Boston College Athletics
Photo by: Ethan Roy
Scrimmage Sunday Forges Family-First Feeling
August 14, 2023 | Football, #ForBoston Files
Parents, spouses and children were on hand, supporting BC's players and coaches in their first scrimmage.
Jack Conley walked off the Fish Field House turf with a giant smile on his face. The sweat on his brow turned his uniform into a translucent shade of white, but the offensive lineman looked like he still had some gas left in his tank as he walked toward his family. A few yards away, offensive coordinator Steve Shimko cradled his young baby, and at midfield, defensive assistant coach and special teams coordinator Matt Thurin hugged his young daughter.
Boston College had spent the previous two hours battering each other on both sides of the ball, but in the waning minutes of the Eagles' first scrimmage of the 2023 preseason, the toll exacted by battling under Fish's stagnant heat relieved into moments of unadulterated happiness and joy as the families of the players and coaches of the football family converged. One part reunion, the emotion broke through the day's overall tenor and allowed everyone a moment of reflection and unbridled pleasure at spending a few moments with their loved ones.
"It was nice to have families here," said head coach Jeff Hafley in the aftermath of the scrimmage. "We opened up on the weekends for parents to come [because] it's training camp, and they don't get much of a chance to see their kids. They probably don't talk to them very much. So we opened [the scrimmage] for the parents. That was important for me to let them spend some time now with [the players]. I always appreciated when my mom and dad came out and watched, and as much as you don't want to admit it when you're in college, you still want to be around your mom and dad."
The training camp atmosphere is a bubble built around football, but the lead-up to Sunday's scrimmage felt even more isolating for players and coaches developing the team for its first week matchup against Northern Illinois. Campus is still devoid of most life outside of other athletes, and the blistering heat of New England's interminable summer made it impossible for crowds to commune around the usual settlements.Â
The walking path around the Chestnut Hill Reservoir was nearly empty on Sunday morning as another hot August day crept towards 90 degrees, and runners were nowhere to be seen along the Beacon St. garage or St. Thomas More Road. Normally crowded streets around Comm. Ave. lacked traffic, and the neighborhoods surrounding Newton, Brookline and other surrounding points featured only the occasional dog walker or intrepid runner.
Fish Field House's sound system felt contained against the eerie outside quiet, but the mechanism embodied the microcosm around the players marching towards their first scrimmage work. The stretch line's loud musical noise blasted them to life, and the ability to perform in front of parents and loved ones added an extra jolt to both the players and coaches alike.
"This is a family place," Shimko said. "Boston and Boston College are such special places as far as the relationships we build here. The way Coach Hafley treats all of us, the way we treat our individual players, and the way that we embrace their families - these guys have been year for years now. All of those families on the sidelines, I got to say hi to them because those are the guys that we brought to official visits and stuff. We really got to know the families and build relationships with them back when they were in high school, so it was all great. And then I had my wife and my little one out there, so that was cool, but just being able to see those guys and those families really puts football into perspective."
The constant evaluation process employed throughout training camp keeps attention focused onto the gridiron, but the cost of constantly analyzing a team's successes, deficiencies, opportunities, advancements, and operations often comes at the expense of remembering how it forces family life to the back burner. Being able to bring families into the fold built an important bridge, and player performances reflected the ability to laugh and hug parents for the first time in weeks.
The happiness was obvious, and it extended to coaches who are often forced to burn the midnight oil in an attempt to do their job. Training camp is, for them, loaded with constant tasks, but it comes at the expense of spending time with wives and children who are waiting for their dads to walk through the door. Bedtimes, meal times, and activities are missed, and while it's a necessary step, it wasn't lost on Hafley that the mental wellness of his coaches also required the ability to step back from the scrimmage to embrace those important times as a larger staff family..
"Just use me as an example," Hafley said. "When I leave my house, my kids are asleep. When I come home, my kids are asleep. [Saturday night], I kind of gave the players an earlier night, so I got home around 7:30, and I saw my youngest. She was surprised that I came home, and she asked me if I was going on another trip [this week]. She thinks that I'm on a trip or something because I'm gone, so it's cool when they come and I get a chance to see them."
It's all part of the process of forging the Boston College football program ahead for its 125th official season. Every coach and player embraces doing whatever it takes to create a culture around the program, but they know it requires buy-in from every facet of their lives. For six months, they're in their offices and in meeting rooms with players, and on Monday morning, Hafley and his crew were right back where it started, readying for the 2023 football season and the first game against NIU.
"Those are the sacrifices that the coaches and the assistants make," he said. "You don't get a chance to see your wife, and you don't get a chance to see your kids. But that's training camp, and that's what we signed up for."
