WCHS teams back to work after dead period

BY TAMMY WILHITE
Sports editor
pistol@myspartanews.com
Published: Thursday, July 10, 2008 11:17 PM CDT
High School athletes’ two-week vacation is officially over.

As this week began, the TSSAA mandated dead period came to a close and it was back to work for White County High School athletes and other prep athletes all across the state of Tennessee.

For two weeks, high school athletes, no matter what the sport, were prohibited from having any contact with their coaches. Now that time is over and those athletes will be seeing plenty of their respective coaches, especially if they are playing a sport whose main season is in the fall.

Basketball had the stage in June for their team camps and off-season drills while other sports were limited to conditioning and weights only. Now, it’s time for the fall sports to get the attention.

Football, girls’ volleyball and soccer, golf and track get their chance to get in some work before official practice begins the Monday of the week of August 1st.

The Warriorette volleyball team got July started with tryouts. Golf tryouts are next week. Soccer will be looking to get going under the direction of a new coach. Chad Pittman is the new Warriorette soccer coach. Look for more details on that in the near future.

Football has hit the ground running. After spending the month of June limited to only weight lifting and conditioning, they are going through drills preparing for a passing camp next week. Football can’t put the pads on until official practice begins, but they can go through basic fundamentals this month.

The Warrior quarterbacks have spent three days this week at a quarterback and wide receiver camp in Knoxville being conducted by Knoxville native, Chad Pennington, who is a quarterback for the New York Jets. Pennington started several games for the Jets this past season.

The camp is being held at Webb High School in Knoxville. Pennington is a graduate of the school. He actually attended the camp back in his younger days, as his dad, a former high school coach, was the director. After making it to the pros, Pennington opted to give back to his community and took over the camp. This year, he has been joined by a teammate who took time out of his busy schedule to come to Knoxville and help with the camp. Jet wide receiver, Laveranues Coles, is also instructing at the camp.

The quarterbacks come back each day just in time to join in with the rest of their teammates for afternoon drills. Linemen are focusing on weights and conditioning while skill position players are working on the basics of their offense.

The football team will play host to three other teams Tuesday, July 15, for a 7 on 7 competition. Competing that day, in addition to the Warriors, will be Cookeville, Cumberland County and Warren County. Later that week, they will attend a 7 on 7 passing camp at Tennessee Tech. That will be Friday, July 18th.

credit: spartaexpositor.com