James Clemens football team gets taste of action at camp
Just like the construction workers hard at work on the new James Clemens High School, the football team is hard at work this summer preparing for the upcoming season. Head coach Bill Stewart and his skill players recently returned from their first competition.
On June 7 and 8 the team travelled to the heart of football country in Suwanee, Georgia, the home of the Atlanta Falcons. They were there to play in a 7-on-7 competition that included several teams that had won state championships in Georgia last year.
Jet’s players got an eye opening experience playing against some of the best teams in Georgia and South Carolina. Stewart moved to Madison fom Etowah, Georgia earlier this year to take over the James Clemens football program and he was familiar with the level of competition the camp offered.
The players learned that success is hard to come by when playing against the top level of competition. The Jets were eliminated after losing games to Grayson and North Gwinnett.
“It’s just an understanding of the competition level they have to play in,” Stewart said. “They have to know that every Friday that competition level is going to be there and we are going to have to be ready for it physically and mentally.”
Stewart, who was also a weightlifting coach in his previous post, is guiding the players through the Jets off season strength and speed training program.
“It was a great learning experience,” Stewart said. “We have to get the mental part down beyond even athleticism. We will eventually be capable athletically. It is a day-to-day process and it’s not something you can jump right into. You have to compete to learn those things. When you go to a 7-on-7 tournament you actually get to compete against players that have been doing it for a while.”
It was the first trip away from the area for the team and a chance to bond with future teammates. Most of the player’s football experience has been playing middle school football. So for Stewart, going to the tournament meant “there are a lot of life lessons to be taught as well as training and technique. Beyond the tactics there is character development.”
“We accomplished what we went there for which was to compete and gain experience,” said Stewart. “We got better from day one to day two. We learned a lot of lessons and achieved the goals I set out and those goals don’t come down to wins and losses.”
Stewart said that rising sophomore Heath Birchfield got most of the reps at quarterback.
“It’s a learning experience for him,” Stewart said of Birchfield. “He’s got youth right now and it is just a matter of gaining experience. He got to go up against the real deal.”
Other players who stood out for James Clemens were running back Mathew Stewart, H-back Cortez Nance, and linebackers Jas Hampton and Dylan Hampton.
For now the team remains in the familiar confines of Liberty Middle School.
Stewart, who is also the Athletic Director, said the new weight room and fieldhouse at the high school would not be open until late August. Originally, the team had hoped to be in when they returned from the dead weeks of July 2-15.
Madison City Schools imposed a two week dead period in which no athletic training can occur in order to give the players and their families a chance to plan vacations and take a break.
The Jets will go to a skills camp at Samford University and a Fellowship of Christian Athletes team camp at the University of West Georgia later on in July.
The first official practice allowed by the AHSAA can be August 6.
