AWM keeps it loose entering playoffs

AWM keeps it loose entering playoffs

Blue Devils look to avoid grind prior to Texarkana game

WM School District As the postseason approaches in high school football, coaches dance along that fine line of readying their teams for the season-defining games and overworking their kids.

Nike prints slogan T-shirts to inspire young athletes. One of the many it released printed the message 'BASKETBALL NEVER STOPS.'

Well, football never stops these days. Almost the moment the season ends, the players begin off-season training with weights and various other drills. Then comes spring football, followed immediately by a summer filled with 7on-7, team camps and, once again, strenuous weight workouts.

It leads one to wonder if it precludes burnout.

To which West Memphis head coach Billy Elmore says, certainly it can. And it actually happened to one of Elmore's teams.

Elmore's Blue Devils play their first home playoff game since November of 2012 when Lanny Dauksch's club defeated Rogers Heritage 43-36 in a first-round game.

The Blue Devils (6-4) take on Texarkana (3-7) on Friday night at 7 at Hamilton-Shultz Field.

Elmore said he has amended his approach to prepping his football teams this time of year.

'I've had teams before, and I hate to actually say it, that basically have gotten tired of playing by this time of the year,' said Elmore, who has won state championships at Stuttgart and Glen Rose. 'I've either burned those teams out by working them too hard early in the season or working them too hard in the summer. You actually want your team as hungry as they've ever been when the playoffs start.

'There's a fine line there between pushing them too hard and getting them primed.'

Elmore said some of those thoughts entered his heads after his Blue Devils dropped their regular-season finale 14-7 at Mountain Home.

However, Elmore said he thinks his troops are ready for some postseason football this Friday night.

He's changed up some of his practices, making them more fun.

'You have to change things, because the same things for 14 weeks in a row just gets old,' Elmore said. 'On Monday of this week we had our offensive linemen during our special teams period go down and field punts. They had a big time with it. We kept up with who caught the most punts and then got out of some of the conditioning. Little things like that just tweaking the practices a little.'

In fact, Elmore added, his team's Monday practice was one of the best the team has had all year long.

'It was a very spirited practice,' he said. 'We had guys whooping and hollering and very much into what we were doing. In the playoffs you're not practicing so much to get better, but practicing to get ready.'

By Billy Woods