Tip Sanders Running Practice
By Tim Peterson
(Duarte) – We won’t say things are looking up for Duarte or even that the Falcons are back on track. Let’s just say it’s getting better. A roster that consisted of six players a month ago is now three times that amount.
“We’re up to 18 players now,” said Duarte Coach Tip Sanders while overlooking the practice Wednesday. “Yeah we’ll have a team this year but we’ll have a lot of freshman. We won’t have a JV team.”
The Falcons went through the typical drills that all high school teams are going through on the first day of July but just with a lot less players.”
I asked Sanders if he had any seniors coming back at all. “Yeah, that guy right there,” Sanders said pointing to a blonde kid running out to the field.
Sanders had one group running and hopping through squares while an assistant presided over passing and catching drills. The lack of numbers didn’t seem to bother Sanders too much though as he urged, and exhorted his team to pick up he pace and work hard.
Sanders has brought respectability to programs like Marshall and Blair in the past.
“I was fighting a lot of rattlesnakes that first year at Blair. Guys missing practice, and showing up when they felt like it,” Sanders said. “But eventually they bought in and it translated out on the field.”
Sanders is hoping the same thing will happen with the Falcons.
“From what the principal and others tell me a lot more players will show up in August. But I said ‘what kind of program is that?’ We’ll see,” Sanders added.
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