliano or “Coach G” as his players refer to him made his young men run for their lives.
They only had a couple of weeks off of workouts, but between the heat and the Taco Bell, they have been eating getting through the first day of conditioning was nothing less than severe.
The assistant coaches were mixed around the field giving instruction, encouragement, but also calling out all the players who were not giving full effort or completing drills, forcing the rest of the team to have to go again. Coach G has his team very organized and is running his program similar to a college. He didn’t even have to instruct the players on what was going to happen; they automatically reacted to the sound of his whistle changing drills. There were quite a few kids who are new to the program, but they seemed to have caught on to the program rather quickly.
Day one was all about conditioning and preparing for the upcoming weeks of practice. At the training, a player asked the assistant coach: “how many of these are we going to do?.” And the coach’s assistant answered: “We will keep going until we are done.” The response from the coach brought a smile to my face and took me back to being one of those kids in that same field. The player and coach shared a laugh and smacked hands afterward, showing that these players have a sincere fondness of their coaches.
Coach G asked the team to help set up the sleds for the next practice. As a team, they moved equipment that weighs well over 500 pounds. When everything was finished, Coach G had the team take a seat at the 50-yard line for a meeting. He told the players what to expect and what he expects out of them. They went over their contracts, appropriate behaviors, grades, how to conduct themselves in his field, and their spirit packs.
For more pictures of the first day of practice, go to Author Kyle Rae Headlee on Facebook where I will be continually uploading pictures of San Jacinto Hardknocks this season.
