Moving forward
Panthers taking advantage of technology
The Siloam Springs football team is trying to move forward with its future very much uncertain.
The Panthers haven’t met as a team in person since March 16 — the last day of in-person school — due to the covid-19 pandemic, but the team is using technology to its benefit to try and hold meetings and film sessions.
“It’s tough,” said head coach Brandon Craig. “You’re trying to communicate online through different avenues such as Google hangout, Zoom, and you’re trying to get them all there at once, and it’s really hard.”
Craig said the Panthers had about 40 players at its first team meeting on Zoom a few weeks ago. Since then, coaches have been holding position meetings on Zoom for different groups.
“You’re not going to get 100 percent participation I think, just because there’s so many variables that go into it,” Craig said. “We’re just trying as coaches to break down the roster, each coach keep in contact with a certain number of kids, basically their position groups, and we want to make sure, number one, that their families are healthy and safe and getting the things that they need on a daily basis.”
Craig said the coaches are also keeping tabs on the players’ academics.
“That’s huge,” Craig said. “I mean school’s still in session. A lot of these kids are under the misunderstanding they don’t have to do certain things, but we’re pushing them to stay on task and get their work turned in, and even do extra if possible.”
Craig also said they want the Panthers to keep a beneficial schedule.
“We’re just wanting them to keep some type of routine on their own,” he said. “Where they’re not staying up all night, getting up at a decent time, or working out at home, doing body weight exercises and just being prepared and hoping that we
can come back June 1st and have some type of normal workout and have some type of normal routine.”
One date of note comes up on Monday, April 27.
That was supposed to be the date of the start of spring football practice for Siloam Springs.
Spring football will not take place this year though as the Arkansas Activities Association’s current dead period will run through at least May 30.
There is hope, however, that teams may begin to gather for workouts after that.
Siloam Springs has a full calendar of workouts and camps scheduled for June, including the Bison Football Camp at Harding University in Searcy on June 4-5.
“I’m sure that’s going to be pushed back or rescheduled,” Craig said of the Harding camp. “The problem with those college camps is a lot of those guys have limited days they can be in contact with high school kids. I think the 28th of June might be the last option they can do that. If we can’t do a college camp this year then we’ll do a high school camp. It all goes back to ‘if,’ because everything changes daily with this virus.”
When practice does resume, Craig said it may resemble an era of football that he grew up with in the 1980s or even before when there wasn’t a lot of summer activity.
“It probably goes back to more of the times when I was in high school where we had some controlled events,” he said. “We had some 7 on 7s, or a workout scheduled but we didn’t really have the supervision with our coaches as much as these kids do nowadays. You’re kind of taking a step back to the 80s and maybe a further step back to the 60s and 70s depending on how this goes. It really comes down to the kids that have self-discipline that are willing to work on their own and get themselves ready.”
Craig said the coaches in Arkansas are fortunate to be able to have the kind of contact with the players that they do have. He said his coaching buddies in Oklahoma can’t have football-related meetings online.
“They can have generalized administrative meetings with kids to talk about dates and fundraisers, but they can’t do football things,” he said. “At least here in Arkansas we’re still able to meet with our kids. We’re able to talk about football. We’re able to watch video with them online. There’s lots of things we can do creatively from a technology standpoint.
It’s still frustrating because our number one goal as coaches is to be around our kids on a daily basis, give them that support system that they need and really help guide them. That’s the frustrating part of it.”