By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

Peabody head football coach Kody Tegtmeier has high hopes for his first year at the school.

Although 2018-2019 is his first year coaching at Peabody, Tegtmeier has eight years of coaching behind him.

“I spent two years at Hanover, two years at Lakeside-Downs, and four years in Bird City,” he said.

Tegtmeier will coach senior high basketball also.

Besides coaching, Tegtmeier teaches high school strength and conditioning and middle school leadership.

“I enjoyed football when I was a kid growing up, and I think it teaches a lot of life lessons, not just lessons in the game,” he said.

At the smaller Bird City High School, the team played six-man football, and the Lakeside team played eight-man.

Plenty of players have come out for the team, Tegtmeier said.

“I have 21 at Peabody, depending on if everybody shows up for practice every day,” he said.

This year’s Peabody team will be “a little undersized,” he said, but that should be made up by speed.

“The key will be their understanding of my philosophy, maximizing practice time, and executing our plays during games,” he said. “So far, I expect to have 12 to 15 compete for viable playing time.”

Tegtmeier grew up in Hanover and graduated from Kansas Wesleyan University in 2009.

“Our team goals this year are to come out and compete in every game and try to get better every week,” he said.

He’s not enamored of a new rule that applies to football practice.

“Luckily we’ve had pretty decent weather, but putting kids in a practice situation for three hours is a long time,” he said. “It’s physically and emotionally draining to be out for three hours.”

Teams used to be able to hold two practices per day, morning and evening.

“What they basically did was say you can practice once a day and they stay out for three hours,” he said.

He said his athletes were showing wear and tear by the end of the week.

“You could tell they were more exhausted being out there that three hours,” he said.

Peabody will play four home games and four away games this season.

The team’s assistant coaches are Bob Kyle and Eric Duebon.