Tuesday: Football
Last week, Chelsea held its two-day football camp for the offense (Wing-T Camp); this week, Chelsea held its two-day football camp for the defense (Big D Camp).
It seems Brian Urlacher has high school eligibility left, and he has chosen to use it here in Chelsea. This bodes well for the defense.
(Full gallery.)
On Saturday, the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association held its annual all-star football game at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing. Aside from being a shining beacon of Actual Football Action in the vast wasteland of the Arid Lifeless Offseason, the game is a lot of fun for me because I get to shoot football on the sidelines of a Big Ten stadium, and that’s halfway to fulfilling a dream of mine. (Yeah, it’s Spartan Stadium, but … well, they can’t all be Michigan Stadium.) This year, thanks to my connection to Heritage Newspapers, the West team gave me four athletes and two coaches to photograph:
Last year’s game featured bright sunlight and brilliant blue skies, and let me tell you, it was hot; this year’s game was cooler thanks to cloudy skies with a chance not of meatballs, but of thunderstorms. The thunderstorms never happened, but it did start to rain midway through the second half; the rain continued through the end of the game, and it managed to soak everyone on the field, including me (but not my camera, thanks to my outstanding Storm Jacket camera cover).
The game itself was largely defensive; neither team reached the end zone, but on the strength of three field goals, the East (Detroit and a few nearby counties) defeated the West (the rest of the state), 9-0.
Dexter’s Chris Marsh
Chelsea’s Dean Roberts
All Week: WOOOO (youth) FOOTBALL!
Chelsea football held its annual Future Bulldog Camp for kids from third through seventh grade; the camp featured five days of instruction in the fundamentals of football by Chelsea coaches and varsity players, as well as an Air Force Football tournament. (Air Force Football is a variation that allows any number of passes in any direction.) This year’s camp set a record with over 200 kids in attendance.
Varsity head coach Brad Bush started the Future Bulldog Camp when he came to Chelsea ten years ago; the camp has been going long enough that most — if not all — of the varsity players helping with the camp this year attended the camp when they were younger.
Monday:
Morning
Wednesday: WOOOO FOOTBALL!
Chelsea held its varsity football camp Wednesday through Friday. If you couldn’t tell from the above text, I was a little excited to be around football again. And by “a little excited” I mean “WHOA CRAZY HAPPY.”
Tuesday: Soccer
Chelsea defeated Stevensville Lakeshore. As is immediately obvious in the pictures, the game was played on a football field, which meant the football sidelines — very wide, very bright white lines about five feet inside the soccer boundaries — were immensely distracting (and the end zones didn’t really help, either). While I understand the practical necessity of a multi-use field, I don’t think soccer and football are a good mix: a football field is cluttered with lines and numbers (and now, with the growing popularity of artificial turf, midfield and end zone graphics) all over the place, while a soccer field is quiet and clean. Football on a soccer field would be fine, but soccer on a football field is just hard on the eyes.
So, to all the schools with dedicated soccer facilities: thank you.
(Full gallery.)
The baseball team’s season ended last weekend, and the soccer team is bounding playfully through the playoffs, which means its season is going to end within the next week or two. Why is this important? Because there are two more books!
I’m still putting the finishing touches on the baseball book, and the soccer book can’t be completed until the team’s season ends. But I am accepting orders now.
Fun fact: I didn’t have definite cover images for either book until very late in the seasons. For soccer, I got the cover image at the fourth-round playoff game; for baseball, I got the cover image at the first-round playoff game (which ended up being the last game of the season).
Thursday: Soccer
In a battle of Bulldogs in the second round of the playoffs, Chelsea defeated Mason. (The next day, Chelsea defeated Eaton Rapids to claim the district championship. But sadly, I wasn’t there for that game.)
When both teams are the Bulldogs, this sentiment becomes inclusive and nonthreatening. But since yellow isn’t a Mason color, the declaration still can carry some weight … particularly when it’s being displayed after a Chelsea victory, as it was here.
Thursday: Baseball (SEC Championship)
In the first game, Chelsea staged a thrilling seventh-inning comeback to defeat Adrian; in the second game, Chelsea lost to Tecumseh.
