Team Illinois Conquer 7 On 7
Monday, June 13, 2011 at 1:31PM Posted: Tuesday, June 7, 2011 4:00 pm | Updated: 3:32 pm, Wed Jun 8, 2011.
Hersey 7-on-7 FootballHigh school football players typically pick up the ball in June and drop it in November. Seldom is there an outlet for players to practice and condition during the spring. But the All-American 7 on 7 Passing League has been a rising opportunity for area players to get some spring practice.
The league started five years ago for athletes ages 13 to 18. It started off with five teams total and has expanded to 46 teams with 600 athletes participating. "Every other sport has the off season to play. [High school] football has never really had that outlet," said Ray Glassmann commissioner and founder of the league.
The spring training camp is designed to finetune the skills of quarterbacks, receivers, tight ends, linebackers, running backs and defensive backs. The training does not include linemen, eliminating blocking and tackling, which makes for a faster pace and gives quarterbacks more practice on scrambles and quick decisions.
The spring training has been very useful, and is quickly gaining traction amongst area players. It starts the first week of April and ends in the last week of May. Practice takes place indoors at the Lake Barrington field house.
There were seven high school teams participating last year. It's rapidly grown to 16 teams this year. Journal-area high school teams from Hersey, Fremd, Rolling Meadows, Loyola and St. Viator all participated. But they only made up a fraction of the 46 total.
This spring also marked the first time where all the best players from the camp formed Team Illinois and competed with 7 on 7 teams from other states. Team Illinois was led by Loyola starting quarterback Malcom Weaver. He helped lead the team to the championship game at Eastern Michigan University on May 30. Team Illinois finished the tournament with big wins against Kentucky, Ohio and two solid victories over the Michigan Elite. read more >>
High school football players typically pick up the ball in June and drop it in November. Seldom is there an outlet for players to practice and condition during the spring.
But the All-American 7 on 7 Passing League has been a rising opportunity for area players to get some spring practice.
The league started five years ago for athletes ages 13 to 18. It started off with five teams total and has expanded to 46 teams with 600 athletes participating.
"Every other sport has the off season to play. [High school] football has never really had that outlet," said Ray Glassmann commissioner and founder of the league.
The spring training camp is designed to finetune the skills of quarterbacks, receivers, tight ends, linebackers, running backs and defensive backs.
The training does not include linemen, eliminating blocking and tackling, which makes for a faster pace and gives quarterbacks more practice on scrambles and quick decisions.
The spring training has been very useful, and is quickly gaining traction amongst area players. It starts the first week of April and ends in the last week of May. Practice takes place indoors at the Lake Barrington field house.
There were seven high school teams participating last year. It's rapidly grown to 16 teams this year.
Journal-area high school teams from Hersey, Fremd, Rolling Meadows, Loyola and St. Viator all participated. But they only made up a fraction of the 46 total.