For most, summer is the time for vacations, however, for the Washington football team the rising temperatures signifies that it’s time to get back to work.
That was the case for the Pam Pack, who this week began running minicamps and participated in the first of its four scheduled seven-on-seven passing league contests.
While the players are not allowed to wear full gear or have contact with each other, Washington football coach Sport Sawyer said there is still plenty that can be accomplished.
“The last couple of weeks can be hectic for them with exams and different testing, but now that, that’s over we can work on getting their minds back on football,” Sawyer said. “During the summer we like to run, do agility drills and lift weights. You just can’t have body contact.
“Right now, we’re trying to just work on our throwing game by participating in the passing leagues and we just want them to get in shape. We will also work on some mental aspects as far as toughness and getting after it.”
Sawyer said so far said the turnout for the camps has been impressive.
“We have had 71 kids show up, during the summer that’s good,” Sawyer said. “There are some kids on vacation or have to work, but I feel good about that number.”
On Wednesday, Washington competed against Kinston, Jones Senior, Havelock and Farmville Central in its first passing league contest and the Pam Pack coach said he was happy with what he saw.
“We had three teams that happened to be in state championship games in Havelock, Jones Senior and Kinston and I thought we looked decent for the first passing league game,” Sawyer said. “We haven’t worked a ton on (passing) yet, but we did work on some basic fundamentals and some new defenses. I thought it went pretty good. It was very competitive.”
Sawyer said this time of year offers the skill position players a good opportunity to get in sync with each other.
Aside from the timing aspect, the preseason workouts also give players an opportunity to get noticed.
“Each year you have some guys that might be low on the radar that rise up, so that’s some of the things we look for,” Sawyer said. “You want to see guys that are decent players rise up and become very good players.
“Yesterday, I saw Stevie Green go out and catch some balls and Jack Rodman went out and made some good catches. On the defensive side I thought we did well too and a lot of guys were out there learning.”
The Pam Pack will look to continue to progress next Wednesday when it plays its second passing league contest of the summer at home at 6 p.m.