07 STAB FOOTBALL RISES AGAIN
scr覺mmageplay THE CENTRAL VIRGINIA SPORTS AUTHORITY
For the Pride Louisa football rallies together again behind its coach PAGE 13
VOL 6. ISSUE 4 :: OCTOBER 30, 2014
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x’s and o’s 21 07 13
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DOING IT FOR BERT CHS field hockey finds its swagger
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BREAKING THE MOLD STAB football takes a new path
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IN IT TOGETHER Louisa County shines behind tough news
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FAMILY CORNER Winning the best way
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OVERTIME Screening for injury prevention
vol 6. issue 4 :: october 29, 2014
For the Pride VOL 6 . ISSUE 5 :: OCTOBER 30, 2014
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07 STAB FooTBALL RiSeS AgAin
Louisa football rallies together again behind its coach. page 13
S TA F F Bart Isley, Creative Director Bob Isley, Infrastructure Director Ryan Yemen, Creative Editor O N T H E COV E R Louisa County’s Tre Cherry M I S S I O N S TAT E M E N T Local sports are the lifeblood of every community in America, and we’re here to reach beyond the basics and give compelling accounts about Central Virginia athletes to our readers. CO N TAC T U S [ e ] info@scrimmageplay.com [ p ] 434-249-2032
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PREGAME
True sportsmanship Left, Orange County athletic director Marc Cole and right, Louisa County coach Mark Fischer meet at midfield before their two respective schools face off. Cole presented the Lions’ coach with a game ball on “Pink Out” night to raise cancer awareness. The Lions won to continue what’s been a remarkable bounce-back in Fischer’s return. To read more about the Lions’ impressive season flip over to page 13. ✖ (Photo by Nick Bajis)
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Orthopedics
First Quarter Doing it for Bert
CHS field hockey finds solace in postgame friend By Bart Isley
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Charlottesville’s Kendall Ballard leads an experienced roster in scoring. (Ashley Thornton)
{ VETERAN TALENT } Breaking down the CHS roster
15 SENIORS
JUNIORS
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t seems strange that a team with 15 seniors that have been a part of the program that’s won two straight Jefferson District championships would struggle with confidence.
But nobody is immune to the occasional bout of self-doubt, even Charlottesville High’s field hockey team. Luckily, they have Bert the Hippo. “We wanted something really goofy and silly to hand out after the game,” said Charlottesville coach Lindsay Larson. “To give them something even if we didn’t play well — we’ll always have Bert.” Bert is a stuffed hippo that makes occasional farting noises, and the original Bert is part of the cast of the CBS TV show NCIS. This incarnation of Bert is awarded to a different CHS hockey player after each win. It serves as a reminder of the teams’ successes, which are many after they wrapped up a third straight district title this year, beating Western Albemarle 2-1 in a victory that also secured the No. 2 seed in the Conference 23 tournament. “He’s to give us inspiration,” said Kendall Dowdell. “Bert’s awarded to the person who stepped up the most or had the most confidence at the end of each game and you take it to school the next day. He actually makes a farting noise to (remind us to) ‘flush your mistakes’ because that’s something we say.” Bert’s own irreverent sense of humor in the form of his flatulence also likely helps a team with big expectations relax a little bit. The Black Knights are led by the area’s most dominant hockey player over the last four years, two-time Scrimmage Play player of the year Kendall Ballard, and Ballard brings an
incredible level of intensity to the field. The Ohio-bound senior would be like having the league’s best middle linebacker also be a tremendous dual threat quarterback in football — she’s just that tough on both ends of the field. But hockey is one of the more challenging sports to get the job done by yourself with its demand for passing or crashing the goal on offense, so the Black Knights need a lot out of everyone, starting with that pack of seniors. At one time or another, a bunch of them have managed to step up and put together a big performance. Joanna Kammauff has done it a slew of times, posting shutouts from her spot at goalie a number of times this season. Lily Sosa has made some big time plays and Genevive Riley has been a stout defender. Dowdell made the biggest play of her career last week when she knocked home a rebound against Western in the regular season finale. They’ve gotten great play from some nonseniors too, including junior Emily Blow, who scored the game’s lone goal in a 1-0 victory over the Warriors in the squads’ first meeting. Caroline Clark, another junior, has also been a standout, anchoring the defense in a regiontournament clinching victory over the Warriors in the Conference 23 semifinals. So all that experience, talent and a rock solid record begs the question ... why is there a confidence issue? Perhaps it’s gone now with Bert in the fold. It certainly seems that way.✖
go online »
For more field hockey coverage head to our website at: www.scrimmageplay.com.
