O'HARA TOWNSHIP — Fox Chapel's football players aren't complaining, but the coaches were grinding their teeth as the Foxes opened training camp this morning on campus.
That's because camp is a little shorter this year.
A camp that used to consist of two full weeks of two-a-day practices will now look like this: one day when the team practices twice and 13 when they have just one, solitary, evening workout.
"It's going to be a little strange," Foxes head coach Bryan Deal said. "I've never seen anything like it."
This year, the PIAA made football teams open official full-contact practice much later than normal, due to a later Labor Day.
Classes will be starting soon, and many teachers have a series of in-service days to tend to before students report to school. Five Fox Chapel coaches, including Deal, are teachers, and they have four in-service days this week, which means they can't be at camp all day.
In-service for Fox Chapel teachers begins Tuesday, so the team will have two practices today, and one evening workout — from 4-6:30 p.m. each day for the remainder of camp.
School opens Aug. 25.
Highlands also will have a limited practice schedule. Teacher in-service days there start Aug. 24, so the Golden Rams will have only one week of two-a-day practices.
Fox Chapel teachers have an in-service requirement to be in school from 7 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. Deal, a physical education teacher, considered having two practices after 3:45 each day, but that would make for brutally long days for the coaches.
"You can't ask the coaches not to see their families," Deal said. "This isn't like Pitt or Penn State where the coaches all get paid.
"This is a unique situation to be in. We won't have as much time to get ready as some other teams but we'll make the most of it."
Some teams only practice once a day, but others go as many as three times a day.
With the heat and humidity of late, players will be gasping for water breaks. The Foxes will have more time to rest.
"I don't think any of us have a huge problem with (the lack of two-a-days)," Foxes junior lineman Matt Sasson said. "I think it's a chance for us to keep nutrition up and maybe keep injuries down."
