Head Coach Rick Jones, along with his staff and players have been busy since school ended on May 24th. The Bulldogs attended a team camp at Russellville on May 26th, then hosted their own team camp last Thursday at Greenwood, before attending an all-day 7-on-7 passing camp last Saturday at Charleston.
Bad weather interrupted Greenwood's team camp last Thursday, forcing the teams indoors for the first part of the event. Visiting teams included Russellville, Pulaski Academy, Fort Smith Northside, and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.
While waiting for the stormy weather to pass, the teams warmed up and began competition under the cover of the Bulldogs' indoor practice facility. But after about half an hour they were able to move outdoors for the rest of the camp, though a light rain did return later that evening.
Last Saturday the Bulldogs played both varsity and junior varsity teams at Charleston, eventually winning each of their respective divisions to meet in the finals. Coach Jones had the following comments about the event. "We started off slow," he said. "Our varsity went 4-1 in the round robin phase, and our junior varsity went 3-1.
"In the single elimination, our JV went undefeated, as did our varsity. According to the brackets, our JV would play our varsity for the championship, so we just decided to call it a day. Our kids played hard and got better as the day went on."
Upcoming Schedule
Team members will report for weight lifting sessions throughout the month of June before the AAA's mandatory dead period begins on June 26th and concluded on July 9th. Greenwood's annual FASDOGS program will begin on July 11th and run for three weeks, four days each week, Monday through Thursday.
The highly popular sessions normally attract over 500 participants from around the area and focus on fundamentals, agility, and speed training for all student-athletes or anyone else (even adults) who want to improve their physical conditioning and skills.
In July the GHS coaching staff will also be working with the Pittbull program, promoting junior league football, holding a camp for elementary school-age players and a coaches' clinic. The Bulldogs will also hold two more team camps on July 13th and 20th.
The annual all-sports meeting for parents of student-athletes will be held on July 26th at 6 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center, with a seminar for football parents at 6:30. Greenwood will then host a seven-on-seven competition the following day on July 27th.
There will be a varsity football boot camp from August 1-4 with the annual 56 sprints scheduled for August 4th, the usual right of passage at the end of FASDOGS.
The traditional father and son senior float trip and retreat will be held August 6-7 at War Eagle Resort near Tahlequah, Oklahoma, and football practice officially begins on August 8th, continuing until the 12th from 6:30-10:30 each morning.
The yearly Mom's 101 football game will also be held the evening of August 12th, followed by media day the morning of August 13th, which will also include make-up running for the varsity, an open house practice that evening, and a player lock-in to follow. School starts the following week with practice sessions moving to the afternoon after classes.
The annual Bulldogs kickoff event will take place after the beginning of school and before the first regular season game on September 2nd. There will be a scrimmage at Fayetteville on August 22nd, the first Sunday practice on August 28th, with the season opener at Fort Smith Northside on Friday, September 2nd.
This fall the Bulldogs will play both Fort Smith schools, Northside and Southside (away), and traditional rival Alma (home) on their non-conference schedule, before embarking on a newly constructed conference slate featuring 6A opponents only, including home games with Texarkana, Russellville, Benton, and Lake Hamilton, and road games at El Dorado, Siloam Springs, and Sheridan.
If tradition holds, the Bulldogs will make another strong run through the post-season and hopefully reach the 6A championship once again in early December. The 2016 season will also be the 13th year for Coach Jones in Greenwood. He has won six state titles overall (2005-07, 2010-12) and lost in the championship game twice as well (2004, 2015).