O.C. football teams open training camp

Servite hit a grand slam last year. The Friars beat Mater Dei in football for the first time since 1988, went undefeated in the highly regarded Trinity League for the first time, won a CIF-Southern Section championship and a CIF State championship.

It is going to be difficult to equal that in 2010.

Servite began taking on the challenge Monday, the first day of official practice for the 2010 season for the Friars and a few other Orange County high school football teams.

PHOTOS: Click here to see photos from Servite's first day of camp.

MORE PHOTOS: Click here to see photos from Fountain Valley and San Clemente.

Servite is continuing its tradition of having players sleep on campus – two nights in the gym, one outdoors on the practice field. Just how much sleep occurs when a large group of teenaged boys get together probably will be revealed at the following day's practice. Camp began with Mass, and a reflective session on the football program's 2010 theme, "Forever Strong."

Fountain Valley and San Clemente also started football practice Monday. Other teams will get going later this week, with more getting started next week.

All CIF sports teams are required to observe 21 consecutive days of a "dead period" during which no school personnel-supervised athletic activity can take place.

In football, teams are allowed a maximum of 25 three-hour practice opportunities from between the end of the dead period and their first game. The first three days of practice are limited to physical conditioning; on the fourth day, teams are allowed to practice in shoulder pads and full gear.

Coaches can move that dead period around the summer vacation calendar to their liking. Players show up to the first official day of fall practice better prepared, in their conditioning and understanding of the team playbook than they did years ago.

"We're right there," Fountain Valley coach John Shipp said of his team's workouts Monday, which began with conditioning tests and weightlifting in the morning, then football-specific work in the afternoon.

Fountain Valley and San Clemente get their seasons started first, among Orange County football teams. San Clemente plays Baldwin of Hawaii on Aug. 26 at War Memorial Stadium in Wailuku. Fountain Valley plays Faith Lutheran of Sumerlin, Nev., on Aug. 27.

Coaches enjoy taking their teams on such road trips.

"It's good to travel," Shipp said. "It's good team-bonding for us."

Servite kicks off its 2010 season against Oceanside on Sept. 2 at Orange Coast College. Like Servite, Oceanside had a successful '09 season, running its winning streak to 39 games when it concluded the season with a victory in the CIF State Division 1 bowl game.