College Update
We’ve gone digital
STAB and Tandem Friends graduates team up at William and Mary
But you can have it in print too!
By Ryan Yemen Between them are four different state titles, two apiece. During her time in high school, Leci Irvin made Tandem Friends a perennial VISAA Division 2 powerhouse. The same can be said for Haley Kent who helped deliver St. Anne’s-Belfield its second VISAA Division 1 state championship in three years just this past spring. And while they squared off against each other at the prep level, two of the most talented soccer players this area’s seen in recent years now wear the same uniform at William and Mary. Playing forward and midfield, Irvin is now in her third season playing for the Tribe. A 2-time VISAA player of the year, Irvin has a pair of goals and five points. As a sophomore she was just one of five players to start in all 17 matches where her role was mostly defensive. That’s changed this season. She scored the lone goal in William and Mary’s season opening 1-0 win on the road at George Mason. Her other goal came against Elon in a 3-1 win. She has 21 shots with 10 of them being on goal this season. She’s also started in 15 of
her team’s 17 contests. The 2014 All-Scrimmage Play player of the year in girls soccer, Kent has wasted little time getting her feet wet in college. As a true freshman playing back she’s started in 15 of 16 contests. The Tribe’s defense has held its opposition to 1.12 goals per game and helped the offense out-shoot the competition 265 to 161. Kent picked up an assist in a 4-1 win over Richmond in September and has seven shots so far. The Tribe is currently 11-5-1 after an eight win campaign in 2013. William and Mary will host Drexel in the Colonial Athletic Association tournament, which begins November 2. This is the 34th season in a row in which the Tribe are guaranteed to finish with a winning record, that’s an NCAA record. The NCAA College Cup begins shortly thereafter with the first round starting on November 14th where Irvin and Kent will get a chance to rekindle that postseason glory they were both synonymous with in high school. ✖
BELOW » Once rivals, STAB graduate Haley Kent (left) and Tandem alumnus Leci Irvin (right) are now teammates in Williamsburg. (William and Mary sports information)
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BREAKING
THE MOLD story by Bart Isley — photos by Ashley Thornton
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here’s no reason to worry that the ball isn’t coming your way in the passing game. Or if you’re not getting any carries. Or if you’re not feeling like the go-to guy for a drive, a half or even a game. Don’t panic. See, nobody is the go-to player for St. Anne’s-Belfield. Because EVERYBODY is the go-to player for the Saints. Some of that is about skill set and some of that is about scheme.
The Saints have a lot of versatile athletes capable of doing impressive things when given the opportunity and John Blake has run drawn from a lot of different offenses over the years to build a flexible, unpredictable playbook. But another, more pervasive piece of the puzzle is simply trust. The Saints have an incredible amount of confidence in each other, each player certain of the man next to him in the formation’s ability to make a play. “It’s confidence, but it’s also trust that my guys know what they need to do,” said quarterback Lee Parkhill. That’s increasingly difficult to cultivate with players on any team being pulled in a number of different directions between academic pursuits and other sports — it’s hard to make football everyone’s top priority. STAB is no different in that regard. Jake Allen and Jalen Harrison are both primarily baseball players. Parkhill and running back Brodie Phillips are impact lacrosse players. Kareem Johnson and Harrison are also crucial members of the basketball team, as are John Woodson and DeeJay Anderson. But when it comes to locking in and focusing on football season, they’ve managed to find some reliable chemistry and an incredible level of trust in one another — nobody seems to care who gets the ball because much more often than not something good is about to happen for the Saints.
