August 22, 2019 at 6:33 a.m.
Notebook: Three more RHS teams start practice
Notebook: Three more RHS teams start practice
Under WIAA regulations, Monday was the first day cross country, volleyball and boys' soccer teams across the state could practice. All three Hodag teams went straight to work with competitions already in the offing next week.
Here are some notes from the first day of practice.
Soccer: Bates treats first day like any other
He's Rhinelander High School first new boys' soccer head coach in nearly a quarter century but for Nathan Bates Monday was just another day at the office.
"It's a great time of the year," Bates said at the dawn of his first official practice. "I always like to get the boys out on the field and see what they can bring for the season."
Bates denied having any first-day jitters as he takes the reins of the program after longtime head coach Dan Millot retired following the end of last season. That's partly because Bates has already developed a rapport with a number of players, having coached them at the club, middle school and/or JV level.
"I know coach Millot had quite the presence here for the soccer program, both the boys and the girls, so hopefully we can go out here and still make him proud and keep Rhinelander on the board for winning conference and, hopefully, we can advance further than that this season," he said.
Bates said he had "about 31" players on the roster at the start of practice - enough to field full varsity and JV sides. That has been a trick for the team the past couple of seasons as it has dealt with low numbers. Bates said the tide is rising again in terms of participation following a couple of lean years.
"From last year, that's a little bit up. Hopefully in the following years - next year I know there's a big group of kids that I've been coaching since they were about 9 years old that will be moving up - we should have pretty good numbers," he said."
The team hit the ground running with two-a-day practices Monday and Wednesday and afternoon practice Tuesday, in compliance with WIAA acclimatization guidelines.
"We're going to start conditioning this morning with some of the kids that have not been participating in the offseason. In the afternoon, we're going to work on some game strategy stuff," Bates said ahead of Monday's practice. "We'll find out who's varsity and who's JV, but we're pretty well ready. We're ahead of the curve in my opinion."
That's because Bates said a number of the players spent time working on their games over the summer. The Rhinelander Soccer Club team took first place in a U17 tournament at Eau Claire and also participated in a U18 tournament in Stevens Point where it faced some tough competition from the Fox Cities area.
"The boys have been putting in a lot of time during the offseason," Bates said. "The captains have been having captains practices 2-3 days a week. Hopefully they're prepared."
The Hodags open the season this coming Tuesday at home against Hayward. The time and location of that game have been changed to a 5 p.m. start in front of RHS. The team was hoping to use Mike Webster Stadium, but the new turf that is slated to be installed this week will not be ready for play by that time. RHS activities director Brian Paulson said the target date for the new field to be ready is Aug. 31.
Cross country: Youth movement for Hodag Harriers
RHS cross country coach M.J. Laggis looked over his team after its first run of the fall season and was not quite sure of what he had. At least he couldn't say with certainly who would come forward and be a state-caliber leader like Alayna Franson was with the girls' team two years ago or Bridger Flory was with the boys' side last year.
"If you look at our roster this year, this is one year I can't answer that question," he said. "We have so many young freshmen and sophomores and juniors that have to take the next step on both sides - boys and girls. What I'm looking for, and what I'll be curious to find out once we get a couple of weeks in, is who are our top seven on both sides. I honestly couldn't tell you right now."
That said, Laggis said he likes what he has seen so far.
"I like the nucleus of kids and the nucleus of young blood that we have on the team right now," he said.
Numbers are strong with the program. Laggis said the team has roughly 35 runners with and even split between the boys' and the girls' squads.
One of the points of emphasis in the offseason was an effort to build a mileage base with the returning athletes. Between track workouts on Tuesday and independent running programs, that was accomplished to an extent, Laggis reported.
"Like you'd expect, you had some who followed it and some who didn't and, in that first week of practice, you can tell who did what. That's just the way it is," he said. "Ideally everyone comes in with a great base of summer running but the reality is that's not how it always works for us. You got to meet them where they're at. We started slow. We had a good two- and a four-mile route today. We got our Volt training started and our dynamic (stretching) and RPR. We're off to a good start. Now it's about getting everyone to improve. Like every cross country team out there, wherever they're starting, they want to finish faster."
Laggis has two seemingly conflicting agendas for the first week or so of practice. In the short-term, he'd like to have a clearer picture of who his varsity runners may be ahead of next Thursday's Hodag Invite at RHS. In the long-term, much like a cross country race, Laggis said his team cannot go too hard, too early, if it is to reach peak performance by the end of the season.
"We have the season broken up into thirds on how were are going to train," he said. "The No. 1 thing we're trying to do right now is get miles under our belts and not get kids hurt. Last year early in the season kids tried doing more than they were ready to do and they got hurt early. We're trying to avoid that."
Volleyball: 'Easier' start to season for coach Scheuermann
Last year, Brianna Scheuermann jumped into the varsity volleyball coaching position at her alma mater with only a few weeks to prepare. With a full season - and more importantly a full offseason - under her belt, Scheuermann and the Hodag spikers felt more prepared to hit the ground running Monday as fall practice began.
"It is definitely a lot easier," Scheuermann said prior to Monday's practice in the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium. "I've had a lot more time to meet with the coaches and set a plan for what we're going to do, kind of plan out more of tryouts and what we're expecting. There's just been a lot more communication with coaches (in terms of) what we're looking for this season. Then we're preparing for everything else."
Not only was it a full offseason for the coaching staff, it was a full offseason for the players. Between open gyms, camps and league play, there were a number of girls who played together in the summer, Scheuermann said.
"They will definitely have an advantage over the girls who haven't been here," she said.
That will come in handy because the Hodags need to be efficient with their time in a short run-up to the season. The team will take part in a four-team scrimmage this Saturday at Merrill before it hosts a quadrangular meet at RHS next Tuesday.
That meant, after introductions and some basics Monday, the team dove right into tryouts in an effort to establish the varsity and subvarsity squads. Scheuermann said the goal was to have the teams established by either the end of Tuesday's practice or during practice Wednesday. The rest of the week will be spent getting the players used to one another ahead of Saturday's scrimmage.
"The most important thing, besides fundamentals, for the girls that haven't been here would just be getting that team connection - building the team, seeing what works, who plays better where and just getting that team chemistry," she said.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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