Each year Wright City football coach James Weir likes to build up to the opening day of practice by watching the NFL Hall of Fame Induction ceremonies. It gives him that final touch of motivation heading into two-a-days, knowing the time his players spend on the high school football field will be some of the best times of their lives. So, when the first day of fall practice rolled around on Monday, Weir was raring to go. His team hit the field about 5 p.m. on Monday, opting to conduct one continuous evening session. "I'm excited to get going and so are the guys," said the veteran coach. "They can't wait for that first game. Everybody is excited to get after it." The Wildcats had 56 players report to the inaugural practice, down slightly from last season. "Our sophomore class isn't very big," said Weir. "And we had some freshmen I thought would come out that didn't." The Wildcats spent their first day working on blocking drills and breaking down the fundamentals. His team will reduced to light hitting until Thursday. Weir relishes the chance for his team to strap on full pads and go at full speed, so he has scheduled a 12 a.m. practice for Thursday morning. The weather was also cooperative for the Wildcats during the first few days of practice, with the sun staying tucked behind the clouds. Also, the two-a-day sessions will last just one week this year. While most of Wright City's programs practiced later in the day, coach Jennifer Hollaway met with her volleyball team at 8 a.m. on Monday. She reports that numbers are down from last year, with 16 girls reporting. Hollaway says most of the girls present had taken part in summer camps, so there was little ground to make up on Monday. "It went great because all the girls that showed up had been around in the summer, and we could see that progress develop." She says the first day is a tryout period where players are assessed on a point scale. The Wildcats will be replacing the majority of its starters this season and have six seniors on the squad. Wildcat softball coach Fred Ross reunited with his team on Monday afternoon as well, welcoming 25 players to practice. "The numbers are pretty good," said Ross. "Most of these girls have been up here this summer working out two or three days a week. But the last three weeks we've pretty well had a dead period." Wright City has just one senior this season, but that isn't a major concern for Ross. "For most of these juniors, it will be their third year playing for me, so they should be ready to step right in and take a leadership role," said Ross. The Wildcats split into three rotations on Monday, working through drills. "We're working on some stations," said Ross. "We're going to do some base running and go through some basic things." The cross country team also opened practice at Wright City.