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“We can keep everybody fresh and everbody is going 100 percent all the time.” — Lee Parkhill 9 :: @scrimmageplay
“I think every coach wants it where you have that next guy up mentality or there’s competition and we have great competition,” “We’re playing six or seven (running backs) of them every game. Nobody is coming to me going ‘coach I want more’ — they all know what we’re doing. It’s much harder to scout and be prepared for five or six guys than one.” At one time or another, all of those players have put together a huge game for the Saints’ offense that’s become one of the area’s most diverse, unpredictable units. It doesn’t come as much of a surprise when you look at the incredible collection of skill players that STAB brings to table…unless you’ve watched STAB play over the last decade or so. “Coach (Blake) was telling us that he used to run the ball a lot and that he only had two pass plays when he first game to STAB,” said Kareem Johnson. Two isn’t even really an exaggeration. The Saints made their reputation under Blake while winning six state championships in 13 seasons from 1998 to 2010 largely because of an isolation ground attack that usually leaned on one strong running back that would run the ball 20 to 30 times per game. Whether it was Drew Thomasson in 2003 or Colin Pehanick in 2006 or even Branford Rogers in 2010, running backs carried a heavy load for the Saints. This year, the Saints’ running backs are lucky if they can string two weeks of getting the bulk of the carries, and the committee-like approach that’s seen big games from Phillips, Allen, Anderson and Woodson is having a big impact. For one, since most of those players (a group that also includes Chris Barry and Michael DiGiacomo) also have to play a big role on the defensive side of the ball, splitting the load on offense has helped the Saints stay healthy and fresh. It also means they’re going full bore no matter who is in the lineup, no matter whose number is called. “We can keep everybody fresh and everybody is going 100 percent all the time,” Parkhill said. “We never have to worry about guys getting tired really. For us to have depth and talent like that it really keeps defenses guessing.” They’re also bringing an entirely different skill set. While Woodson and Anderson are speed merchants who can tear defenses apart at the edges, former quarterbacks Phillips and Allen bring a slightly different approach to the game. Allen is good at picking his way through the front seven between the tackles and Phillips masterfully runs the Saints’ bread and butter run play, an off tackle isolation that’s devastating when blocked properly. Tight end Campbell Miller came on last year as an impact blocker in that set and it was instrumental in the turnaround last year that led to a state playoff berth. “All of them have their own skill sets and it’s just about us getting them in the right places and figuring it all out,” Blake said. Then there’s the pass catchers. While defenses are contending with a fresh running back on nearly every drive, they’re also trying to manage marking up an extremely challenging pass-catching corps. Wideout Jalen Harrison leads the Saints with 573 yards on the year, which is one of the top five campaigns in Central Virginia. He’s getting that done
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When Orange County field hockey’s All-Conference center midfielder Cheyenne Wines isn’t in the game, it’s not just notable at her position, the Hornets’ entire team is impacted. “It’s a definite difference when she’s in the game or when she isn’t,” said Orange assistant coach Lauren Seal. Wines, a central midfielder for the Hornets, makes herself just as insturmental in other roles at Orange County too as a member of the Junior ROTC and the varsity soccer squad. In the JROTC as a junior, she was a member of the school’s elite Raider team. She’s now part of the S-5 unit, which handles publicity and public affairs for Orange’s JROTC, traveling to competitions to take pictures of the Orange County High unit. She plans to attend a four-year university after finishing up at Orange County. That’s a pretty impressive show of balance and effort, being a member of two varsity programs and the JROTC. To be such an instrumental part of them too makes it all the more incredible.
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Jalen Harrison (above) and Kareem Johnson (next page) have been unstoppable at wide receiver for the Saints this season. without the Saints ever really forcing the ball to him, because Kareem Johnson and Campbell Miller are also big-time threats through the air. Johnson plays on the opposite boundary at wideout and has been a big-play threat since emerging last year. He’s an excellent openfield runner, as shown in his ability to take the ball to the house on interceptions or returns (four on the year) and he’s also in top 10 locally in receiving yards. That leaves Miller, a tight end who can also split out and is extremely tough to guard down the seam where he’s done a lot of damage. The Saints are exploiting the fact that most teams simply can’t effectively guard three talented pass catchers. Many squads have a lockdown corner that they can matchup with Harrison or Johnson. Then the second best coverage man can mark up the other wideout. By the time you’re constructing a scheme to handle Miller, you’re running out of top-notch cover guys. “Who’s left? Who’s left to play Campbell whose a big fast athlete?,” Blake said. “That’s exactly what we’re thinking. If we’ve got the right matchups it doesn’t matter what patterns we’re running, if we’ve got the right matchups we know who we’re going to.” It doesn’t hurt that all three can make plays in traffic, and that’s been evident largely because one man has truly learned to trust his teammates to come up big and not worry about mistakes — senior quarterback Lee Parkhill. Parkhill, who is now in his second full year as the starter, has settled into the role admirably, making big-time strides since he took over.
