Aug
Ticat practice becomes heated
Courtesy Hamilton Spectator:
It’s a play that’s repeated dozens of times each practice, hundreds of times per week, thousands of times per season: a wide receiver and defensive back battling hard for a football. There’s contact, maybe a little shove. The ball lands incomplete and both players hit the ground, hard.
But the next part is less common. The receiver, rookie Drisan James, takes exception and gets up chirping. The defender, second-year man Geoff Tisdale, steps up and suddenly the two are face mask to face mask. No punches are thrown and teammates separate them quickly.
They are teammates, yes, friends even — off the field. But, every day at practice, Ticat players become, if not enemies, then adversaries, attempting to get the edge on one another in hopes of gaining it on the opponents come game time. Inevitably, that leads to tension and, from time to time, confrontation.
“For anybody that steps on the field playing against us — I don’t care if it’s our offence, whoever — we take pride. They may think we have a chip on our shoulder but that’s how you want to play,” said linebacker Otis Floyd yesterday.
Floyd has talked repeatedly this season about the importance of developing a personality, a swagger, in order for a defence to succeed. While game day will always be the only measure that matters, those instincts are developed during practice, by paying attention to the little things. Floyd draws a basketball analogy.
“When the Celtics won the NBA championship two years ago, when guys tried to get a little shot off after the whistle, they would jump up and knock it out. They had an attitude of ‘You all not scoring on us, ever.’ ” Floyd said. “I saw that and said ‘Damn, that’s good.’ ”
But, if a defence needs attitude, an offence requires execution to be successful, says veteran offensive tackle Dan Goodspeed.
“What you do on the practice field is going to become habit. When the action gets fast and you start going on instinct, what you’ve done on the field is what carries over,” Goodspeed said.
“It’s the fine line you have to walk. The temperament on the practice field is more directed towards learning but when it gets hot and guys get tired … there’ll be times when guys can snap — I’ve done it. It’s part of football, it’s a physical game.”
Goodspeed said he’s become less prone to reacting emotionally during practice, particularly as he’s gained more experience. But there are situations that can get him upset.
“If a guy is getting too close to the quarterback, if he doesn’t pull off, you might see some anger flare up. That’s just the way it is. We’re offensive lineman, we’re paid to protect the pivot,” he said.
The incident between James and Tisdale took place Tuesday and, a day later, James was contrite about his role in it.
“I don’t want players to think of me as somebody who can’t take a hit or can’t take physical defence. I was having a bad day and it was just the wrong day to be shoved,” he said. “It was just immature on my part and not realizing that he was trying to make me better.”
James described Tisdale as a friend. And James said the defence’s aggressive style in practice is ultimately a good thing. “It’s a great defence to practice against every single day. You want a defence that’s going to strip the ball out, that’s going to try and push you around. These guys are making us better.”
Coach Marcel Bellefeuille said the incident’s commonplace. “You go to any football practice at almost any level and you’ll see the same thing.”
Bellefeuille did, however, raise the issue briefly with the team in the post-practice huddle.
“I told the team that’s part of creating an identity. We just don’t bring it into the locker-room,” he said. “But ultimately it’s a good sign when your players are trying to use practice to create an attitude.”
