Coming Together - A Football Story

Written by Tyler Heep

“Last year, we were separated at every practice because of COVID. Varsity was on the main turf and JV was on the soccer fields. The bond between us grew apart. Although with the team meeting together for summer weights, the bond came back. Going from the team competitions to Grizzley Camp, the bond came back and is better than ever,” Sean Grow, a JV Starter, commented. Last year, we couldn’t get the team bond that we needed throughout the season. The team was split up during practice, and in games, we couldn't have everybody suit up on the sidelines like we can this year. In Varsity, instead of lifting each other up, we would put each other down and argue. Consequently, our record ended at 1-5. Because of that, the team knew improvement was crucial. Knowing how much improvement we needed, the team was happy to hear about the UNC football camp that was coming up.

During the football camp at UNC, the players had to go through rigorous training. To start the day, the players had to wake up at 6 a.m. to run hills on campus. Once finished with running hills, the players then began the day with some breakfast. Shortly after breakfast, they had to meet up for an hour-long team meeting. The team meeting consisted of talking about various plays and things that would happen throughout the day. The day didn’t end there--after the team meeting, the players had to participate in an hour-long practice. Once done with the practice, they got to go to lunch as a team. After lunch, the players headed to another team meeting that consisted of the same topics. The players then went to another practice once the team meeting ended. Finally, they ate dinner and headed back to the dorms. This process repeated over the course of four days. As the camp ended, the players knew how much they took away from the camp and were ready to apply their learnings to the next season.

Once we got back home from our football camp, we went back into summer practices a week later. The first practice that we were back, everybody on the team felt the team chemistry, and we all knew that we were back. Improvement was visible immediately. Our offense and defense were on the same page with their calls..

As the 2021-2022 season starts, everyone can already see how much the team has improved. We went from 1-5 last season to 3-1 this season. With the team being close together, you can tell that the team chemistry is there. This makes all the difference because the players are encouraging one another to do their best on the field.