The Saints football squad has held football camp at Northern Michigan University's indoor Superior Dome in Marquette for the past 13 years. This year's 23-man varsity squad returned to the Dome for a three-day training work-out from Monday, August 6 to Wednesday, August 8. (Photographs courtesy of Marty Spencer) Say good-bye to your family and your girlfriends. It's football time. Turn off your cell phones. It's football time. Forget about your summer job. It's football time.

For three days, the coaching staff of the St. Ignace Saints varsity football team owned the lives of 23 players as they brought them through the rigors of football camp at Northern Michigan University's Superior Dome in Marquette Monday, August 6, to Wednesday, August 8, preparing them for the 2007 football season.

St. Ignace, a member of the Straits Area Conference, is the only team in the Eastern Upper Peninsula that travels elsewhere to begin practicing for the upcoming season. It has been a tradition for 13 years, started by former Saints Head Coach Barry Pierson in 1994.

Camp began at 6 a.m. Monday, as players were given just enough time to enjoy a continental breakfast at the motel before preparing for the hardest hours of work they have experienced all summer.

Camp consisted mostly of conditioning players and running plays with light contact, as practice with pads is not allowed until Thursday, August 9, a Michigan High School Athletics Association rule.

The team arrived at the Dome at 6:45 a.m. and opened practice immediately. By 9:30 a.m., players hit the showers and went back to the motel to catch some rest before beginning the second practice.

By 12:45 p.m., the team was back at it, finishing off the second practice with an hour of weight-lifting.

After dinner at the university's cafeteria, players headed back on the field at 5:45 p.m. to finish up the first day of football camp, which ended at 8:15 p.m. Players then returned to the motel and enjoyed a well-earned sleep, knowing another day of work was ahead of them.

"The players understand they have to forfeit a week's worth of (summer) work and many of them will complain about the eight to 10 hours of hard practice, but we're there for football," said 11-year Head Coach Marty Spencer. "We have to get them ready for the season. The (pre-season) days go by quickly."

The benefit of holding football camp away from home is knowing the players will be at practice and knowing their minds will be on football, said Mr. Spencer. It also allows players to build team unity, forming a strong bond between coaches and players.

"The kids understand what we have to do to get ready for the season," he said. "I'm sure a lot of them will say football camp is the worst thing in the world, but, as you'll hear from some of the seniors, they always remember afterwards that it was a great experience."

"It's grueling," said Nick Montie, 17, a senior and second-year starting linebacker, "but I actually am happy to be at camp. I love football.

"Camp is great because it really does build team chemistry," he added. "We stay in close quarters and it helps us to get along really well."

For junior Kyle "Bubba" Smock, who has experienced varsity football camp since he was a freshman, preparing for camp is a summerlong effort.

"I've been working out pretty hard all summer," he said. "The hardest thing about camp is overcoming how sore you feel. Even after the first practice, you're dead. You have to prepare yourself mentally and physically."

Being with teammates and completing camp are the rare enjoyments the players have during football camp, according to the starting linebacker and fullback.

"Once that last whistle blows, it's a great feeling," he said. "You get to eat dinner and then get home and rest for the rest of the week."

For Mr. Pierson, who served as head coach for the Saints in three terms (1974-76, 1982-86, and 1994- 96), there was no room for enjoying anything else except for hard work during camp.

"You have a lot to accomplish in a short period of time," he said. "I would wear them right down during the three-a-days. It was tough, it was an ordeal. When we brought them back home, that's where we'd ease up a bit, build them back up."

Mr. Spencer's strategy for football camp mirrors Mr. Pierson's.

"There's no time for any down time," he said. "It's nothing but football."

St. Ignace, which has one of the smallest student-based schools in the conference, opens the 2007 season against the Charlevoix Raiders at home Friday, August 24. By that time, said Coach Spencer, his team should be ready.

"We'll have gotten a lot in by then," he said. "We'll be way ahead. If we didn't have football camp, I don't think we'd be anywhere near ready, especially considering the teams we play in our conference."

The SAC includes St. Ignace, Sault Ste. Marie, Cheboygan, Rudyard, and Newberry.