ROCKINGHAM — New Richmond Senior football coach Mike Castellano has been talking about competing throughout the summer.

It didn’t matter if it was a 7-on-7, a sprint drill or lifting weights, Castellano wanted his players to give their best effort. With two days remaining in the summer schedule, Richmond will have one final opportunity to hit the field against outside competition today in a passing tournament on the practice fields.

“It is always good when you have a chance to compete, that’s just my nature,” Castellano said. “These coaches here, some I just met, some I have known for a long time, the one thing I love about them all is they want to compete. They want to compete, whether it will be in a drill, in trying to be the first guy here, the last guy to leave or the guy who helps the most.

“So that’s our mentality and we want our guys to have that mentality because to me, unless you compete in life, you’re not successful.”

At the end of Tuesday’s practice, Castellano received emails from a handful of coaches who had agreed to participate in today’s passing tournament but were pulling out of the event. Castellano said he expects to have teams from Overhills, Wakefield and Jordan. Richmond and Overhills plan on fielding two teams.

“It’s something we hope to do annually,” Castellano said. “We couldn’t plan it until mid-June, so it will be a smaller thing tomorrow. We’re hoping in future years that we can host a jamboree here, a 7-on-7 passing tournament here, and take advantage of our community and they will come out here and support it.”

The passing tournament is set to begin at 3 p.m.

Richmond will also have a practice Thursday and Friday and cranking things back up on Saturday for the first official practice for the upcoming season.

During this final week of summer practices, Castellano was pleased with his team’s conditioning Monday after 10 days off because of the annual coaches clinic in Greensboro. Earlier this summer, Castellano was unhappy following the Fourth of July break.

“They were a lot better than they were the first time,” Castellano said. “They were in a lot better shape and I thought they were a lot more mentally focused. I think they were more invested in it. They understood more of what was going on and what we were expecting of them.”

After installing new offensive and defensive schemes as well as putting a lot of attention on special teams, Castellano added he wants his team to keep improving.

“Just continue to give effort and continue to clean up the small things,” Castellano said. “That has been our focus, getting everybody on the same page and getting everybody going in the right direction at 100 miles per hour.”

Reach managing editor Shawn Stinson at 910-817-2671 and follow him on Twitter @scgolfer.

Shawn Stinson|Daily Journal Richmond Senior football coach Mike Castellano instructs his players during a special teams drill during Tuesday morning’s practice.
https://www.yourdailyjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_DSC_06511.jpgShawn Stinson|Daily Journal Richmond Senior football coach Mike Castellano instructs his players during a special teams drill during Tuesday morning’s practice.

By Shawn Stinson

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