Making the Most of It: Gustie Football Begins Practice with Helmets

When the Gustavus Football team began practices this fall with just their first-year members on campus, they were able to hold onto the hope of eventually donning helmets and full pads for full-contact practices. Sadly, as reality unfolded, the dream of full-contact and equipment was postponed. As of last week, however, Gustie football players were able to gain an extra measure of both safety and normality with the addition of helmets to their daily practice kit. Despite the extra headgear, the Gusties of the gridiron are slated to remain socially distanced through the month of October, and, helmet or not, the team will still be unable to practice in a way that calls for close contact.
“We really haven’t done anything different from the very beginning, we really haven’t had closer contact practices… We added helmets last week, but that didn’t change anything that we’ve done in terms of structure. We’ve been in pods of 11, social distancing at six feet… The helmets did nothing to change our practice, essentially.” commented Gustavus Head Football Coach Peter Haugen.
Gusties watching practice as they pass Hollingsworth field have certainly noticed the black-and-gold helmets glinting in the mid-afternoon sun, leading to a generally heightened sense of anticipation for football, especially in light of the ongoing Division I season. Haugen, however, reminds fans that there’s still a bit of a ways to go.
“Nothing’s changed with our helmets. It looks like something might be different because we’re wearing helmets, but absolutely nothing’s changed. The guys… they’re not able to wear mouthguards, we have the same restrictions in terms of how far we need to be away from one another… There’s absolutely no contact, and that’s been from the very beginning, and that continues through now… There’s this perception that ‘oh, you guys must be doing something,’ but we’re not. The hope was that we were gonna get equipment on, and by wearing helmets… Usually, when you get ready to play, you need to have a couple days in helmets, then you get shoulder pads on… That kinda got us going down that road, but subsequently we found out we’re not going to be having padded practices.”
Haugen also mentioned that the decision to begin practice with helmets came from the Athletic Administrators.
Despite the anticlimactic sound of this development, Haugen mentioned the numerous benefits that come with practicing in helmets, regardless of the maintained social distance in practice structure, and remains optimistic.
“It [wearing helmets] was great, ‘cuz our guys got to wear one, and practice with helmets on, and there’s something about having a helmet on that‘s nice, but… there have not been any new provisions put in place because of the helmets”.
Above all, one thing has remained constant: the Football team’s sense of determination, grit, drive, and desire to return to the game stronger than ever this spring.
“You know, I’m just proud of our guys. We’ve been doing Zoom sessions since March, and there’s been a lot of preparation behind the scenes on Zoom calls preparing our athletes as best we can. Our focus as coaches has been on our athletes and how we can get them best prepared, given the restrictions that are in place.”
Despite Covid, the team is still focused on building their program, buoyed by the large first-year class of this fall and the strong leadership demonstrated by upper-classmen.
“We’re really trying to stay focused on our players, and navigate how we can grow our program in the midst of a difficult situation. Our players, and our leadership group with our captains, seniors, and staff have done just a tremendous job of staying focused and mentoring our younger guys. We have a very big first year class of football players, and so that’s been important. The work that they’ve done with mentoring has been really important in getting those younger guys acclimated to our program and our culture”.
As the team continues to prepare, and anticipation for the coming spring season builds, practice in helmets marks an important step towards recovery as Gusties continue to adjust to life in a pandemic.