Just before 8 a.m. Monday, Kevin Montijo grabbed his shoulder pads and helmet, jumped on a CTA bus and headed down Addison Street to Lane Technical High School for football practice, not sure if the season would ever resume.
Four hours later, after a grueling regimen of tackling drills, scrimmages and 50-yard sprints, the high school junior grumbled that each day of practice seemed harder and longer.
”All I`ve been doing is practicing football since the strike began. It`s hard to keep your intensity up when that`s all you do,” he said. ”We work really hard during the summer and if we can`t play, it will be really disappointing.”
It`s not that Kevin doesn`t like practice, but on a Monday morning in the middle of September he`d rather be sitting in class and save the football for after school.
Since the Chicago Teachers Union announced that it was going on strike last week, Lane (1-1) has practiced each weekday from 9 a.m. to noon.
But state rules prohibit public school teams from competing during a strike, said head coach Sam Brunswick. Last week, the team was forced to forfeit a game to St. Pat`s after defeating rival Gordon Tech the week before for the first time in eight years.
”We`re trying to keep their morale up and, so far, it`s been pretty good,” Brunswick said. ”But if this strike drags on, I just don`t know.”
Football might be the most immediate concern, but Kevin said as the strike continues his academic standing may become the biggest loser. ”I`m a pretty average student, and I need all the help I can get,” he said. ”This strike isn`t helping much.”
Kevin, who hopes to study business in college, pointed out that junior year is especially important to prepare for entrance exams. ”You have to get in the swing of school before you can take a big, major test like that.”
After a bus ride home, a shower and maybe a nap, Kevin is usually pressed into service, watching his 10-year-old brother, Kenny.
”The same thing that`s happening to my younger brother is happening to me,” he said. ”I remember when I was in 3d grade there was a strike. The first couple days I liked it, but it got boring.”
Boring then. Boring now. ”Sometimes I`ll go shoot baskets. There`s really not much to do,” Kevin said. ”I`m really bored with summer. I was looking forward to going back to school and seeing my friends.”
And being an athlete with 9 a.m. practices, Kevin said he can`t turn the extra days off into a late-night social binge.
”Some people may be having a great time partying every night, but for the athletes in the city of Chicago that are going through this, it`s a real drag.”
