Samson looks back on Braves' Vandal visit
The old mantra goes, “Champions are made in the offseason.” Every coach preaches about hard work during the summer paying off in the fall. Over the years, with the science showing us new things in exercise regiments, those results have created bigger and faster athletes. Conditioning and getting the body ready in the summer, readies it for the long grind when the season comes around. I spoke to Flathead football coach Kyle Samson about how the offseason program is going.
Nach on Sports: How have the summer workouts been going?
Kyle Samson: We had a really good spring ball. We had nine practices in the spring. We were able to get a lot installed and taught for next fall. We had a really good week at the Idaho Vandals camp. (I’m) very proud of our kids and how they went out and competed. We competed against some very good teams finishing the week 10-1 in our scrimmages. Very proud of our guys working hard and all the hard work we put in the offseason is starting to show. We still have a lot of work to do, but we’re on the right path.
NOS: Have you seen the players grow more and more at this point of the offseason?
KS: I think so. This is my first senior class (at Flathead), these seniors have been with me since they were freshmen. It’s my first time that I have had a full group of kids that all they have known is our staff. I think that’s important. They know what we expect, they know what their expectations are, they know how hard they need to work and I think that’s huge. Our seniors have done a great job with their leadership.
NOS: What did you take away from the Idaho camp?
KS: We got some good coaching from the Idaho staff. The biggest takeaway was the toughness of our team. It’s a grind at camp. There was one day where we had six scrimmages in one day. It’s definitely more of a mental toughness than a physical toughness. Our team showed a lot of mental toughness that week. We were very successful, but at the end of the day is when we were really good. When other teams were getting tired I felt like we were still pretty dang strong. I think that is a tribute to my staff and how hard they have worked. But, our seniors are doing a really good job with their leadership.
NOS: How excited are you for the new field and to play on it August 24 against Butte?
KS: It’s going to be a great thing for all of Kalispell. For Flathead High School I think it’s going to be awesome to have a field we can use year round. We’re not going to have to worry about — in October and November — having it torn up and muddy. I think it will be something to take a lot of pride in with a new field. The kids are super excited about it. It will be fun to play that first home game against Butte on that new field.
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Anthony Nachreiner is the host of The Nach on Sports Show, Northwest Montana’s only sports talk show, which airs every weekday from 3-5 p.m. on 600 AM KGEZ and 96.5 FM.
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