Jonathan Sellers directs his TKA Lions during the Knoxville 7-On-7 Classic at Powell High School in Powell, Tennessee, on Monday, July 15, 2019. (Photo by Danny Parker)
Jonathan Sellers, the high-energy, second-year coach of The King’s Academy football program, figured his players would be up around midnight anyway.
So with Monday, July 29, being the first official day of high school football practice on the TSSAA calendar, he got his team out on the practice field at 12:01 a.m.
While other teenage football players in the area might have been asleep or staring at their phones or even watching Netflix, the Lions kicked off their preseason preparations under the lights.
The TKA players responded well, Sellers said.
“The kids loved it. After practice, about half the team said, ‘Coach, we need to do this more often. We’re all up right now anyway.’
“That was a lot of our thoughts going in anyway. During the summer, we can tell these kids to go to bed as much as we want, but they’re going to stay up and hang out and be high school kids in the summer. They’re up anyway, so I think they enjoyed it.”
Despite only having 30-40 players for this fall, optimism abounds with TKA football — much more than just the novelty that comes along with having a unique first practice.
The Lions have made the Division II-A postseason the last four years. And, should they stay reasonably healthy this fall, the program has enough talent in its starting lineup to make some louder noise this time around.
Here’s an in-depth look at TKA football.
subscribe to read full article