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“If we’ve got the right matchups it doesn’t matter what patterns we’re running. ” — John Blake “Lee’s a good quarterback, he reads all his options,” Harrison said. “I always trust him because we know the ball is coming to us at least three or four times a game, it doesn’t really faze anybody because we know you’ve just got to get open.” Parkhill, who has thrown for nearly 1400 yards in nine games, is adept at trusting the system and finding the open man — whoever that may be. He seems to trust everyone running a route and he
understands who’s likely to come open based on the play and the read the defense is giving him. But what seems to have taken his game up a notch this season is that he’s not just taking the easy, low-risk plays. Instead, he’s taking advantage of the Saints’ athleticism on the boundary with Harrison and Johnson. “We do passing routes every single day and Lee has been really accurate this year and for him to trust us is a big thing,” Johnson said. “We can just go up and make plays.” That’s also helped open up the run game as safeties have to think twice before getting involved in run support versus helping out with Harrison or Johnson. It doesn’t matter what a defense decides to lock down, the Saints have a counter for it. The guys up front, led by Gideon Elron and Minor Smith have made sure of that too, helping protect Parkhill while also opening running lanes despite usually being outsized in some capacity. “I’ve got kids with feet and they’re not scared to hit anybody,” Blake said. “They know that all we want is for them to get in their way. All we’re trying to do is create space.” That trust that Parkhill talked about extends to the guys in the trenches too. Everyone is playing with a lot of shared confidence in one another at STAB, and when that happens, anyone can provide a game-changing play of performance. It’s not a bad thing at all when everyone is the go-to guy. ✖
TEAM SPOTLIGHT GOOCHLAND F O OT B A L L Goochland’s senior football players headed to over to Goochland Elementary School in late October to serve as guest readers during Read to a Child Week. Way to give back to the community Bulldogs! Keep it going and good luck going forward!
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In it together
Louisa County
pride . character . strength . discipline . transcend
Story by RYan Yemen + Photos by Nick Bajis 13 :: @scrimmageplay
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n the back of each louisa county jersey there is an idea, a team building concept, rather than a player’s name. pride, character, strength, discipline, transcend -- those are the five last names playing for the lions right now. in his first year back after a three-year stint in south carolina, mark fischer is making a big impact once again in mineral. He’s rallied his troops and they’ve put up the results that have re-invigorated a community notorious for its love of the show on friday. but now with the playoffs looming and the lions looking to make an impact in November, fischer is fighting an uphill battle he fought once before and won and it has nothing to do with football. While in south carolina, fischer was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer in 2012. By june of 2013 he was in full remission. Now more than a year later, he’s up against the same disease. He spends his week away from the team getting treatment and trusting the assistants on his staff to implement his plan. Fischer might be going up against cancer, but his job is still his passion, his love. the first friday into his treatment, there fischer was on the sidelines like usual. And almost as if nothing else had happened that week, it was all about football for just a couple of hours -- a welcome reprieve for fischer, his staff and his players as the lions routed orange county on the road 50-12 to improve to 6-2.
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pride . character . strength . discipline . transcend .
“It hurt (finding out) at first but we still have a season in front of us, After the season is over I think we’ll all think about it differently.” Demetrius Jones
“This is that time of year where the grind of practice sets in and the kids are tired, the coaches are tired and you just don’t realize how much you miss it,” Fischer said. “There were so many days where I was getting poked and prodded and thought about these kids and how they were probably getting ready to get on the field and I’m thinking about (schematics) and there wasn’t anything I could do about it — I can’t call anybody, they’re on the field.” But when the Lions lined up against rival Orange County, Fischer wasn’t just on the field. Where he usually lets his players storm the field by themselves, he was forced into the matter as his team refused to take the field without him at the center and each player linked arm-to-arm. Shortly there after, he was presented the game ball which was parachuted in — a staple of the kind of antics usually seen in Mineral. Orange athletic director Mark Cole presented him the ball signed by his staff with well wishes on a night where the Hornets fans wore pink and raised funds for cancer research. But just seconds later, it was all about football. “A lot of people have trouble understanding, but if you’re a football guy, this might be the best treatment,” said Louisa athletic director George Stanley. “It’s just so therapeutic. You get to do something that you love, that’s a part of your DNA. Imagine being a player complaining about a hurt ankle, or a sore shoulder during a week, it really becomes a teaching moment, because here’s Fischer with this critical disease doing his job with a smile, almost even with a little bit of arrogance like it’s no big deal. That’s what makes him so special. I’ve never met somebody so sincere that loves his players, shows it