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University of Minnesota Athletics
Camp Blog: Fully Equipped
8/11/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
GopherSports.com will provide a daily blog from the beginning of preseason traiing camp until the week of the season-opener at Middle Tennessee State, set for Sept. 2. Check back here often for updates from throughout preseason camp. Athletic Communications staff members will be covering camp and reporting on practices and other areas of interest. If you would like to ask a question about preseason camp, have a request for something you'd like to see in the blog or just a comment on the blog, feel free to send an e-mail to aseeley@umn.edu.
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Camp Blog: Fully Equipped
By Athletic Communications Assistant Keith Beise
It often goes unrecognized how much effort goes into preparing, maintaining and cleaning all the various equipment that is used by a collegiate football team.
However, Kyle Gergely, Director of Football Equipment, and his crew of assistants and student managers work tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure that everyone within the Gopher football program will have exactly what they need, when they need it.
For Gergely, the day to day tasks can vary heavily, depending on what is required at any particular time. There are continuous requests from athletes and coaches. Gergely and his assistant Andy Harris go out of their way meet their needs, whether it be to provide a single pair of properly fitting shoes or filling out large-scale orders of supplies.
"Kyle and Andy head it up," student manager Eric Gunderson said. "They know what needs to be done and we just try to help out as much as we can. There are 120-plus players, so there's a lot of stuff that needs to be issued all the time."
For the 12 student managers, tasks are often more focused on the direct use of the equipment. Their days consist of preparing all the gear and making sure it is where it needs to be. It is their job to ensure that the routines of the football program take place without the equipment slowing down the process.
"They [the student managers] are mainly in charge of the practice field, getting it set up and making sure that practice runs smoothly," Gergely said. "Coach Brewster doesn't want any hiccups in practice, so the players can get as much out of practice as possible."
The student managers are also in charge of the clean-up effort after each practice. They ensure gear is returned where it needs to be and then finish the day doing laundry.
Dealing with the dirt may not be one of the best perks of being a football student manager. But it isn't the most difficult aspect of the job. Like the student-athletes, the student managers also have to work between the commitment of being a student and their time spent with the football program.
"The time commitment we have to make can be difficult," student manager Laura Schnell said. "This takes a lot of time out of our days. We're all taking 15 to 20 credits, so it's kind of hard to balance it all out."
Despite a lot of hard work and the more-than-occasional stinky piece of clothing or equipment, everyone involved acknowledges their enjoyment in being part of the program. From being able to travel to various schools on road games, to being on the field during the games themselves, they all have parts of the job that make the time put in worthwhile.
"Game day is the best part, no question about it," Gergely said.
Notes:
- The Golden Gophers are going through the first of six scheduled two-a-day practices Wednesday. The squad worked out in full pads Wednesday morning and will go through the afternoon practice in shells (helmets and shoulder pads).
- The Gophers will practice in the morning on Thursday. Part of the afternoon will be spent in front of cameras. The team's annual Media/Photo day will be held at TCF Bank Stadium late Thursday afternoon. The official team photo will be taken, as well as numerous interviews with the media and other photographs.
- The warm, humid weather the Gophers have been practicing in is supposed to break on Sunday. The high temperature is forecasted to be 77 degrees on Sunday, with low humidity. As luck would have it, that's also the Gophers' first day off from practice in more than a week.
Mailbag:
We've received a handful of emails and some feedback here at the Camp Blog and we'll try to answer some of the best of those as we accumulate a few. So, we'll empty some of the mailbag today:
- Rob asks two questions: 1) Who should we see as the starter at running back? 2) As a season ticket holder, I was always disapointed with the turnout of our student section last year. Will winning help fill those seats and keep them filled during the game?
Rob, the answer to both of those questions is a little murky right now. But we'll give it our best shot. As for the running back situation, there is a wide-open competition right now. Early in camp, DeLeon Eskridge and Duane Bennett have been getting most of the opportunities to run with the top offensive unit. That's to be expected with veterans. But Minnesota's three freshmen -- Devon Wright, Donnell Kirkwood and Lamonte Edwards -- have all had some very nice moments throughout practice. Coach Brewster is on record as saying he will play freshmen who can gelp the Gophers win. As of right now, it is much too early to tell. We'll see what the running back situation looks like when Coach releases a depth chart. That will give us a much better indication.
As for the student section, there are a number of factors at work here. First of all, it is important to remember that last season, the student section was sold out. But that section is general admission, sort of first-come, first-served. TCF Bank Stadium's seats are very wide and roomy. But what that did was allowed more students to pile into the lower bowl than the actual number of seats in that area. This made things look a little more sparse in the upper bowl. Even in games where we had a really good student turnout, it could sometimes look less full because of this factor. Of course, winning always helps ticket sales and attendance. A very attractive home schedule this season should help as well. But the ticket office is also looking for ways to try to fill up that student section in the future. They are selling guest passes to the student section and are exploring many other options as we speak.
- Michelle wants to know when Fan Fest is going to be held.
This year's Fan Fest is slated for Aug. 21 at TCF Bank Stadium. The doors will open at 10 a.m. and the football team will hold a scrimmage, beginning at about 10:45. There will be an autograph session following the scrimmage. There will be plenty of other activities and events to go with Fan Fest. For more information, click here.
- Dan sent some very nice comments about the blog, but didn't really have any questions. We wanted to acknowledge him though. Thanks for the kind words!
- Bryant asked when the Gophers will begin preparations for Middle Tennessee State.
Coach Brewster said last week that they basically began prepping for that game in spring ball. While there is a good deal of teaching and focusing on getting better as a group going on right now, anything Minnesota is doing right now to prepare for an opponent is all focused solely on the Blue Raiders. Look for a Preseason Primer on Middle Tennessee State on the camp blog this weekend. We'll have a primer on each of Minnesota's non-conference opponents in the camp blog between now and the end of camp.
That's it for now. Thanks for all the feedback and keep reading the camp blog here at GopherSports.com!
