It’s been a long hard road from when Winston Academy dropped the final game of the 2018 season to Winona Christian until this August.
The Patriots have been working hard in the offseason to put together a team that’s going to turn the corner and bring back a winning tradition. The spring went well and the summer went even better in the weight room as the Patriots built their bodies bigger and got their minds focused for the season at hand.
Fall practice began for the team last week as they went through two-a-days and the school year beginning this week has brought forth more of a steady schedule as they prepare for game week in a couple of weeks.
Second-year WA head coach Pat Byrd has been pleased with the team’s progress over the last few days, but it was really just a smooth transition from what was built in the spring.
“We’ve come in with pretty good condition and there’s been good retention from spring practice,” Byrd said. “It’s much easier transition from this time last year when we were all getting to know each other for the first time. I’m real pleased so far.”
The emphasis on practice each day is preparing for the first game with Leake Academy on August 23. Offensive and defensive installations are going on right now and that will be the focus over the next few weeks.
At the same time, Byrd says that the basics are things that should be taught and learned every day.
“The fundamentals have to come daily. You’ve got your everyday drills that help with that and then it all comes natural,” Byrd said. “A lot of it has been about adding some bells and whistles to what we learned in the spring. We want to have everything ready to go by game week so we can just focus on Leake.”
As the team begins to come together in a practice setting, Byrd is turning to his elder players to take ownership of the locker room and build a common bond amongst the team.
Byrd has been able to see a difference in the way the team handles itself on and off the field and the toughness has been much improved. However, the coach doesn’t know exactly what he has until they play someone else.
That is what the team will be doing on Friday when WA heads to Sylva-Bay for a jamboree. Coming out of that jamboree, WA will be in the middle of game week and ready for the real games to begin.
