Hard work begins as Blue Waves feed the fire
Start of preseason training camp comes with poetic pledge
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Riverhead players are being put through agility and conditioning drills during training camp.
Feeding the fire is the theme for the Blue Waves this year. It's based on a poem about six people trapped in bitter cold before a dying fire. Each of them held a stick of wood, but declined to throw it into the fire because of differences in race, religion and class. The poem, "The Cold Within," whose authorship is disputed, concludes: "The logs held tight in death's still hands was proof of human sin. They didn't die from the cold without, they died from -- THE COLD WITHIN."
With that poem, the message was delivered to the Blue Waves that the team needs all of them to do their part, through commitment and dedication, in order to succeed.
Quarterback Steve Kimmelman wore the Riverhead team's theme this year, "Feed the Fire," on his scrimmage vest.
Because of what the 2008 Blue Waves did, this year's team has an awfully tough act to follow. Last year the Blue Waves not only won their first Long Island championship, but they went 12-0 and were honored with the Rutgers Trophy, which goes to the team recognized as the best in Suffolk County. Miguel Maysonet, the standout running back who received the Carl A. Hansen Award, which is presented to the top player in Suffolk, has graduated. So have other top players such as Andrew Smith, Jonathan Lague, Tyler Gilliam, Tim Velys and Rasheen Moore.
"We want to do what they did," said Malcolm Cater, the senior running back/middle linebacker who has accepted a scholarship at Syracuse University.
"It's not the funnest day, I can tell you that much," Shay said of the first day of training camp. "It separates the guys that really want to play from the guys that don't."
The heat is on the Blue Waves in more ways than one. As the top-seeded team in Suffolk Division II, the Blue Waves once again have a target on their backs -- just the way Smith prefers it. "I want people to come after me," he said. "I want a little challenge."
Last season's success could be seen as a motivating factor, with the current team feeling a need to prove itself. "Every year is its own entity," Shay said. "We just have to be our own team and form our own identity."
Right now that identity is being forged on a sun-baked practice field at Riverhead High School.
"It is just getting us ready for the season," Cater said. "You have to go hard or go home. We got a big burden on our back right now, and a lot of people are asking how we're going to do. I think we have a lot to work on, just keep fighting, and keep being hungry."
bliepa@timesreview.com
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