April 21st TD Club Meeting

The club heard from Coach Bradley a number of issues regarding spring practice.

Spring practice begins Monday April 28th.  Practice will start at 3:30pm and end about 6pm on monday, tuesday and thursday.  Wednesday practice will start at 2pm and end about 5pm.  Unless issues arise which require additional practices, there will be no friday practices.  MHSAA prescribes the number of days allowed in pads, so some practices will be in shorts focusing on conditioning and nonhitting drills. 

The spring game is scheduled for friday May 16th at 5:30pm versus Shannon but will be at Pontotoc High School in Pontotoc, Mississippi.

Coach Bradley stressed that some players are struggling with grades and he urged parents to get involved with their child’s academic success.  Classroom performance is a requirement for participation in sports, and focus on grades the next few weeks are absolutely essential for success in the fall.  During spring practice we want all players to maintain proper attention to their classroom work.

Free Physicals for 2008 football will be provided again this year by Rehab at Work, Columbus Orthopedic Clinic, and Baptist Memorial Hospital.  These free physicals for high school athletes will be provided on one date only and that is Saturday June 21st at the Baptist Hospital Golden Triangle outpatient pavillion.  Those conducting these free physicals have asked for pre-registration of participants by filling out their information and release forms and returning these to Coach Bradley before May 16th.  After all the forms are turned in we will be scheduled a time to be at the hospital outpatient pavillion for the exams.  Watch for the scheduled time on this site.   The free physical forms are downloadable here (HTML format)- page 1, page 2, page 3.  (Adobe acrobat pdf format on New Hope Football.com.  (Using Internet Explorer, use the print preview option under “File” in order to shrink the image so the entire form page prints on one page of paper without being cut off)

The summer workout program will begin on June 2nd.  Prior to June 2nd the weight room will be available for lifting sessions, but between the end of the spring semester and June 2nd, there will be no required sessions.  Twenty lifting and conditioning sessions are required between June 2nd and August 1st, with 30-32 days available to lift.  These sessions will run about 1-1.5 hours.  Weight room hours will be from 9am until 6pm monday through thursday.  The summer workout program is vital for success in the fall and is a must for a player’s acclimation to the coming August heat for safe and effective late summer preseason practices.

The Touchdown Club President asked for all those willing to help with the Market Street Fundraiser to please contact him via email: guerryp(at)gmail.com.  We will be selling crayfish plates with potato and corn on the cob with Mudbugs doing the cooking and our volunteers scooping the vittles onto the plates and handling the sales using Mudbugs cooking trailer setup.  We will not be handling drinks since the concession for all drinks is awarded to only one vendor.  We will be selling Friday May 2nd and Saturday May 3rd.

Club finances and all the items and activities the Club bankrolls were presented.  The Touchdown Club is very active in supporting New Hope Football.  We buy pre- and post-game meals for the team, buy the home jerseys, award the seniors with their home jersey post-season, hold a football banquet, assist with field, stadium, weight room, and fieldhouse maintenance.  The TD Club income is generated mostly through the volunteer activities of the club members at the home concession stand during pee wee, junior varsity and varsity games, and through other fundraising activities such as the booth at Market Street and ad sales for the football program.

A fall football drawing is one of this years fundraising projects.  We’re planning on a series of drawings this fall to win a 100 gallon gas card along with tickets to a college football game.  The games are Ole Miss at Alabama, Ms State at Alabama, and Ms State at Ole Miss.  Further details TBA.