Irish return to football field

By Bernie Puchalski - September 2, 2021

When the Notre Dame senior football team last played in 2019, Anthony Battista was the starting centre for the Fighting Irish squad that qualified for its second Ontario Federation of School Athletic Association Bowl game in three seasons.

Fast forward two years and one COVID-19 pandemic later, the 17-year-old Welland resident was back on the field this week as the team went through its preseason training camp.

“It feels awesome. Last year we didn’t get to play but now we are back and I am just as excited as I was in 2019, unfortunately it’s not 2020,” the 12B student said.

Battista admitted it was tough to have school sports cancelled.

“I played hockey and football for Notre Dame and it all got cancelled last year and it kind of sucked,” he said. “You get excited about it and that’s what you do when you come to school on the first day. You play football. It was difficult but I am just happy we are back out now.”

Rather than sit there and feel sorry for himself, Battista stayed busy.

“I would work out and go for runs. I keep telling myself that next year we would be able to play again and this what I am training for.”

He was not alone in staying fit.

“My buddies and I would work out whether we were using stuff we could find on the ground and we invested in a couple of sets of dumbbells. And we went for runs just to try and stay healthy and in shape and make sure that when we did come back out we would be ready to go.”

To Battista, school sports and other extracurriculars are fundamental to high school.

“It is crazy important,” he said. “Football is the main thing I love doing at high school and it has made my five years at Notre Dame the best experience of my life. Without football, it would have been a totally different experience.”

Notre Dame’s camp went for four days this week and regular practices will start Tuesday on the first day of school.

“The last practice was mainly running and it was really difficult but we are starting to get into the groove of it right now and it is not too bad,” Battista said.

Notre Dame head coach Tim Bisci was glad to be back.

“There is a little bit of hesitancy to it but when I was told that we could go I was pretty excited about it. It got the enthusiasm going and it made coming back to school a lot more palatable.”

The hesitancy is related to Bisci’s concerns over the rising number of COVID-19 cases in Ontario.

“It is a little bit nerve-racking because you never know what is going to happen with it but hopefully everything works out for everybody across Ontario and we can keep playing because kids definitely need it. They were so excited when we said that we were going.”

The team is following all the required COVID-19 protocols.

“It’s make sure you are washing your hands, kids are wearing their gloves so that helps, they wear masks inside and we have to go through questionnaires. It is a lot of work but at the end of the day you want to get it done so the kids can get out here.”

About 30 players signed up for the workouts and 25 or so have been out at each practice.

“We will get a few more once schools starts,” Bisci said. “If you get anywhere close to 40 even in non-COVID years, that’s a good number for us.”

Some Niagara high schools are coming into the fall with only a varsity program after cancelling their junior teams but Notre Dame plans to continue running two teams.

“We will start our juniors the first day of school and we have always had that as our plan,” Bisci said.

Other than the COVID protocols, things are the same at the training camp compared to any other year.

“We are trying to get the kids ready to play. Every coach has to get through safe contact (drills). We will teach them easy tackling and then go through all those things so they do everything properly,” he said. “With the exception of COVID, the other emphasis is to keep their heads safe. We will do it every day so if a kid misses one day, he will come back and we will keep doing it. We have to get it in their heads not to use their heads when it comes to tackling.”

Bisci has noticed some of his players need work on their level of fitness.

"Some of them haven’t done as much as you think they would have done. COVID has made everyone sedentary and kids haven’t done a lot. They have been locked up and they haven’t been able to see their friends,” he said. “For their mental health as well as their physical health, it is good for them to be out here.”

The training camp focused on cardio and agility.

“We are trying to get kids back into movement so they don’t get hurt. If we can get in enough movement in, whether it’s agility training or whatever it is, that will kind of limit it (injuries). These kids haven’t played in two years.”

A Niagara Catholic Athletic Association football schedule has yet to be released.

“If I had to guess, it will be starting on the 24th of September which is three weeks into school and when we normally start,” Bisci said.

Also coaching at the camp were Chris Biggar, Mark Iannizzi, Jake Barton, Wayne Nelson and Gerrid Holton.