and then will also go crazy and bite a car tire. You have to respect that.” Stanley, a former University of Virginia football player (1998-2001) is in his first year as AD at Louisa after serving two years as an assistant. Watching Fischer first galvanize this community in his return and then begin his cancer treament with authority only to see the community in Louisa rally behind the coach — well it’s exactly what he signed up for. “This is why I chose to build my house here,” Stanley said. “It really is about family here. It’s true, not just one of those things that looks good on paper or sounds good to the ear. You get to see it everyday.” Louisa had to wait a bit on the football field to see the community building effect that Fischer is so reknowned for to yield fruit. At 3-2 midway through the regular season, Louisa was a bit of enigma as wins over Spotsylvania, King George and Charlottesville were clumped together with losses to Courtland and Powhatan. However, with those latter two playing lights out football, Louisa entered its meeting with unbeaten Western Albemarle on October 10th truly underrated. But after the Lions pounded the Warriors 56-26, the cat was out of the bag. “This has been a process where we knew we were going to struggle a bit early,” Fischer said. “New coach, new kids, new positions, new theory, new everything… we just had to keep climbing the mountain and we wanted to find a way to peak at the right time.” Perhaps no player better personifies Fischer’s grit and
SUPPORTING THE FUTURE SPORTS STARS OF TOMORROW Best of luck to our 2013 student athletes as they embark on their college careers. Maiah Bartlett Miles Davis Blissie DuBose Will Eppard Tyler Gimple Will Grossman Allie Nicholson Lloyd Smith Stewart Staunton Aaron Stinnie Catherine Towers
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pride . character . strength . discipline . transcend
fits meets the demand of his system offensively than quarterback Trey Cherry. The senior continues a line of tough quarterbacks that Lions have thrived behind whether it was Dillon Hollins (class of 2010) and Zack Jackson (2012) who bridged the gap between the Fischer and former coach Jon Meeks era. Cherry might look undersized, but on a week-in week-out basis he’s absorbed the hits that come with being the signal caller and featured runner of Fischer’s rush-heavy offense. His ability to stay healthy is only surpassed by his ability to make plays behind an offensive line that features just one senior. Cherry had 12 touchdowns and 706 yards through the first six weeks. “We have a passion this year,” Cherry said. “Our line, it’s big and we’re going to ride behind those big guys and they’re looking really nice right now. The line, they’ve matured so much. Without them we don’t run like we do.” As for the physical punishment that Cherry takes as a runner, it’s a shrug of the shoulders, especially now. “I’m not going to let a single hit take me out of a play in the game,” Cherry said. “I’m not going to show weakness on the field. The team looks to (the seniors) as leaders and if I show weakness the team might. I’m all about trying to show positive energy. You just keep rolling.” The previous Saturday before Louisa squared off with Orange the news of Fischers’ cancer was made public to his players. After that, it was a forgone conclusion that the Lions, from a players standpoint, were going to make sure their coach had a happy start to the weekend. “We were winning this game for Coach Fischer no matter what,” Cherry said. “That was our point from Saturday when he first told us. We came out on Monday ready to get this win and that’s what
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“The team looks to (the seniors) as leaders and if I show weakness the team might. I’m all about trying to show positive energy. You just keep rolling” Trey cherry
we did. All of our coaches picked up the slack with him out, it ran smooth and you’ve got to tip your hat to them for that.” Offensively, Cherry and running backs Deion Jackson, Job Whalen and Raquan Jones have been thriving behind a big, physical line that is executing the single wing to perfection the last three weeks. Where Cherry and Whalen are elusive and quick, Jackson (who also doubles as defensive linemen at 5-foot-9 and 215 pounds) is just a brutal downhill runner and Jones brings his own physicality to the mix to make this backfield truly diverse and difficult to slow down. Defensively, seniors like Demetrius Washington have restored
pride . character . strength . discipline . transcend
the roar. The senior linebacker and the defense are one of the only Jefferson District units to have slowed Powhatan at all and outside of Massaponax, the only team that’s slowed down Courtland. In three straight wins over Western, Fluvanna and Orange the Louisa defense has been nothing short of dominant with the majority of the points given up in all three coming late and the Lions still outscoring all three 154-52. “I think everyone’s finally clicking together,” Jones said. “We talk more on defense. We’re letting everyone know what they have to do, not let anything slip.” That’s resulted in the Lions walking through the hallways, walking through their daily lives with the community behind them. It was something that was missing after a decent start to the 2013 season that was marred by an injury to featured running back Markel Grooms and a 1-5 finish leaving the Louisa out of the playoff mix. This year is different though, and a welcome feel to a senior class that could become just the fifth playoff team in school history, and Fischer’s fourth. “The students, fans, everybody — I can walk into any store and people are saying ‘Hey, good job,’” Cherry said. “I’m just loving it, having the community behind us. They’re seeing what we do is positive. They’re coming out to the games, supporting us and we already have the greatest fans.” But having built this program from the ground up when he first started, Fischer is hardly satisfied. He left in 2010 after an 11-1 campaign where the Lions swept the Jefferson and were perennial threats for double-digit wins. Building a program doesn’t happen overnight, and his strategy is not based year-to-year, but rather week-to-week. “These kids understand that we weren’t trying to build it all in August, we were going to build it throughout the year,” Fischer said. “We’re almost there. We’re not where we need to be but we’re
