The Southwest Junior Varsity football team is off to a solid start to the 2014 season, under the leadership of Coach Derek Pitts.  While the JV players are excited about their success as a team, their hard work and Coach Pitts’ positive philosophy to coaching is encouraging for a promising future for the Varsity program for the next several years.

The JV football players began to start coming together as a team on an off the field during summer practices and conditioning sessions.  They beat three other area high school teams during a series of “7 vs. 7 skill competitions.” These competitions brought teams together from competing high schools to work on  skills and how to run offense for the upcoming season.  The highlight for the team was defeating defending 6A Missouri State champions Blue Springs.

“It was a very close game for us” Linebacker Jack Sailer said. “Hopefully it will give us the momentum we need to do well this season.”

This summer was a test of the players endurance and game knowledge. They were often pushed to work harder. They went from the weight room to the field almost every morning; a lot of agility work outside, while work inside was mostly lifting weights.  During the summer months, the team conditioned two hours every morning prior to daily practice.

“Honestly, the hardest part was waking up at 5:30 every morning,” Sailer said. “You wouldn’t believe how tired we got with all the work we did.”

The team’s approach to conditioning also included a Marine day.  The team was given an aptitude test that Marine Cadets use for physical endurance testing. This not only measured physical capabilities, but also encouraged team bonding and cohesiveness.

“The tests were all very fast and hard, and more often than not people threw up.” Sophomore Jacob Buster said. “But we all encouraged each other to do our best and keep pushing no matter how tired we were”

On the Southwest team, there is a lot expected from all of the players. Coach Pitts said that he will always harp on communication on his team because it’s a very important aspect to the game.

“If the players are not communicating what they are seeing on the field to the coaches, then we are going to have a long day,” said Pitts. “It helps us compare the defense from one way to another so that we know when to change it up.”

Pitts is a firm believer in always looking forward the positive things on and off the field. He never wants his players to get frustrated, and is a believer in talking with his players one on one.

“I’m not standing on a soap box trying to give a huge speech,” Pitts said. “I am simply out there to let them know what we need to fix or that we need to pick it up, I let them police themselves a lot.”

Pitts’ philosophy towards coaching impacts his players’ individual efforts, but the overall efforts of the team as well.

“I know I’ve improved a lot,” sophomore Alexander Gianino said. “But the whole team just keeps getting better and better everyday.”

As the season gets started, the team has started to see its efforts on the practice field pay off.

“You just have to keep getting back up,” Gianino said. “Sometimes you just have to hold the rope and keep on pushing.”

The JV team’s next challenge is against Blue Valley High School on Nov. 27.