By Karenlyn Barone
New York State mandates that every high school football team attend a summer football camp in preparation for the upcoming season. Local high school football teams must follow the guidelines and how they relate to equipment and preparedness, but the drills and conditioning techniques are a personal program, usually formulated by the coaches and support staff.
At East Rockaway High School, whose varsity football team went 3-5 last year, skill and leadership, efficiency and optimal energy are all stressed, but there is an unexpected component to the training.
Last year, sparked by the suggestion of Assistant Coach Tim O'Hagan, Head Varsity Coach Russell Pajer, told the team to show up at Hewlett Point Beach at 6:30 a.m. There, the athletes ran lifeguard drills, carried the lifeguard's boat through the deep sand and trudged through the water's edge, all in the name of the game.
"When I first heard we were going to train at the beach, I thought the coaches were crazy," said James Duffy, senior defensive end and offensive tackle. "We train real hard at the beach, but it's the most fun you can have."
Pajer works closely with his assistant coaches to devise a summer football program that is both intensely physical and instructional, yet allows the players to enjoy themselves while they are training. This year, the varsity players, numbering about 25, took to the beach at Point Lookout in mid-August, to continue their newest training tradition
"Where before, the focus was to run, run, run, now we've introduced different concepts in training," said Pajer, a nine-year coaching veteran, who played football for both East Rockaway and Hofstra University. "The day we work out at the beach is fun, but the team trains hard."
Safety concerns have been highlighted in recent years, due to the serious injuries and tragic deaths at professional football camps as a result of training in the summer's intense heat. Pajer makes player safety a priority and his team's training sessions are scheduled with that in mind.
"The team starts practice at 7:30 a.m., so we can beat the heat and the early morning drills are the more physical, while the later drills are more mental," said Pajer.
In addition to stretching, circuit training, running drills and tackling techniques, the team is also encouraged to build friendships and bond into a family of winning players.
The combination of physical and mental is what winning football is all about, and to that end East Rockaway High School has an extensive support staff of coaches and trainers with impressive backgrounds. James DeTommaso is not only East Rockaway High School's assistant principal, he was also a legendary lacrosse player for Johns Hopkins University in Maryland and is currently the assistant coach of the championship Long Island Lizards lacrosse team. Four other coaches are East Rockaway alumnus -- assistant coaches Dan Vito (1989), Tim O'Hagan (1992), Dom Carre« (1999) and strength and conditioning coach Brian Dessart (1997). The coaching staff is cemented by four other assistants, Steve Sonkin and Scott Gerkin, both educators, and Cedric Dawkins and Mike Shanahan, both law enforcement officials.
Football fundamentals, intense focus, family and fun are all part of summer football camp at East Rockaway High School, and that combination has made for winning records and intense fan loyalty. The team will bring all that to the East Rockaway High School field for their first scrimmage against Cold Spring Harbor on Sept. 6.
