Wednesday, October 2, 2019

Local Football Practices and a Trip to Underwood Farms


Monday, September 30 -
Wednesday, October 2, 2019

Our Italian friends were still in town on Monday before slowly heading north to the San Francisco Bay Area for next Saturday evening's Washington Huskies (4-1) at Stanford Cardinal (2-3) PAC-12 game and Monday night's NFL contest between the Cleveland Browns (2-2) and the San Francisco 49ers (3-0).

Jack, our Varese Skorpions QB, is a big Baker Mayfield fan so he will be rooting for the Browns while Baffo, a Skorpions DE, is a 49ers fan.

Even though this is a major flaw in Baffo's character, I still love him.

We will all be cheering on the Huskies on Saturday!

Since our shared love for the game of American football is a theme for their visit, we opted to check out practice on Monday at Ventura County's DIII school.

Home of the Kingsmen!

DE Nicola "Baffo Ruggiero and
QB Giacomo "Jack" Micheli

CLU's Head Football Coach Ben McEnroe graciously allowed our two Skorpions full access to the day's Kingsmen practice.

Nice t-shirt Jack!

Kingsmen practicing Field Goals

Behind that gray fence is the Los Angeles Rams training facility.

They had armed guards.

Offensive Linemen walk-through

Jack getting coached up by CLU's
Offensive Coordinator/QB Coach
Anthony Lugo

Jack and Coach Lugo going over
strategy for the Kingsmen's next game

Discussing proper QB footwork

Jack and Coach Lugo

Baffo, Coach McEnroe and Jack

I think that both Baffo and Jack learned a lot today.

After practice it was on to Bandit's BBQ in Camarillo for their first ever trip-tip steaks and a shared slice of mud pie while watching the Pittsburgh Steelers (1-3) pummel the Cincinnati Bengals (0-4) 27-3 on Monday Night Football.

On Tuesday, Baffo and Jack were off with scheduled stops in Pismo Beach, Morro Bay and Carmel by the Sea before getting to San Francisco on Friday.

We will all meet up again in Palo Alto for the Washington-Stanford game on Saturday.

Tuesday afternoon, while driving back from the Camarillo Library, I saw little Beacon Hill Classical Academy practicing the 8-man version of American football on the small field next to their school.

I had to stop.

Warm-ups for the mighty Gryphons

The 2019 season is the first ever American football campaign for the Gryphons. They are currently sporting a 1-2 record which is just fine for this budding program.

Trying to teach explosion in a
non-contact mode

Teaching first year players
to tackle is never an easy task

Loving the home made sled

Improving the Gryphons tackling
techniques was today's #1 goal

I just may need to volunteer to coach again somewhere next Fall after getting my American football appetite whetted the last two days.

SURPRISE!

I received this wonderful present in the mail on Tuesday from Giacomo and from Nicola, his wife Vanessa and their son Gabriele.

AWESOME, GRAZIE!

On Wednesday's, I pick up Jacob after school. Usually we stop for a late lunch on the way to our house and his weekly soccer practice.

Today we did something a bit different.

We went to the
Underwood Farm in Somis

Jacob loves to feed the animals at this farm.

The farm was in full-on Halloween mode.

Ride 'em Cowboy!

YEE HAW!

One big, hungry sheep

The goats needed sustenance too

The Jack-O-Lantern ate Jacob!

How do I explain that to his parents?

Alpacas need love too

KING of the FARM!

A good start to the week to be sure!

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