OHS football focuses on improving fundamentals

This will be a much different summer for high school football players in Kansas.

The new relaxed rules allowing coaches to have organized team practices throughout the summer will keep the players busy.

Ottawa High School is taking advantage of the new opportunities to grow as players and as a team.

The players and second-year coach Marc Bergan knows the road of recovery for the Cyclone program needs a lot of repair.

Ottawa has lost 29 straight football games, which has spanned for more than three seasons. Bergan did not waste any time getting the players on the field for instruction with the annual summer team camp last week. There were nearly 50 players there.

The rest of the summer, the players will have team practice at 6 a.m. Monday through Thursday.

Bergan said the players will lift and run in three of the sessions and go on the field for practice once.

“We get to spend a lot of time on fundamentals,” Bergan said. “We have to learn how to block and tackle [better]. We are doing the basics.”

Plus, Ottawa will play in a 7-on-7 league on Monday nights in De Soto throughout June. This will be the first year coaches can coach during those games.

Bergan said the reason for having the team camp last week was to get the players back into thinking football.

“It has been a long time,” he said. “I was pleasantly surprised how much they retained. We can spend more time together as a team.”

Junior Jordan Osladil said the atmosphere around the team is different as the summer workouts began.

“The concentration is a lot better,” he said. “I hate losing. I am trying to get others motivated.”

Osladil said the players are making the sacrifice this summer to be the best football players they can.

“[Camp] was a week we can make mistakes ... you can get the problems out of the way. It is our building week.”

Bergan knows the players have a lot going on during the summer, which is why they are meeting at 6 a.m. each day.

“There is nothing else going on at that time,” Bergan said. “We are making them better football players.”

The Cyclone coach said the building blocks for winning are in place.

He said the success of the basketball and baseball teams can’t do nothing but help in football.

“Success breeds success,” he said. “We have to learn how to win ... know what it takes to compete. We made strides last year. We did not take the biggest stride in getting a win. It does not happen over night.”

Bergan said the players want to be successful.

“They want to be coached,” Bergan said. “They want to have fun too.”

One of the challenges of the coaches this summer will be make sure the players don’t burn out on football before the season actually begins.

Bergan said the coaches he has talked to are willing to adapt as the summer progresses.

“It is year round now,” Bergan said. “They have all ready been lifting. There are a lot of opportunities. There is that fine line.”

Greg Mast can be reached at sports@ottawaherald.com. Comment on this story at ottawaherald.com.