San Tan Youth Football League Eagles

Hey all… I’m horribly pressed for time, but I thought I’d provide a real quick update.  The boys had a great practice last night.  So much so that the coaches called them together for an inspirational session just after practice.  The practice was tough and physical and the boys met the challenge head on.  Lots of pads have been popping the past two nights.  This team looks awfully good to me at this stage.  We’re going to lay some serious wood on our opponents this year if they play with that level of intensity.  Very impressive young guns… keep it up!

Side notes from Eagles headquarters…

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Having met the requisite pre-conditioning requirement, the Eagles will don full pads for the first time tonight in a much anticipated progression of the preseason.  Tonight, as they say, we’ll separate the men from the boys.  After last night’s practice, I caught up with Drew Ball (imagine that) who had this to say about full contact practice, “It’s been fun and all, huffing and puffing around the field and running routes and stuff, but I’m a linebacker, Dad!  I was born to hit!”  I’m sure other players share those sentiments.

Shot out to Coach Romel who ran “suicides” with the boys last night!  Pretty impressive stuff Romel… I broke a sweat just watching you, literally.  Also wanted to thank those who took the time to fill out their player bios.  I have received about ten of these now, so keep ‘em coming!  Ryan and I met on the website last weekend and the site is undergoing some upgrades as we speak.  Should be pretty cool when it’s all said and done!

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Hey Eagles fans!  Week one is going extremely well as the boys are starting to whip into shape.  Tonight’s practice was cut short due to a rather large storm that rolled into town around 7 pm.  You know the boys are pretty jacked up for the season when many actually seemed a little bummed that they couldn’t get a full practice in.  I did, however, catch a few sarcastic “aw shucks” smirks from the peanut gallery.  Heck… dinner before 9pm…. what a concept.

Some pretty cool stuff going on this season with fund raisers and stuff.  If you weren’t at practice earlier this week, we learned that we could order jersey’s replicating our son’s game jerseys.  Pretty cool deal… $46 apiece.  Pretty steep, but worth it in my opinion.  I just hope they’re not “slim fitted” if you know what I mean.  Also, Jenny passed out a packet at yesterday’s practice with some more Eagles loot for sale for interested parties.  Jamie Ingram designed some pretty killer looking tee shirts and hats that you can buy as well.  I’m thinking about putting a shopping cart up on the site so people can order them whenever they feel like it.

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Jenny sent out an email requesting ideas for the Opening Day on September 6th.  The Eagles club has to come up with two Carnival Games and Two Vendors for the event.  If you have any ideas… post them to the comments section below and we’ll forward them along to Jenny.  I’d post her email address here, but that would be just begging the spam gods to jam her email inbox full of unmentionables.  So, check your email or talk to your coach at practice for futher direction.

Also, in a seperate email Jenny asked if anyone is interested in beign a Cheerleader for the Eagles and asked you to email Kristina DuPuis if interested… see spam god remark above.  Again, check your email or see your coach if interested.

Go EAGLES!!

Hallelujah… the football season is no longer just around the corner, it’s here folks… in all of it’s splendid glory!  The 2008 Mighty Might Eagles took the field as a unit for the very first time last night to begin the requisite pre-conditioning routine.  I have to admit, I was impressed with the kids as they seemed to be a little ahead of the curve in terms of coordination and how quickly they adapted to what they were being asked to do.  I was expecting a lot more “Fred Astaire” routines as the coaches ran the boys thru agility drill after agility drill.

Also of note… they actually executed the E-A-G-L-E-S… EAGLES chant flawlessly at the end of practice.  If you weren’t there last year or didn’t see the year-end DVD… the first Eagles chant actually made the blooper reel as the boys more or less couldn’t buy a vowel on their first attempt.  And while I hesitate to use the word “cute” in a football context… that was just plain “cute”.

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In case you haven’t heard… the Eagles will be gathering for a preseason event at the Roy Rogers Equestrian Ranch on Saturday, August 2nd at 9am.  I lost the email, so I don’t have all the particulars, but I was able to catch the “pancake” part.  The gathering will give the boys a chance to get to know each other and the coaches a little better before the season starts.  Oh and bring your bathing suits if you want to go swimming.  Should be a blast!  Looking forward to catching up with you all at the party.

Hey Eagles fans… Coach Gene drafted the note below regarding the upcoming season.  Check that… the note that Coach Gene plagiarized regarding the upcoming season.  There, that’s better.

All kidding aside, I was incredibly impressed with the support and cooperation of the parents last year.  Other than those incidents that I personally instigated, I can’t think of one incident that caused any issues last season.  I suspect this year will be no different.  I’m also sure that Coach Gene feels the same way too, but hey… it goes along with the job.  So, now that we’ve gotten all of the obligatory sarcasm out of the way, I give you Coach Gene…

NOTE TO PARENTS:
Please realize we, the coaches, are volunteers, and by no means are we perfect.  We will make some mistakes, but do promise to do our best to teach your son the basic fundamentals of tackle football.  The number one goal of this coaching staff, is that each and every player on this team, regardless of record, will want to continue to play football next year, and that the skills learned and friendships made will continue throughout their young lives.

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Hey Eagles fans!  Jenny NeVille recently emailed everyone with the practice schedule for the upcoming season and a few laundry list items. By the way… anyone want to buy a raffle ticket?  Anyway, I thought I’d post Jenny’s email here to further fortify my good guy status.

“… There might be some adjustments but this is what it is now. I am also attaching the sponsor letter and the rules that were signed. Keep selling those raffle tickets! Byerley, the Durham brothers and Brewer sold all there tickets and requested more! Way to go Eagles! We will be drawing the lucky winners on Opening Day, September 6th. Also, I have put in the order for the football uniforms, so they should be ready by game day! To place the order I had to put 30% down and I will have to pay the remainder 70% before they will ship the uniforms. So please if you know anyone or company that can sponsor our team that would be wonderful! For those of you that ordered your own helmet, Schutt has received the order and the helmets should be ready the first week of August. For those of you who need practice pants, there should be some available at certification this Saturday for you to pick up.

Practices will be held at Desert Mountain Park on Ocotillo and Hawes.  Conspicuously close to coach Gene’s house… and mine too for that matter.  Awesome!!  Practices are from 6-8pm.

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Hey folks… a little off topic here, but I’m involved in the development of a super cool new Social Media website called Likeme.net which just launched this week.  You can use the site to discover restaurants, nightlife, travel, shopping, and an array of fun activities and helpful services that fit your personal tastes.  The site matches your preferences with a network of people who share common lifestyle interests.

So, say you’re “like me” and you’re a relatively chubby guy who loves cheesesteaks and pizza… and that you happen to be traveling to say… Philadelphia to catch an Eagles game.  You might visit my profile and find out that I’m a native of the Philly area and I highly recommend Guiseppe’s.  Or perhaps there’s some other Italian Stallion in the system that has an even better suggestion!  What’s not to like about that?

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Well folks, we’re getting closer and closer to the beginning of the 2008 season.  Yesterday, the boys congregated to pick up their practice uniforms and get fitted for their game pants and jerseys.  As always, it was good to catch up with some of the players and parents as the season approaches.  Everyone seems pretty jacked up to get the ball rolling on the season.

Drew was real excited to don the winged helmet again yesterday.  It was all I could do to keep him out of the pool without the helmet on.   Rumor has it that Chris Galloway is running every night with his Dad and has already dropped a couple of pounds in his quest to be in top condition come training camp.  Keep it up Chris… we’re counting on ya!

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