making pretty good strides.” Of course, no coach ever plans to get sick during a season. While Fischer initially thought about holding out until the end of the season to inform his players, the decision to go full tilt treament wise and trust his assistants and his athletes is already looking like the right call, even if it’s still early. “This (win over Orange) is a testament to the kids, my coaching staff to keep this thing on the tracks,” Fischer said. “I come back and every report from practice is great.” For the players, with Fischer on the sidelines on Friday, everything still feels pretty normal. The initial blow was tough, but with the results and Fischer’s attitude being all the same regardless of the news, it won’t be until the season is well over that his team truly processes what its been through, what it’s coach is dealing with. “It hurt (finding out) at first but we still have a season in front of us,” Jones said. “After the season is over I think we’ll all think about it differently.” That’s the way Fischer would want it — football first. He can handle the other stuff. As tall of a task as that is, that this team, this coach and this community can all bond over the product on the field is the kind of welcome distraction that every team needs. This is a Louisa community that dealt with lineman Josh Campi coming down with leukemia in 2010 to make the playoffs. The next year the earthquake was but a sidenote as the Lions again made the postseason and rallied behind football on Friday nights. There’s but one thing to do again with Fischer back on the job if you’re from Louisa — check in on the Lions. Sometimes the seemingly small stuff overshadows the larger dilemmas in life. That’s a good thing. It’s Pride. Character. Strength. Discipline. It’s Transcending. ✖
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Family
Corner PRESENTED BY
ABOVE » Buckingham County’s basketball teams from 2010-2012 that included Tarian Ayres, Cam Johnson and Antonn Briley never seemed to care about individual stats, just wins.
Winning the best way It goes without saying that any winning is pretty awesome, but winning in one specific way is so much better than the other ways it happens. I played on a lot of mediocre to bad football teams. I got pushed around a lot as a varsity wrestler but eventually started winning matches. I played on some pretty darn good club lacrosse teams. When we won in football (and by win I mean the year we went 5-5) it was almost entirely because we had one great running back and we gave him the ball all the time. The “Chuck right, Chuck left” offense was limiting in a lot of ways, but our head coach was mostly concerned about the fact that the year before we’d gone 1-9, so he was going to get whatever he could get to show some improvement. When I eventually won in wrestling, it was as a solitary wrestler. Sure, my coaches had helped me get there and I’d learned a lot from my drill partners, but in the circle, it was up to me. I was the one pulling it off.
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When we won in lacrosse though (and we won a lot), it was because a bunch of guys got together and put aside their own personal agendas got focused on a higher goal. They were true team wins. I certainly remember that running back’s name and how statistically dominant he was. But it’s telling that in lacrosse while I remember a lot of the names, I don’t remember the stats. I don’t remember the scores. I just remember the success, the entire team accomplishing a common goal. It’s not easy to do, putting aside your own desires for the team, and we had to do it without the help of an experienced coach to help us along in that process. Instead we largely defined our own roles. On defense, it was clear that I was more adept at getting folks in the right place, communicating from the crease, helping cover up mistakes and anticipating where the offense was going to go. The two other guys that started with me were tremendous at flying around and making big plays or taking the ball the other way and jumpstarting the fastbreak. There were
times where I wanted to let loose and lay a big hit, but I didn’t because it wasn’t my role and it would’ve been selfish. We were all buying in and that’s when we were successful. It was fun too. My role wasn’t as flashy as the other guys, but I knew what it was and I accepted that that made us better. Maybe those guys on the wings would’ve enjoyed the chance to run the defense too, but they didn’t try and interfere because that was my job and we were better when I was orchestrating things and strategizing while they played much faster than I could on the wing. Winning when the entire team is buying in, that’s the ultimate feeling. Try and help build your team that way. Find your role. And when you do find that team that sells out to something bigger than themselves? Enjoy it, because too often selfishness gets in the way of the pursuit of that goal of becoming collectively more than you were individually. You’ve got to be selfless to win that way, but that’s when winning is truly awesome. That’s because there are plenty of ways to win, but there is certainly a best way to do it too. ✖ Scrimmage Play and Triple C Camp partner up to cover a variety of player and family topics related to youth and prep sports in Family Corner.
