Marblehead Youth Football Holds First Practice Indoors

Despite the inclement weather that swept through the North Shore on Monday, the Marblehead Youth Football teams for grades five through eight convened for their first practices of the 2010 season.

Originally scheduled for Gatchell Park, the pre-season workouts were moved to the field house at Marblehead High School, where more than 200 excited athletes began preparation for the season ahead. The session opened with a joint stretching period and a welcome pep talk delivered by Program Director Bruce Bial.

"We didn't want to disappoint the kids, with them expecting this to be the first day of practice," he said. "Hopefully, we get outside in the next day or two."

The program, which participates as a member of the Cape Ann Youth Football League, will be broken up into six different teams for 2010. The "A" and "JV-A" teams will be comprised of eighth graders, while two "B" teams feature Marblehead's seventh graders. Sixth graders will be broken up into the "C" and "JV-C" teams, with the latter roster being filled in with fifth grade students.

While the space in the field house is confined, and on some levels hindered, the conditioning activities Monday night, Bial said the practice was necessary.

Adding to the sense of urgency to begin workouts is the early kickoff to the season by neighboring programs, which have as much as a two-week head start on the Marblehead teams.

The game schedule for the Marblehead teams is expected to be released in the next week, and the first set of games is projected for the weekend of September 11.