Skip to navigation Skip to content Skip to footer
THE OFFICIAL HOME OF HUNTINGDON ATHLETICS
Posted: Aug 11, 2011

HAWKS HIT THE FIELD FOR FIRST PRACTICE

MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- The first football practice of the season is in the books for Huntingdon College.

The Hawks took the field Thursday morning in shorts and worked out for more than two hours at W. James Samford Stadium. Head coach Mike Turk said he was glad to get started.

"It was a long summer," Turk said. "The past few days it seemed like everyone in the country was practicing except us. So it was good to get back out there and get the first day under our belt. It was good to be able to do a little coaching and establish a baseline. We've got to get a lot better, but every team has to get better this time of year."

Turk described the morning as typical for a first practice.

"The enthusiasm was good until we started getting tired," Turk said. "There were a lot of mistakes and mental errors, especially late in practice. Typically that means we're not in condition like we need to be. But we knew that was going to be a challenge. It was difficult for us to condition like we normally do while the field was being worked on and the new turf was being installed this summer."

Turk said the main priority during the next few days is to work on the team's conditioning and mental toughness.

"The biggest thing we've got to do is get in better shape and be focused when we're tired," Turk said. "I don't care how good a shape you're in, by the fourth quarter of that first game you are going to be tired. When you're tired, you still have to be able to focus, execute assignments and not have mental lapses.

"Today, when we started to get tired, we started feeling sorry for ourselves. That's something we've got to talk about and act on. We've got some good leaders on this team and we'll be OK."

Huntingdon's second practice is scheduled for Friday at 9 a.m. with the third practice scheduled for Saturday at 9 a.m. Practices are open to the public.

The Hawks will practice in shorts again on Friday and will practice in shorts and shoulder pads on Saturday and Sunday. Monday will be the first practice in full gear.