Schools
Lake Forest High School Football Camp: Not Just X's And O's
Weeks before their opening game, Scouts coaches and players spent four days together on a college campus. And their conversations were more than just chalk talk.
The building has all the trappings of a college dormitory: 20 stories high; dark, faceless windows separated by gray concrete.
Inside, laundry machines spin, young men in shorts and T-shirts scurry about carrying notebooks. An outside observer easily might assume the activity is consistent with an orientation for college freshman entering Wisconsin-Parkside in Kenosha, Wis.
Far from it. This is where ’s football team begins to take shape.
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One reason coaches and players have retreated to these tranquilizing surroundings is to get to know the playbook better. After all, the season is one month away. The other reasons for their seclusion have nothing to do with football.
Classroom
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“It’s not about the x’s and the o’s. It’s about the Johnnies and the Joes”
It’s Friday night, July 22, and 70-plus football players are sitting in classroom chairs. They are a bit fatigued, the result of four practices in two days since their July 21 arrival. Head coach Chuck Spagnoli, who started this annual pilgrimage in 2005, has a pretty good read on where his boys are, mentally and physically.
“A third are homesick, another third are just miserable, sore from practice. The other third, the older guys, are probably like ‘This is so great,’ ” said Spagnoli, taking a break himself as he sits on a couch in the dorm lobby. “When we get to (what’s next), we want it to be mental. Let’s keep it mental on Friday night.”
As he enters the room, he immediately puts one of his senior leaders on the hot seat. Called to the chalkboard is Brandt Pfeifer, a 6-foot-1, 210-pound linebacker. Pfeifer saw action 40 percent to 50 percent of the time last year but is expected to play much more this fall.
“Let’s go big boy,” barks Spagnoli, standing to Pfeifer’s left, tossing him the chalk. “Give me a two-by-two set (an offensive formation).”
Pfeifer draws circles on the board to represent how the defense is supposed to line up. After a few more questions from Spagnoli, he passes the test. On the way out, his coaches are pleased, although less for his artistic acumen.
“Brandt, you have work to do,” said assistant coach Phil DeWald. “Those are the worst circles I’ve ever seen. You defensive guys need to work on your circles!”
Stand and Deliver
“I don’t care what you got to do, but you got to do whatever it is you can do.”
Done with their classroom meetings, the players and coaches walk up one flight of stairs to an auditorium.
Once inside, the room goes silent. Spagnoli has a message to deliver to his captive audience.
“Everybody in this room is tired and sore, that’s part of the deal. It is a grind,” said Spagnoli, pacing from side to side. “You know what? When we leave here, we know we’ve done something hard and we’ve done it right.”
He then calls five seniors to the stage – Jordan Beck, Pfeifer, Dominick Keefe, and Matthew Wagener. If the Scouts get back to the postseason this year, it will be behind the brains and brawn of these players. Facing their teammates, Spagnoli asks them each a question. But it has nothing to do with pre-snap reads or pass patterns.
To Beck: “What’s the one thing you can do most to help your team this fall?”
To Pfeifer: “Find me four guys in this room you know you can count on?”
To Keefe: “What’s your biggest regret as a football player?”
To Dever: “What is the one thing you want this team to be known for?”
To Wagener: “What is your greatest football moment?”
Their responses range from individual accountability (Beck said, “be a better teammate”) to team attitude (Dever said, “intensity. I don’t want to come out and have our opponents think they can kick our butts every day”).
The most revealing was from Keefe, who shared a story of how as a junior last season against Stevenson, he had failed to speak during a moment of duress.
“I knew something was wrong and we weren’t ready to play,” said Keefe, his hands nervously stretching a rubber band while he spoke. “But being a junior I was afraid to speak up. I regret not being more proactive and taking initiative. You juniors, when you have something to say, say it.
“It can make the difference between a win and a loss.”
How did the evening end for the Scouts? .
