Football practice begins despite storm
Evans' coach Marty Jackson waited all week to hold the Knights' annual "Midnight Madness" practice at 12:01 a.m. Monday.
Harlem coach Jimmie Lewis (left) looks on as Harlem
football players prepare for the Midnight Madness
pratice, held early Monday morning at 12:01 a.m.
Photo by Jonathan Heeter
At 11:30 p.m. Sunday night, the practice was called off because of bad weather.
"We thought we were going to have a good practice and then the rain came," Jackson said. "The players were disappointed but, they will have their Midnight Madness at 7:30 a.m. tomorrow morning.
"We didn't want to chance some guy getting injured on a sloppy field. We would be kicking ourselves all season if that happened. Midnight Madness is for the kids and fans, but really it is a glorified practice. We don't put in plays for the practice. We don't coach too much. It is fun, but tomorrow's practice is more important."
Lakeside coach Randy Hill was dealing with a similar decision.
He said he would not send the team out to practice if there was lightning.
"The rain doesn't bother us, the lightning is the big thing," he said. "I'm not sending those kids out there in that."
Harlem, however, did hold a midnight practice, under the lights of the practice field with more than 50 spectators on hand.
The Bulldogs entered the practice field at about 12:05 a.m. and went through extensive stretching exercises before they started full-contact drills.
Monday was the first day public schools were allowed to conduct full contact practices, according to Georgia High School Association rules.
"I just love getting out here, under the lights, and letting them hit each other," Harlem coach Jimmie Lewis said. "These kids have been antsy all summer and the wait is over."
The Bulldog players spent the night at the school to begin practicing early Monday morning. Harlem will hold football practice all week, but Lewis said he would allow his players to go home at night.
"You can't get any better sleep than what you get in your own bed," he said.
Evans held its football camp Monday and Tuesday, with the players sleeping in classrooms each night.
Greenbrier will not have a football camp this season due to the early start of pre-planning today.
"We are real disappointed, not having a camp," said Mickey Derrick, Greenbrier's football coach. "It just wasn't a good idea with pre-planning starting so early."
Greenbrier senior Eugene Rogers said he was disappointed that the Wolfpack didn't have a camp this year.
"It was something that I was really looking forward to," Rogers said.
Augusta Christian holds its football camp August 1-4 at Rock Eagle 4-H Center in Eatonton, Ga.