The Bobcats prepare for Tuesday's river float
CATS IN CAMP DAY 11: River Float Highlights Players' Day Off Tuesday
8/17/2016 9:52:00 AM | Football
Mental, physical breather comes after 10 straight days of practice
The halls of Brick Breeden Fieldhouse were a lot quieter than normal on Tuesday afternoon, but the Madison River must certainly was noisier.
On MSU's first players' day off of fall camp the team and members of the coaching staff floated the Madison River west of Bozeman. "I think they were excited about the chance to get away from campus, from football, for a few hours," said Bobcat coach Jeff Choate. "There's a lot going on in these kids' lives and their minds, so they got a chance to get away from the complex, spend some time together as a team, embrace this beautiful place we're living in."
The Bobcats powered through a dozen practice sessions in the first 10 days of fall camp, a tone Choate said carries a purpose. "Part of building the identity we want to have, that toughness, is to experience adversity, be sore and tired and push through anyway. We really did that."
Tuesday's river float was about more than just providing a breather, mentally and physically, from the rigors of fall camp. "A lot of these young men probably haven't had a chance to see the Madison River yet, much less float down it," Choate said. "So that was a unique experience for them. When they look back on their college experience they're not always going to remember the morning workouts or even sometimes the games, but they're going to remember the moments they had with their teammates and the camaraderie. Hopefully this is one of those things they'll look back on and remember."
Choate turned his team's normal routine upside-down on Wednesday. The Bobcat staff puts its charges through the full-contact practice at the 10:15 am in Bobcat Stadium "knowing that it (is) going to be really warm this afternoon," while the afternoon practice at 4:30 pm is on the grass. "Hopefully they come back a little refreshed mentally and physically. It's (important to) get up (Wednesday) and get going. I told the staff, I anticipate the guys will be a little sluggish, but if we get them going the right way we should be able to get a really good practice this morning."
Choate places importance on the seven-day stretch of practices that begins Wednesday and ends with next Thursday's break from practice. "(Some years) you get to that seven-day point and you give them a little bit of a day off, but I felt like (this year) we needed to push through," Choate said. "I was pleased with this first chunk of camp we had. It was a good stretch for us. But we've got to get better, there's no room for us to take a step backward."
Even the head coach took Wednesday afternoon to attend to some of life's details. "I got a haircut yesterday, went to the bank," he said with a laugh. "The way our schedule's set up there are some things you just can't do on a normal day. It was good to have that."
On MSU's first players' day off of fall camp the team and members of the coaching staff floated the Madison River west of Bozeman. "I think they were excited about the chance to get away from campus, from football, for a few hours," said Bobcat coach Jeff Choate. "There's a lot going on in these kids' lives and their minds, so they got a chance to get away from the complex, spend some time together as a team, embrace this beautiful place we're living in."
The Bobcats powered through a dozen practice sessions in the first 10 days of fall camp, a tone Choate said carries a purpose. "Part of building the identity we want to have, that toughness, is to experience adversity, be sore and tired and push through anyway. We really did that."
Tuesday's river float was about more than just providing a breather, mentally and physically, from the rigors of fall camp. "A lot of these young men probably haven't had a chance to see the Madison River yet, much less float down it," Choate said. "So that was a unique experience for them. When they look back on their college experience they're not always going to remember the morning workouts or even sometimes the games, but they're going to remember the moments they had with their teammates and the camaraderie. Hopefully this is one of those things they'll look back on and remember."
Choate turned his team's normal routine upside-down on Wednesday. The Bobcat staff puts its charges through the full-contact practice at the 10:15 am in Bobcat Stadium "knowing that it (is) going to be really warm this afternoon," while the afternoon practice at 4:30 pm is on the grass. "Hopefully they come back a little refreshed mentally and physically. It's (important to) get up (Wednesday) and get going. I told the staff, I anticipate the guys will be a little sluggish, but if we get them going the right way we should be able to get a really good practice this morning."
Choate places importance on the seven-day stretch of practices that begins Wednesday and ends with next Thursday's break from practice. "(Some years) you get to that seven-day point and you give them a little bit of a day off, but I felt like (this year) we needed to push through," Choate said. "I was pleased with this first chunk of camp we had. It was a good stretch for us. But we've got to get better, there's no room for us to take a step backward."
Even the head coach took Wednesday afternoon to attend to some of life's details. "I got a haircut yesterday, went to the bank," he said with a laugh. "The way our schedule's set up there are some things you just can't do on a normal day. It was good to have that."
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Wednesday, May 03
