Kiwanis hosts Coaches Corner
CECIL FOLDS/THE GREENVILLE STANDARD
The Greenville Kiwanis Club held its monthly meeting at Beeland Park, featuring this year’s Coaches Corner. All four coaches from around the county were there to speak to the Kiwanis Club members about their upcoming football season.
Allen Stephenson welcomed each coach participating in the annual event. Butler County School System Superintendent Amy Bryan and Fort Dale Academy Headmaster David Brantley were also present for the meeting.
The first coach on the agenda was Georgiana head coach Ezell Powell. Coach Powell brought four of his senior players who he said had been there from the first day he started coaching at Georgiana.
Coach Powell was asked about the strength of his team this year and he said his offensive line is going to be the team’s strength this season. According to Powell, the team needs to improve and grow as a group, working together to accomplish one goal, which is to make it back to the playoffs. He said the challenges for this year are Brantley and McKenzie, but in reality they could be beaten on any given Friday night by any team.
The second coach was Fort Dale head coach “Speed” Sampley. Coach Sampley said this was the 18th time he had stood before the Kiwanis members reporting on the upcoming football season.
He introduced three of his senior players to the group. Coach Sampley said this year’s team strength is its experience, but overall they need to improve in all areas and be more consistent in their execution. The challenge this year is Northside of Dothan because they don’t know anything about this team, and having been put in a different region this year will create more challenges of the same nature.
Coach Sampley issued this invitation, “As we get ready for our first game on Aug. 26, against Evangel Christian Academy from Montgomery, let me invite everyone to come out and support us in our first game of the new season.”
Greenville High School head coach Josh McLendon said, “Everyone is saying that Greenville is a young team this year and that we are rebuilding. We are not rebuilding– but reloading.”
He said he would agree that this year’s team needed to gain some experience and improve in other areas such as basic fundamentals.
Coach McLendon reported, “We have 87 players total so you can see we have some depth that can come off the bench. One of our challenges this year will be trying to get better each day. We will be facing great teams in the new region we are in this year, such as Stanhope Elmore of Millbrook, on Aug. 18.”
McKenzie head coach Tony Norris spoke to the Kiwanis Club and introduced five of his senior players, whom he said were in the fifth grade when he started at McKenzie as an assistant coach. According to Coach Norris, “This year’s team has a lot of skilled position players which is a positive strength for this team. Our linemen need to improve mentally and physically and this is our top challenge for our team as we go into a new season. We have a total of 25 players which I think can get the job done. As the other coaches have said, on any given Friday night, you can be beat. We will be taking on our first challenge on Aug. 19, against Ariton.”
Good luck to each team and coach for a successful and injury free season.
