DIVISION 1 FOOTBALL
Most of the colleges in the United States have athletic programs. These include soccer, track & field, softball, baseball, basketball, and football. Each college sport is separated into three divisions (Division I, Division II, and Division III) and includes several conferences.
Community colleges are not in a Division. All other college sports programs are regulated by the Nation Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The NCAA is a nonprofit organization and oversees almost 1300 colleges in North America. One of these colleges is Central Connecticut State University (CCSU).
CCSU is a Division I university which has baseball, basketball, volleyball, soccer, track & field, cross country, lacrosse, swimming and diving. The mascot for CCSU is the Blue Devil. All student athletes at CCSU are called Blue Devils.
The head football coach is Pete Rossomando (Coach Ross). He has been the head coach since 2014. He has eleven other coaches on his staff.
Central Connecticut State University’s Blue Devils football plays in the Northeast Conference (NEC). The first game for CCSU football was in 1935 and they have won the Northeast Championship five times. The last time CCSU won the NEC was in 2017 when the team went undefeated in conference games.
Prior to winning the NEC in 2017, the Blue Devils Football team did not do well for many years. In 2014 the team only won 3 of 12 games, in 2015 the team won 4 of 11 games, and in 2016 the team only won 2 of 11 games. In 2017 the team won eight of 12 games and in 2018 the team won six of 11 games.
DETERMINATION
Coach Ross is a great coach. His philosophy is always about team work and doing the best in practice, on the field, and in classes at all times. All the football players are told and always reminded that they are FAMILY.
This means to Forget About Me I Love You. In other words, the players are constantly reminded that it’s not about individual goals, it’s all about the goals of the team. They are told not to be or act in selfish ways but to always think about each other and to encourage each other.
This is talked about at every practice, every team meeting, and during pregame speeches. During games, players are told to always play at 100% on every play. They are not supposed to hold anything back. They must play at 100% on every play, every minute of every game.
KEEP GRINDING!!!
If the coach feels that someone is not doing this, the coach will let the player know during the game and might even take the player out of the game to tell him what he is doing wrong. The coaches always congratulate players when they made a good play. It is always a learning experience because the coaches can see things that the players don’t see when they are on the field.
Another thing the coaches emphasize to the football players is to have a very short memory. They also have to have that onto the next play type of mentality. The coaches emphasize on having a short- term memory mindset, which basically means that if a player messes up on a play, the player should forget that it even happened and move onto the next play.
The coaches constantly build that mindset into the players because when players usually mess up on a play, they usually keep thinking about it. The coaches don’t want the players to play scared and afraid of making mistakes but to keep playing with confidence no matter how they might have messed up during the game. The coaches want the players to stay focused and to always play their hardest.
This is the same mindset that is preached during the off season. The offseason begins with workout in the gym for at least three days every week. There are also extra workouts as well. The players have to lift weights and do many other workouts to stay in game shape.
OPPORTUNITY
In the Spring there are workouts also as players prepare for the Spring game when the team plays against each other. During the summer the football players stay on campus for two months preparing for the season. This is the last time to fully get in shape for the upcoming season.
The summer workout can be tough because sometimes it gets really hot. However, the coaches keep the workouts early in the morning or late in the evenings. Central Connecticut States has a great football program, great coaches, and great players.
This is more than just a game to many of the athletes. CCSU has given them a great opportunity on and off the field and their athletes make sure they take advantage of it each and everyday.
Aaron Dawson 