This is the most important time of the year for spring high school sports in Hernando County: the Florida High School Athletic Association baseball and softball playoffs. Every day for three consecutive months catchers masks, batting helmets, gloves and sunglasses have been donned by the county’s team.
On Thursday, in the midst of the spring sports playoff push, different pieces of sports equipment that haven’t been worn since late November will reappear. Chinstraps will be snapped, shoulder pads pulled down and mouth pieces put in place.
In Florida, May 1 doesn’t just mean the start of the fifth month of the year; it means the start of high school football spring practice.
In Hernando County, this year’s spring practice season marks the start of a new beginning for three schools. Nature Coast Technical, Hernando and Brooksville Central high schools will all have a new head coaches for the upcoming 2014 season. Justin Worden takes over at Nature Coast. Former Springstead coach Bill Vonada is now running things at Hernando. At Central, Chris Sands is the new coach of the Bears.
It is Sands who inherits the toughest situation. In the last five seasons the Bears have won a total of five games and were winless in their 2013 campaign. Last season the Bears averaged just 10 points a game and were shut out three times. It’s the past that is Sands’ greatest challenge.
“I’ve got to get my student athletes to forget about the past and move on to the future,” said Sands. “We do not have time to rebuild or reload. The time is now for us.”
The eager 26-year old Sands has an impressive resume for someone his age. Sands spent last year at Seminole High, a Class 7A school located south of Largo, as the Warhawks associate head coach. In 2012 he ran the offense for the 5A Gibbs Gladiators out of St. Petersburg. He moved to the Tampa-St. Pete area after spending 2011 as the offensive line coach in Tallahassee at Maclay High School, a 3A school. Sands true passion is in the trenches. He played o-line collegiately at Florida A&M.
Vonada tries to improve upon Hernando’s 3-win 2013 campaign. It was the first time since 2009 the Leopards were not in the postseason. 2013 was the first time in 15 years Vonada wasn’t on the sidelines. From 1998 to 2012 Vonada skippered the Springstead Eagles. After a year off from coaching, Vonada travels northeast landing in Leopard Country.
“We have got to get the players to quickly and consistently buy in to the work needed to perform at a championship level,” said Vonada. “There are some quality individuals, both staff and student-athletes, which I am looking forward to working with.”
Like Sands, Worden will be embarking on his first head coaching job. The Nature Coast administration is handing the keys to the Sharks football team to a 28-year old. Astronaut High on the Space Coast was Worden’s alma mater. He returned there to work with the War Eagles on the defensive side of the ball for four years. Last season at 7A Oak Ridge Worden was the Orlando school’s defensive coordinator.
“To me the biggest challenge will be getting everyone on the same page and installing our schemes,” said Worden. “Our goal is to use spring and summer to evaluate what we have and get everyone in place and familiarize them with the gameplan.”
Nature Coast is a desperate team looking to get back into the playoffs for the first time in five years.
Both Hernando and Central will be hosting their respective spring games on Friday May 16. Hernando will square off against Crystal River while Central welcomes Tavares.