Football prepares for fall season

Don Hanni had just finished doing monkey rolls when the horn blew to prompt him move on to the next station. He moved to the bag drills, where he worked on his footwork and balance at a speedy pace.
 

Hanni is not working with a personal trainer; he is a member of the Norwich football team and is participating in this year's spring practices.
 

Spring practice takes place every year for NCAA football teams.  Norwich's usually begins and ends during the month of April.
 

Unlike Division I football, spring ball practices at Norwich are non-contact, meaning players cannot wear pads and hit each other. Coaches use NCAA granted time to work with their players on the fundamentals and techniques of their game, while focusing more on the athletes' condition rather than their strength.
 

"Practices are usually an hour and the coaches give us a great workout," said Hanni, 21, a junior criminal justice major from Youngstown, Ohio, and a three year starter on Norwich's offensive line. "We usually start off in stations and move on to work with our position groups to work our core fundamentals."
 

"The first few practices are usually the toughest, as the coaches want to make sure we've been working hard in the weight room," said Rocco DiMeco, 21, a junior physical education major from Holden, Mass, and a First-Team ECFC player, awarded to the top inside linebacker in the conference.

"We usually have two or three cone drills where we work our footwork, quickness and agility. After that it can vary depending on the day for which drills we have," DiMeco said.

 "As upcoming seniors, we try and make sure everyone is working hard as we lead up to defending our ECFC title and hopefully keep an eye out for the playoffs," Hanni said. "But these practices are a good way of keeping us humble and remember we need to take it one game at a time."

The Cadets meet twice a week at 4:30 p.m. when most classes are out. Players are expected to be there and work hard with their teammates unless prior commitments (family, school work, class, etc.) force them to stay away.

"It actually gets to be fun to get outside and run around with your teammates," said Robert Sturgis, 19, a sophomore communications major and an 11-game starter at center for the Cadets this past season. "It's starting to get warmer so it's a great time to compete and work hard out on Sabine Field with the people you're going into a season with."

The Cadets will look to improve upon a historic year for the program as it won its first conference crown and boasts the second-best winning streak in all of Division III football. They open up their 2010 season against Western New England on Sept. 4 on Sabine Field.

As Hanni said, "All this work now is for WNEC.  We need to remember to work hard every day to make ourselves better, and if we do that, we'll have another successful season."