ARCATA — School starts early for more than 175 Humboldt State students, who will brush up on their skills and test their summer preparation on athletics fields and court during the next several days.
HSU’s football, volleyball, men’s and women’s soccer players, and cross country runners all arrive this the weekend, more than two weeks before the actual start of the fall semester. Along with the training, plenty of paperwork awaits the returning and new Lumberjack athletes.
Football and its 109 prospective players begins first, with Thursday meetings, paperwork and equipment checkout. The first actual practice is set for 6:30 p.m. Friday in Redwood Bowl.
Soccer and volleyball athletes go through a similar administrative routine Sunday, then begin practice Monday. Cross country’s returners report for the first time Monday.
C.J. Johnson, the Lumberjacks’ new head soccer coach, will get his first look at his women’s and men’s athletes in action Monday at 12:30 p.m. and 3 p.m., respectively. He faces the added task of evaluating all of the returning players as well as the new additions.
“We’ll start off looking at conditioning, but we’ll also play a lot of 11-on-11 earlier than I usually would,” Johnson said. “That’s a way to find out specifically where our weaknesses lie and what we need to emphasize more in practice.”
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