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The Greenfield football team stretches before practice at Vets Field on Friday. -
Players on the Greenfield football team do sprints during practice at Vets Field on Friday. -
Greenfield football coach Mike Kuchieski talks to his team in the lockerroom before its first practice of the season on Friday at Vets Field. -
Greenfield football players stretch their necks and backs before practice on Friday at Vets Field.
GREENFIELD — In just three weeks the Greenfield football team will be marching onto Vets Field to open its season against Chicopee.
That preparation got underway on Friday.
The Green Wave took to Vets Field for their first practice of the 2023 season Friday afternoon, going through the grind of conditioning work before the pads come on next week.
“The first week is always the hardest,” Greenfield senior lineman Will VanVleet said. “It’ll be fun when we get the pads on. The first week is a lot of conditioning and I hope everyone here can push through it and get in good shape.”
While the first couple practices might be the toughest, they are also some of the most important.
Getting the rust off and working to get into the best shape possible will only pay dividends once the games roll around in September.
“Conditioning wins games.” VanVleet said. “I see some good kids out there who are trying their hardest. We have a lot of stars and we’ll be able to get a good team going.”
There are only so many football takeaways from the opening practice of the year, but VanVleet said he sees a team full of players who showed up ready to work and get better as Greenfield looks to return to the state tournament. The program’s last appearance came in 2021.
“First day you can’t tell much but you see the fire in them,” VanVleet said. “They’ll just have to turn that toward winning. We have some seniors who have experience under their belt and I see a lot of star players in the sophomore and junior classes. That’ll be a good thing to look forward to this year.”
The Green Wave finished with a 6-4 record last fall. Once again competing in the Intercounty League North, VanVleet said he’s looking forward to trying to get payback for those losses this season.
“We haven’t talked about expectations yet,” VanVleet said. “I know the group is aiming for the top. We have some past grudges from teams who beat us that we want to avenge. I think this team can do it.”