Sports Editor

Whether Celebration’s football team will be improved this year remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure – it will move faster.

Coach Ed Meierkort is making sure of that by maintaining an aggressive tempo at the Storm practice field.

“Move it! Run, don’t walk!” he yelled repeatedly at his players Thursday as they moved from one drill area to another.

Meierkort, who accepted the Storm job two months ago after 19 seasons as an NCAA college coach, said that he and his players are adjusting.

“They’ve never practiced football before,” he said as his players took a water station break. “They think they’ve practiced football, but they haven’t. They’ll learn how to move and how to make contact.”

About 35 varsity players worked out Thursday. Given Celebration’s struggles over the past decade, that’s not bad, Meierkort said.

“Our freshmen aren’t out yet. We’ll definitely have varsity and freshmen teams,” he said.

Senior linebacker Tucker McDonough is beginning his fourth football season at Celebration.

“You don’t want to let the team down,” he said, explaining his dedication to play football at a school that was winless last year. “If I don’t stick with it, and some of the other guys do the same thing, it keeps getting whittled down to nothing.”

McDonough said he was “pretty pumped” after learning that Meierkort accepted the job.

“He seems like he’s excited about being here, like we all are,” he said. “We’re looking for a whole lot of improvement this year.”

Meierkort, like most head coaches, roams from one practice area to another, observing and sometimes jumping in to make a point, like when he chastised the linebackers about tackling with their heads down.

“You guys learn that stuff in youth football, and it’s going to get you killed up here. Keep your head up. You tackle with your head down in high school and you’ll break your neck, and then I’ll feel sad for you,” he quipped.

David Akins, a senior defensive back, said the players have responded to Meierkort’s energy.

“There are more kids out. It seems like there is more determination out there,” he said. “I liked my old coach, Coach (Ben) Aarestad, but I was excited that we got a college coach who is going to stay and make us better.”

Meierkort is realistic about the team’s expectations.

“We may not be very good this year. We’ll find that out soon enough,” he said. “What I do know is that these kids will learn how to play football, they will learn how to hit and they will learn how to be winners. It’ll take time. Things have been down for so long here that we have to change attitudes in the kids, in the administration, and in the community. But, we’ll turn it around. I’ve done it before.”

Thursday was the first day that contact was permitted in practice. Two-a-day practices are permitted next week, but local coaches must attend faculty meetings and plan to practice once.