Bart Isley,
CRE ATIVE DIRECTOR
At Blue Ridge School you can choose both. ALL BOYS • ALL BOARDING • ALL COLLEGE BOUND
Lacrosse
Football
Blue Ridge School’s Baron Scholarship Program offers substantial scholarships to boys applying for the 9th grade who exemplify character and leadership potential. www.BlueRidgeSchool.com/scholarship 434-985-2811
2012 VISAA Div II State Football Champions 2013 VIC Lacrosse Champions
Functional MoveMent FUNCTIONAL MOVEMENT SCREEN (FMS) Screen BEFORE YOUR ATHLETES START TRAINING FOR SPORTS, HAVE THEM GET SCREENED
FULL POTENTIAL CANtheM HELP GET BeFore your athleteS PHYSICAL Start trainingTHERAPY For SportS, have Screened YOU BACK IN THE GAMETheAND STAY THERE. Functional Movement Screen (FMS) is an innovative system used to ALBERT WONG, PT, CSCS Clinic Director
evaluate movement pattern quality for clients and athletes.
OUR UNIQUE PROGRAM OFFERS:
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THE FUNCTIONAL MOVEMENT SCREEN IS USED TO: •
Identify athletes at risk for injury
ASSESSMENT - You will receive a thorough evaluation of your injury and any issues that IT’S GAME TIME: Why be in • Helpbalance, find weakbiomechanical links in your movement may have left you vulnerable to injury such as flexibility, muscle the stands when you can be alignment, technique, and training. • Assist with development of a fitness/exercise programs
a part of the action? We can Provide corrective exercise to improve movement/performance TREATMENT - Based on the assessment, an individualized treatment plan is developed help get you back on the field, • Create a baseline for movement quality for you. on the court, or in the pool. The Functional Movement Screen has beenDon’t used by major leagues red shirtsports this season. EDUCATION - You will receive guidance on injury prevention thatthe willNFL, address training including NBA, NHL and MLB. It has also been used in our military forces. and technique issues as needed (i.e. golf swing, soccer kick, tennis swing, throwing Get back in the game! Albert Wong, PT, CSCS has over 20 years of outpatient orthopedic experience and motion, etc.). has mentored under Gray Cook, MPT — co-founder of the Functional Movement Systems. •
For more more information call us at (434) 220-0069. informationplease see www.functionalmovement.com
C 1 C T w
CHARLOTTESVILLE SEE YOUR FMS CERTIFIED PROFESSIONAL AT FULL POTENTIAL PHYSICAL T
P ROV I D E D B Y ]Charlottesville, VA 22901 1406[Greenbrier Place, T: (434) 220-0069 CALL F: (434)TODAY 220-0072& MAKE AN APPOINTMEN www.fullpotentialpt.org
The Functional Movement Screen (FMS) is an innovative system used to evaluate movement pattern quality for clients and athletes. THE FUNCTIONAL MOVEMENT SCREEN IS USED TO: •
Identify athletes at risk for injury
•
Help find weak links in your movement
•
Assist with development of a fitness/exercise programs
•
Provide corrective exercise to improve movement/performance
•
Create a baseline for movement quality
STUDENTS FIRST
The Functional Movement Screen has been used by major sports leagues including the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB. It has also been used in our military forces. Albert Wong, PT, CSCS has over 20 years of outpatient orthopedic experience and has mentored under Gray Cook, MPT — co-founder of the Functional Movement Systems.
CHARLOTTESVILLE 1406 Greenbrier Place Charlottesville, VA 22901 T: (434) 220-0069 F: (434) 220-0072 www.fullpotentialpt.org
CHAMPIONS NEXT
For more information see www.functionalmovement.com
SEE YOUR FMS CERTIFIED PROFESSIONAL AT FULL POTENTIAL PHYSICAL THERAPY, SO YOU CAN STAY IN THE GAME.
