In preparation for Nebraska's artificial turf playing surface, this Monday's
practice was held on USC's artificial turf - and for managers, practices on
Cromwell Track and Field are always lively for many reasons.
Today we began set-up one hour before practice, our usual time. For starters,
we retrieved all of the normal equipment from their storage sheds and lugged it
over on two electric carts - a task that turns out being much more fun than it
sounds!
For example, the duty of transporting all that equipment to the track includes
challenges such as weaving through crowds of students walking between classes -
and I mean weaving! With stacks of pads as well as four other people piled on
the back, things get interesting...
That aside, one good thing is that we get a bit of variety in our routine. I
believe one of the main reasons our team plays in such a consistently successful
manner is in the way we practice. Like clockwork, our crew gets the field ready;
the team comes out, warms up, stretches, and goes through structured procedure
every day.
The same goes for the managers, and each Cromwell practice adds just a little
fluctuation to the invariability. In this case it is true what they say - change
is good.
Add in the heat from the turf, the assembly of a portable goalpost, and an
excited football team, and we had a great practice today. In addition to the
energy the team brought today, the managers showed up animated in preparation
for the first away game of the season.
In total, six managers will be traveling to Nebraska this Thursday, and in
total, six managers are very enthusiastic to be flying out with the football
team. Pit Nugulrat, a senior manager, said, "I can't wait to bleed the
Scarlet Nation!"
I can only expect the enthusiasm to progress as the week goes on. Thursday is
just three days away.