OAKVILLE — Twelve players showed up to Saturday’s practice at Oakville High School. It could have been easy for new head coach Todd Gladsjo to have a relaxed practice, especially with no pads on yet.
Quite the opposite.
He made them run laps, do 100-yard up-downs in five-yard intervals and pushed the batch of Acorns to their limit with Week 1 versus Morton a couple weeks away.
“They have heart,” Gladsjo said. “They have a clean slate. It comes with responsibility from me and also from them. Make the most of this opportunity.”
Some returners are back, but it is a group with little varsity experience that will attempt to get Oakville back into the Class 1B playoffs and a third straight crossover appearance. Here are three takeaways from the two-hour session on the Acorns’ field.
No shortcuts taken
It wasn’t just the running which Gladsjo made sure his group completed. It was also tackling drills, bad snaps plus poor handoffs in team offense.
A former head coach at North Beach, Gladsjo understands the necessary tools to be successful in 8-man football.
“That shows he cares about us and the team,” freshman Sia Gisa said.
Plenty of fundamental work
From punching the ball out to form tackling, there was a lot of work on fundamentals on Saturday. It’s been prevalent since day one of practice for Oakville.
Even stutter-stepping as a ball carrier and winning a rep over a teammate, depending on which direction the offense chose, was a point of emphasis for Gladsjo.
“Once we get everyone rolling, we could be a really good football team,” he said. “It is our job as coaches to get the best out of them.”
Mixing and matching on offense
Four different players got reps at QB and three guys took snaps at wing. The plan leading into the season-opener, and potentially beyond, is to find the right mix of five skill players and three offensive linemen.
“It is constantly developing,” Gladsjo said. “There have been a lot of long nights trying to figure out where guys fit. Those other guys will know they’ll rotate in.”