CALL TODAY & MAKE AN APPOINTMENT! (434) 220-0069
THE COVENANT UPPER SCHOOL | Grades 7 through 12 THE COVENANT LOWER SCHOOL | Pre-K through Grade 6 175 Hickory Street Charlottesville, Virginia 22902 434-220-7330 1000 Birdwood Road Charlottesville, Virginia 22903 434-220-8125
CHARLOTTESVILLE’S ONLY CHRISTIAN PK-12 LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES SCHOOL
Overtime
On the move Minimizing injury risk through screening
M
y son turns everything into a competitive game. He doesn’t want to just throw the baseball around, he wants to play a game of baseball, even if it’s one-on-one, and playing pitcher and centerfield is not an easy task. Same thing in football, where everything turns into essentially a battle royale of tackling and running the ball. The bottom line is that I’m moving all over the place again after years of avoiding it as much as possible, and I’m chasing a little bugger whose motor never stops. Which is why this summer we began partnering with Full Potential Physical Therapy here at Scrimmage Play, and when owner Al Wong explained the Functional Movement Screen evaluation system, it sparked my interest. My days of playing as an actual competitive athlete are over and have been for some time, but if my son is going to make me start pushing my body around at full speed again, knowing a little more about how my body moves can’t hurt, and maybe it could prevent me from feeling the hurt. So Al talked me into coming in and getting the screen done, a screening that’s utilized by professional and collegiate athletes and members of the armed services. The tests which include everything from a deep squat to a forward lunge and a bunch of other moves I struggled mightily with is scored individually and helps identify flexibility and mobility problems that could result in any number of non-contact injuries, whether it’s something simple like a pulled hamstring or something more serious like a shoulder injury for a pitcher. By identifying specific movements and joints with flexibility issues, the screen is arming you with information about weaknesses in you how move, allowing you to correct, strengthen or take preventive measures to avoid an injury (maybe extra stretching for a specific muscle group before an activity). That’s crucial information whether you’re suiting up on Friday nights or trying not to tweak a quad while playing defense against a 5-year old who is still learning to dribble. Al put me through the assessments and things started off easily enough. I got a passable score on the overhead squat. But from there when we started moving into a specific style of lunge and some other awkward (for me) exercises, some problems started cropping up, specifically in my shoulders and my legs. The tests can identify everything from motor control to flexibility to core weakness. For me, flexibility was the biggest issue at hand. In administering one of the tests, Al identified a major flexibility issue in my shoulders, which made a lot of sense to me because I suffered a rash of shoulder injuries during high school football and they always cropped up during intramural and pickup basketball during college. He also pointed out that my lack of flexibility in my legs would likely keep me from optimal performance, and I was painfully slow in high school too, and this surely played a role. The screen helps you see the bigger picture, how you move as a whole, because that matters. Your body is going to adjust and fight to complete a task, that’s natural. The screening adjusts for your frame and size really nicely and is pretty fool-proof, you can’t cheat it and I know this because I tried mightily to do so. Competitors never die I guess.
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“That’s crucial information whether you’re suiting up on Friday nights trying not to tweak a quad while playing defense against a 5-year old.”
My screening score determined that I’m in the range that’s twice as likely to suffer a non-contact injury according to the test. But now I’ve got the information at my disposal to improve that score and keep me from being put on the family disabled list. In an arena as unpredictable as the sports world and injuries in particular can be, we all can use that kind of knowledge, even if all we’re doing is racing around the front yard. ✖
Bart Isley
CRE ATIVE DIRECTOR
back talk »
What are you doing to prevent or minimize your chance of injury? Email: bart@scrimmageplay.com
Success stories begin here.
Success Story: Mack Hollins Mack Hollins just wanted to see if he could cut it at the FBS level (formerly Division 1). All he wanted was a chance. After four years of playing at Wootton High, Hollins was on the outside looking in from a recruiting standpoint. He decided to attend Fork Union and play for John Shuman’s Postgraduate team. After spending three months at FUMA, Hollins got his chance — an offer to walk on and play for North Carolina. Hollins headed to Chapel Hill and enrolled on his own dime. Initially given a chance to play on special teams, Hollins made the most of it. As a freshman in 2013 he appeared in all 13 games for the Tar Heels. He earned the admiration of his teammates and was named the team’s special team’s captain. He also earned the respect of the coaching staff which extended him the scholarship he had been
chasing for so long. As a sophomore this year, Hollins is having a breakout season as a wide receiver. Through eight games so far he has 26 receptions for 555 yards and seven touchdowns. He has a pair of 100-yard games, the first coming in UNC’s second game of the year against San Diego State where he caught two passes for 110 yards and had a 91-yard touchdown. The second 100-yard game came in a wild 28-27 win over Virginia where Hollins had 120 yards on just two catches, both of them for touchdowns including a 63-yard score. He is currently averaging 21.3 yards per catch and has become the Tar Heels’ most productive deep threat. Hollins did all the little things he had to in order to claw his way onto a roster. Now he appears dead set on continuing his climb.
Fork Union Military Academy is the leading Christian military boarding school for boys in grades 6 - 12 and PG. www.forkunion.com — 1-800-GO-2-FUMA