Wake Forest Athletics
The New Sounds of Football Practice
8/23/2012 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 23, 2012
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By Alex Botoman, Wake Forest Media Relations (@SIDeacons)
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The players trickling out of the locker room to Wake Forest's Thursday afternoon football practice were treated to a surprise: a new sound system blaring music across the Doc Martin Practice Complex.
Head coach Jim Grobe had the speakers installed at the request of his players, who wanted to listen to music during their warm-ups and stretching.
"I'm kind of old fashioned, but the team wanted some music at practice, so we're changing things up a little bit," said Grobe. "At pre-practice and stretching, we'll have some music out here. We'll kind of let the position groups decide what we play. We're just going to have some fun with it and maybe make practice a little more enjoyable for our players."
While music was the primary reason for adding the sound system, Grobe didn't rule out using the speakers for other purposes.
"I know some coaches like to play the music loud during practice on Thursday to simulate crowd noise, so we'll see how it goes," said Grobe. "At times we've had our Spring Game here, and we thought that if we have our Spring Game here, it might be a good thing to have the speakers so that everybody can hear the announcements."
While the players will get to select the pre-practice music most of the time, Grobe didn't rule out the possibility of the coaches taking over the playlist for a day.
"I think Lonnie Galloway wants the new Lionel Ritchie deal on there," Grobe quipped "I'm not sure how much country music we're going to play, maybe the offensive linemen are into that, but I think we have to mix it up a little bit. Some of the stuff we just played I couldn't listen to every day."
The Deacons practiced in full pads for two and ½ hours on Thursday and will return to the practice fields on Friday afternoon before their final scrimmage on Saturday. Saturday's scrimmage, which will start around 7:45 p.m. at BB&T Field, will focus more on the organizational aspects of game day such as running out onto the field, lining up and substitutions.
