One day — a day in the far-flung, fated future — the sun will fail to peak over the eastern horizon. Blue Chip Football Camp Mustang Football Alumni
A bleak darkness will envelop the globe, leaving only a cruel and unimaginable cold that will freeze our rocky planet to its very core.
For Doug Kerr, that may be a good day to take a break from football.
Just maybe.
Until then, try convincing Iola High’s head football coach otherwise.
It’s like telling a pastor that Sunday morning is the best time to catch up on sleep.
In either case, that conversation will end awkwardly.
So when Kerr and his Mustangs take the field Monday for the first time since October, it will be a long overdue reunion with the game they love.
The summer training camp, which runs for just a week, is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. in Riverside Park for the first three nights with each practice lasting until approximately 8:30.
Starting Thursday, the team heads off to Greenbush, where the players and coaches will stay in cabins for three days.
“It’s kind of the whole ‘Remember the Titans’ kind of thing,” said Kerr, entering his fourth year as Iola’s head coach.
But then the week ends and so does football until official practice begins on Aug. 17.
A weeklong football tease is just too cruel for Kerr to accept. So he found a way to shorten his recess away from the game.
It’s almost like a loophole, one that gives him the fix he needs while helping the community as well.
Following the high school’s summer training camp, Kerr, his coaching staff and even his players organize the Fourth Annual Blue Chip Football Camp to boost the sport’s popularity among Iola’s youth.
The clinic, which runs July 21-23 from 6 to 8 p.m. each night at Riverside Municipal Stadium, is free to any child from third to sixth grade.
Water will be provided so those interested just need to bring a T-shirt, shorts and cleats if possible.
Any player desiring to participate should pre-register with Kerr by emailing [email protected] with name and grade for this upcoming fall semester, but walk-ups are also welcome.
For the town’s older generations of Mustangs, Kerr has also established a way to get back in the game.
Before the current team holds its annual Blue and Gold Scrimmage on Aug. 28, Iola alumni will have their chance to play on the gridiron again with the first ever Mustang Football Alumni game.
The touch football contest between the school’s odd and even year graduates will start at 6 p.m. at Riverside Park and lead up to the Mustangs’ preseason scrimmage.
Kerr said he hopes to get at least 40 former Iola football players to participate.
If interested, the price to play is $20 per person, which will include a ticket to the alumni social after the scrimmage.
To entice the school’s former players to come out and support the program, Kerr will even give them a dramatic entrance back to the field.
“In January we went down to Louisville, Ky., to the … National Football Conference, and we put our names for these prizes,” he said.
“And I ended up winning an inflatable tunnel.”
Each alumnus will get an individual introduction as he marches out the tunnel.
For more information regarding the event, check out the Mustang Football Alumni group on Facebook or email [email protected].
Most wonderful time of the year