BC heads into its first game of the season on September 2 when the Eagles host NIU at Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Kickoff is slated for 12 p.m. and can be seen on the ACC Network. Tickets for the game, as well as season ticket packages, are available by calling the BC ticket office at 617-552-GoBC or by visiting bceagles.com/tickets.
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Boston College had spent the previous two hours battering each other on both sides of the ball, but in the waning minutes of the Eagles' first scrimmage of the 2023 preseason, the toll exacted by battling under Fish's stagnant heat relieved into moments of unadulterated happiness and joy as the families of the players and coaches of the football family converged. One part reunion, the emotion broke through the day's overall tenor and allowed everyone a moment of reflection and unbridled pleasure at spending a few moments with their loved ones.
"It was nice to have families here," said head coach Jeff Hafley in the aftermath of the scrimmage. "We opened up on the weekends for parents to come [because] it's training camp, and they don't get much of a chance to see their kids. They probably don't talk to them very much. So we opened [the scrimmage] for the parents. That was important for me to let them spend some time now with [the players]. I always appreciated when my mom and dad came out and watched, and as much as you don't want to admit it when you're in college, you still want to be around your mom and dad."
The training camp atmosphere is a bubble built around football, but the lead-up to Sunday's scrimmage felt even more isolating for players and coaches developing the team for its first week matchup against Northern Illinois. Campus is still devoid of most life outside of other athletes, and the blistering heat of New England's interminable summer made it impossible for crowds to commune around the usual settlements.Â
The walking path around the Chestnut Hill Reservoir was nearly empty on Sunday morning as another hot August day crept towards 90 degrees, and runners were nowhere to be seen along the Beacon St. garage or St. Thomas More Road. Normally crowded streets around Comm. Ave. lacked traffic, and the neighborhoods surrounding Newton, Brookline and other surrounding points featured only the occasional dog walker or intrepid runner.
Fish Field House's sound system felt contained against the eerie outside quiet, but the mechanism embodied the microcosm around the players marching towards their first scrimmage work. The stretch line's loud musical noise blasted them to life, and the ability to perform in front of parents and loved ones added an extra jolt to both the players and coaches alike.
"This is a family place," Shimko said. "Boston and Boston College are such special places as far as the relationships we build here. The way Coach Hafley treats all of us, the way we treat our individual players, and the way that we embrace their families - these guys have been year for years now. All of those families on the sidelines, I got to say hi to them because those are the guys that we brought to official visits and stuff. We really got to know the families and build relationships with them back when they were in high school, so it was all great. And then I had my wife and my little one out there, so that was cool, but just being able to see those guys and those families really puts football into perspective."
The constant evaluation process employed throughout training camp keeps attention focused onto the gridiron, but the cost of constantly analyzing a team's successes, deficiencies, opportunities, advancements, and operations often comes at the expense of remembering how it forces family life to the back burner. Being able to bring families into the fold built an important bridge, and player performances reflected the ability to laugh and hug parents for the first time in weeks.
The happiness was obvious, and it extended to coaches who are often forced to burn the midnight oil in an attempt to do their job. Training camp is, for them, loaded with constant tasks, but it comes at the expense of spending time with wives and children who are waiting for their dads to walk through the door. Bedtimes, meal times, and activities are missed, and while it's a necessary step, it wasn't lost on Hafley that the mental wellness of his coaches also required the ability to step back from the scrimmage to embrace those important times as a larger staff family..
"Just use me as an example," Hafley said. "When I leave my house, my kids are asleep. When I come home, my kids are asleep. [Saturday night], I kind of gave the players an earlier night, so I got home around 7:30, and I saw my youngest. She was surprised that I came home, and she asked me if I was going on another trip [this week]. She thinks that I'm on a trip or something because I'm gone, so it's cool when they come and I get a chance to see them."
It's all part of the process of forging the Boston College football program ahead for its 125th official season. Every coach and player embraces doing whatever it takes to create a culture around the program, but they know it requires buy-in from every facet of their lives. For six months, they're in their offices and in meeting rooms with players, and on Monday morning, Hafley and his crew were right back where it started, readying for the 2023 football season and the first game against NIU.
"Those are the sacrifices that the coaches and the assistants make," he said. "You don't get a chance to see your wife, and you don't get a chance to see your kids. But that's training camp, and that's what we signed up for."
BC heads into its first game of the season on September 2 when the Eagles host NIU at Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Kickoff is slated for 12 p.m. and can be seen on the ACC Network. Tickets for the game, as well as season ticket packages, are available by calling the BC ticket office at 617-552-GoBC or by visiting bceagles.com/tickets.
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Players Mentioned
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