Practice Heats Up In Harrisburg

By Max Stevens | harrisburgheat.com

Some people believe that in sports, practice makes perfect, others might take it one step further subscribing to the theory that perfect practice makes perfect. No matter which theory Heat fans prefer practice for the team this year certainly has a new look.

The team is practicing 5 days a week and began that schedule earlier than normal. Practices are more organized so far this season and by all accounts have been extremely competitive.

“Everybody is in shape ready to go,” said former All-Star and current Harrisburg bench boss Denison Cabral. “You can see the way we are competing against each other in practice guys don’t want to wait to get on the field and play the first game. We want to start the season as soon as we can.”

In the last two seasons because of several factors constraining the team, practice was only held twice a week, typically late at night for two hours.

Having more practices allows the team to not only get in more work, but to focus on certain aspects of the game. Assistant coach and former Heat player Gino DiFlorio, who was on the staff the past 2 seasons serving as an assistant to Tarik Walker and later as head coach toward the end of the second campaign, feels like it allows the coaching staff more flexibility to map out team success.

“They’re organized, we have a plan for the week. What we are going to do each week (leading up to the games). In the past it was hard, we trained only twice a week, you had to do more in one practice.”

Once the season begins the team can analyze different opponents and work on different aspects of a game plan and formulate a more detailed strategy that can be worked during the training sessions.

“We can break up practices and plan what we want to accomplish throughout the week,” Diflorio said.

Coach Cabral has been pleased with the way players have come into camp in shape. It enabled the team to hit the ground running. DiFlorio says there is also another added element in more team training that will give the Heat an advantage they weren’t able to enjoy the previous 2 seasons.

“When you train every day, we are going to have legs at the end of the game,” he said.

The Heat many times in the past 2 seasons ran out of gas in the 3 period. It makes it difficult playing teams like Baltimore who did train 5 days a week. Those teams would have a physical conditioning advantage built in.

“In the past we had no legs come the third because we weren’t training as much,” DiFlorio said.

Another factor in the increasing intensity during training camp practices has been the talent level. Coach Cabral and his staff have worked with Owner and General Manager Carl Delmont to bring in top notch talent who practice with pride making for a very competitive atmosphere.

“I think we are very, very, deep,” said Delmont. “I think our third line could interchange with our first.”

Mr. Delmont bought the team from former Heat Owner and longtime broadcaster John Wilsbach in the offseason. Mr. Delmont has been credited with bringing in much needed resources including local housing for players.