news-record.com

Any veteran football player worth his salt can tell you a good war story from "two-a-day" summer practices.

Eastern Guilford head coach Scott Loosemore, who played high school ball for now-Ragsdale head coach Tommy Norwood more than two decades ago, still seemed out of breath while recounting the gauntlet he once endured.

"Boy, it seemed like we were out there for four hours at a time sometimes," Loosemore said.

But now, with rising concerns about player safety and an increasing number of offseason practice opportunities for high school players, many schools seem to be abandoning the iconic baptism-by-fire sessions.

"As I've gotten older, I don't know if I've gotten easier on myself or my team, but I've tried to be a little smarter about it," said Northeast Guilford head coach Tommy Pursley, who jettisoned two-a-days altogether two years ago.

The National Athletic Trainers' Association recommended last week that schools eliminate two-a-day practices during the first week of August, when heat-related illness is particularly threatening. Since 1995, at least 39 football players across all levels have died from heat-related causes, including one from Chapel Hill High School last August.

That rule is essentially already in place in North Carolina, where official practice begins Aug. 1 and teams can't run two-a-days for their first six sessions. Players can't wear pads for the first three practices and can't do any contact drills for the first six.

When Pursley started coaching 30 years ago, players would report on a Monday morning and stay until Saturday for part of the summer. Two-a-days were the norm, and he said their greatest benefit was intangible.

"It was a good bonding opportunity to help our team come together," Pursley said. "But boy, was it tough on coaches. Babysitting 100 teenagers for eight hours?"

He said just eliminating buying meals for everyone during two-a-days saved his program more than $2,000.

These days, it isn't as though players just show up Aug. 1 for the first time in four months. The rise of summer 7-on-7 games, where teams scrimmage each other with passing drills, has helped keep players in shape. Teams can practice all summer as long as it's for less than two hours a day and there's no contact.

"It's good for the skill kids," Loosemore said, "but when it comes down to it, football is about blocking and tackling, not Xs and Os really."

That's why Loosemore will still rely on a few two-a-days this fall, with just 20 days between the day his team can first officially practice and the day of its first game. The Wildcats will run a full practice in the morning, take a 90-minute break and then reconvene for a lighter workout that will have players free by the early afternoon.

Loosemore said he'd like to see the state adopt a rule used in South Carolina and Georgia that allows teams 10 practice days in the spring, four of which can include contact.

"Two-a-days are that much more important now than they were then," he said.

Southeast Guilford athletic trainer Mark White, who is on site for every Falcons football practice, said his team hasn't used two-a-day practices at all since head coach Fritz Hessenthaler took over a few years ago. This August, the Falcons will practice for one session a day in the evenings, more of a convenience issue than a safety one.

White said other sports are a bigger concern to him. There are far fewer rules to help non-football players ease into condition.

"Football, we've got pretty well under control," White said. "We've got bigger fish to fry."

"It's come to a point where you've really got to balance what's too much and what's enough," Pursley said. "I don't want to be arrogant, but we always plan to make the playoffs. You don't want to get to late November and your kids are sick of football."

TIDBITS: For the second time in three years, Bishop McGuinness has won the Wachovia Cup, which recognizes the North Carolina high schools that achieve the best overall interscholastic athletic performance. The Villains' spring playoff success in men's and women's outdoor track, women's soccer and men's golf helped give them top honors in the 1-A classification. ... Page lacrosse player Taylor Barker has been named an Academic All-American by US Lacrosse. ... Thomasville's Woody Huneycutt, who won 15 conference titles and five state championships in 21 seasons as the Bulldogs' boys basketball coach, is retiring from that post but will stay on as the school's athletics director.

Contact Tom Keller at 373-7034 or tom.keller@news-record.com