GREEN BAY — Contact days are key for high school coaches to interact with their players during the offseason, but how much interaction can they have? NBC 26 caught up with Preble High School football coach Brad Boockmeier, who is tackling contact days in his first month at the helm of the Hornets.
“Our goal in these days of contact was to create what would be our daily bread, and I will not reveal any secrets,” laughed Boockmeier.
Boockmeier has been involved with the Preble football program for most of his life, from his playing days as a star tailback to his seventh year as part of the coaching staff, but this year he is the first head coach.
“Boockmeier is a great coach and we love him,” senior point guard Braylon Schadt said.
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The recent coach has only been in his role for a little over a month and is using the training days to set the standard he wants to achieve in his program.
“It only took me a practice and a half before I had to say something, and the senior came and said it for me, and I thought, ‘OK, perfect,’ we’re starting to get it right. That’s the most important thing in these contact days.”
But what are contact days? Well, coaches can only be with their players for a low period of time from the end of the school year through July 31, according to the WIAA.
“The WIAA gives you five official training days where you can really focus on your sport,” Boockmeier said.
That doesn’t mean coaches can’t be around their players to assist them grow. Outside of those five days, they can assist their players improve in other ways.
“You can run with weights, you can run to work on speed and agility, but you can’t do anything specific that’s sport-specific, so that gives us five days to do that,” the first-year coach said
Boockmeier makes sure to plan his constrained contact days so that players can exploit what they have learned and continue to improve their skills on their own.
“What I like about it is that when we teach them the concept of passing on Day 1, well, when we open up the field to the open field, right, we can’t coach them, but they can execute the concept themselves and our quarterbacks can run the show,” he said. “It just gives them a little bit of structure, but it doesn’t really give it to them.”
For his players, contact days are beneficial because when training camp begins, they are a step ahead of the others.
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“Learning the little things, knowing how to run, where to run,” Schadt said.
It’s not just about focusing on the little things, but also about creating a coherent whole that is:
“Very important,” Schadt said. “It helps us, the bond within the team is important, but just getting ready for the season.”
According to the WIAA, violating most of the rules does not result in a specific penalty, but according to the association’s website, there are 9 different penalties that can be imposed:
“However, the WIAA has the authority to impose penalties for violations of the rules, such as 1) suspension of membership for a period not to exceed one year; 2) probation for a period not to exceed one year; 3) denial of participation in the Association’s tournament program; 4) denial of any area of the Association’s services and benefits; 5) a monetary fine equal to the Association’s expenses incurred in investigating and actual reimbursement of costs resulting from the violation; 6) forfeiture (in team sports) of competitions won by the school or (in individual sports) of points/places earned by individuals; 7) loss of the ability to host WIAA tournaments for a period not to exceed one year; 8) loss of conference affiliation; 9) loss of eligibility for the athletes involved.”
