By Thomas Grant Jr.
Preseason high school football opens this week for both public and private schools.
Gray Collegiate, Brookland-Cayce and River Bluff will start non-contact practices on Friday, while Northside Christian Academy will start Monday.
All three public school teams were ranked in the preseason High School Sports Report Top 20 rankings.
The War Eagles are number one in Class 2A, the Bearcats are 13 th in Class 3A, and the Gators are 12 th in Class 5A, where all four its fellow Region 4-5a teams (Dutch Fork, Lexington, Chapin, and White Knoll) are also included in the poll.
River Bluff will hold a “Meet the Gators” event Friday in the Swamp. This will include games, autographs and a “scrimmage” between the players and their moms.
The S.C. High School has released a practice plan with the goal of promoting heat acclimatization guidelines to limit the risk of heat illnesses.
PRACTICE TIMELINE:
- Days 1-5: 3 hours of Practice
- Day 6-14: Must alternate days Long Practice Day and Short Practice Day
- Long Day: 5 hours of practice permitted
- Divide the time to best benefit your program.
- Practices must be separated by 2-hours of continuous rest.
- Long Day can follow a Rest Day (even if the day before the Rest Day was Long Day)
- Short Day: 3 hours of practice permitted
- Divide the time to best benefit your program.
- Day 15+: No Restrictions on Practice
Other rules include limiting practice times to under three hours, documenting the first 14 days of practice and all athletes completing Days 1-5 of the practice guideline before being allowed to participate in more than three hours of practice in a day.
Schools can begin holding scrimmages on Aug. 3.
